Transcript
Okay, בוקר טוב Boker tov, good morning, everyone. Welcome to our weekly פרשה parsha perspectives class for today, where we try to extract relevant and timely lessons from our פרשה parsha to inform and inspire our contemporary times. I want to thank our dear friends Becky and Avi Katz who sponsored the פרשה parsha series for the year. Good morning everyone. In memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש l'ilui nishmas David ben Menachem Manish, whose נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah. We're very grateful to the Katzes for this and their leadership in so, so many different areas and things. פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Behaaloscha is an action-packed פרשה parsha, and the truth is it's hard to concentrate on any one area. There are so many different stories in the פרשה parsha. Perhaps the theme that drives the whole פרשה parsha is the story of the coming of age, the adolescence of the Jewish people. A people who have emerged as a slave nation and found freedom, redemption, who found the birth of their peoplehood, and yet now are struggling as adolescents to find their own identity, their own way, their own mission, their own purpose, and to not spend their lives complaining. This is the פרשה parsha where they're introduced to incessant complaining. They become an incorrigible people. And the same Moshe who had no problem stepping up and standing up and advocating for them after the חטא העגל chet ha'egel, the egregious sin of the Golden Calf, he loses his patience, he loses his cool. And in our פרשה parsha, Moshe is ready to give up on the Jewish people. He turns to Moshe, למה הרעות Lama hare'osa, why? Enough. I can't take it anymore. They're so difficult, they're incorrigible, they are impossible. What went wrong? So one of the underlying themes of our פרשה parsha, and we'll go through and try to hit on some of the highlights and salient points of it, is the adolescence, the coming of age. First we had ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis, the birth of a family. ספר שמות Sefer Shmos, they emerged, the birth of a people. ויקרא Vayikra, the priests of that people, the כהנים kohanim with their sacred mission. And now in the book of במדבר Bamidbar as we're traveling through the desert and hitting our stride, we have a certain level of comfort with our freedom, and some divine protection as we journey and travel, and now there's the margin and space to be able to begin complaining. When people are fighting for their very survival, they find the capacity for unity, for אחדות achdus, for faith, for self-sacrifice, for selflessness. And when people settle in to their own comfort, and they are provided for in every which way which they were in the desert, the miraculous divine protection, the miraculous divine nourishment, the miraculous divine guidance system, every part of their existence in the desert was miraculous, driven by miracles. They've settled in, and they begin to grow comfortable and in fact begin to complain, and that is part of the story of our of our פרשה parsha as well. So let's begin at the very beginning, which is always a very good place to begin. פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Behaaloscha in the Artscroll חומש Chumash on page 774. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמור Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, God spoke to Moshe. דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם Daber el Bnei Yisrael v'amarta aleihem. Speak to Aaron and tell him, בהעלותך את הנרות אל מול פני המנורה יאירו שבעת הנרות behaaloscha es haneros el mul pnei hamenorah yairu shivas haneros. Say to Aaron, when you kindle, when you light the lamp, the מנורה menorah, towards the face of the מנורה menorah, shall the seven lamps be cast. That word בהעלותך behaaloscha, when you, בהעלות behaalos, לעלות la'alos means עליה aliyah. You get an עליה aliyah to the Torah, you ascend the בימה bima to receive your עליה aliyah. You make עליה aliyah to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, and you ascend towards ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael to make your physical and spiritual עליה aliyah to combine your destiny with the Jewish people in our homeland. בהעלותך Behaaloscha, when you raise, when you elevate, it's a very peculiar word to describe to light. Why not say להדליק lehadlik? When you're going to light the מנורה menorah, this is Aaron's מצוה mitzvah, the מצוה mitzvah upon the כהנים kohanim. Light the מנורה menorah. So describe the lighting of the מנורה menorah using the verb to light. What do you mean בהעלותך behaaloscha, when you elevate, when you raise? Why are we using that peculiar that peculiar word in this place? So Rashi tells us, Rashi tells us, first of all Rashi tells us למה נסמכה פרשת מנורה לפרשת הנשיאים lama nismicha parshas menorah l'parshas hanesi'im? What is the connection between the end of last week's פרשה parsha and the beginning of this week's פרשה parsha? At the end of last week's פרשה parsha, we had the story of the נשיאים nesi'im. The princes, the heads of each tribe all brought the exact same קרבן karban. Repetitive, redundant, the longest פרשה parsha in the whole Torah, over and over and over again. And rather than the Torah simply say, this was the set of קרבנות karbanos, ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto times 12, they all brought the same, the Torah actually uses its precious real estate to to elaborate and to repeat each time the exact same קרבן karban and just attributed to a different נשיא nasi. So the מפרשים mefarshim explain the reason is to tell us that even when it seems that externally we're going through the same motions, Jews are all performing the same מצוות mitzvos. We're saying the same words in the סידור siddur. Maybe many even dress in a similar or same uniform. On the outside everything looks the same, but רחמנא ליבא בעי rachmana liba ba'i. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants what's in our heart. He wants what's what is personal, what we individualize. I always love to give the metaphor, I love to give the example, that you know when you give your anniversary card, you give a Mother's Day, Father's Day card, you give a birthday card, you go and you buy the card. On the one hand, you have to make the effort to buy the card. If you were to scribble your birthday message on the back of a napkin and give it to your loved one, they'd be grateful you took the time, but the napkin probably wouldn't cut it. You have to go buy the card. If you're allowed to go out, go out, get it delivered on Amazon, or ask your grandchildren to pick it up for you. However you get the card, you gotta get the card. On the other hand, if you deliver a blank card, American Greetings or Hallmark, American Greetings, we're at Artscroll, we got to say American Greetings. American Greetings card and you give her the blank card with no individualized message, the person's going to hand it right back to you. It's the combination of the two. So our wonderful חז\"ל Chazal gave us the text of the liturgy, they gave us the card called the שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei, the davening, but you've got to personalize it. You got to put in your own words. That's the story of the נשיאים nesi'im. The נשיאים nesi'im brought the same קרבן karban. They all bought the same card. They gave the same American Greetings card to השם Hashem. But you know the message they wrote inside, the way they individualized and personalized, that was different for every one of them. And that is the image of all of our observance in תורה ומצוות Torah u'mitzvos. We're observing the same מצוות mitzvos, the same ד' מינים daled minim, the same שופר shofar, the same סוכה sukkah. It's the same שבת Shabbos candles, same תפילין tefillin, same ציצית tzitzis. We're going through the same מצוות mitzvos, we're saying the same words in the סידור siddur. That is the template, that is the form of the card. But what we write inside, which words we underline, how we personalize, individualize, and make sure that it articulates and expresses our heartfelt feelings, that is up to each and every one of us. So Aaron saw all of that, the Rashi tells us. The end of last week's פרשה parsha, and he said, what? It's not fair to me. It's not fair to me. חלשה דעתו chalsha da'ato, he became saddened and weak. He became frustrated and envious. And he said it's not fair to me. Why should these נשיאים nesi'im have the opportunity to so selflessly give these קרבנות karbanos? ליבא בעי liba ba'i, they give all their heart and pour it into the קרבנות karbanos and what about me? So הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to him, אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא חייך שלך גדול משלהם שאתה מדליק ומטיב את הנרות Amar lo Hakadosh Baruch Hu, chayechah shelcha gadol mishelahem, she'atah madlik u'meitiv es haneros. Yours is greater than theirs. Theirs is a one-time event. You, in an ongoing way, will light the מנורה menorah. You and your progeny afterwards are given this sacred task. Now it's a very, we've spoken about this many times, I don't want to elaborate now. I would not have expected השם Hashem to answer that way. When my children say to me, it's not fair to me. Why did that one get this? And why did that one get that? And this one got to go with you to this place and this one. What do I say to them? Don't worry, don't worry, you're gonna get. I say, you get what you get and you don't get upset. What do you mean it's not fair to me? That's what a child says. That's not what a mature adult says, it's not fair to me. So Hashem seems to reward Aaron's complaint, Aaron's childishness. When Aaron says it's not fair to me, why do they get the נשיאים nesi'im? I want to do it. Why doesn't השם Hashem turn to Aaron and say, you get what you get and you don't get upset? Why does he tell him, don't worry. What you have, what I have in store for you, ooh. What you're going to get to do, that's even better, it's even more special. And I think the answer is that in the world of גשמיות gashmiyus, when it comes to the physical world, איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו eizehu ashir hasameiach b'chelko. Wealth in the physical world is being happy with what you have, not needing more, is not being jealous or envious, is not comparing or competing, is simply being happy with what you have, realizing you get what you get and you don't get upset, because what you got is by design and is specifically designated from above. That's in the world of גשמיות gashmiyus, the physical world. But when it comes to the world of רוחניות ruchniyus, the spiritual world, there a person should not feel you get what you get and you don't get upset. You should feel קנאת סופרים תרבה חכמה kinas sofrim tarbeh chochmah. Competitiveness among scholars generates wisdom and knowledge and breakthrough and novel approaches and opinions. When it comes to the spiritual world, we should be hungry and have an insatiable appetite and not a ruthless competitiveness which is negative, but a competitiveness which pushes us, a competitiveness which drives us, which elevates us, and maybe that's what השם Hashem is rewarding within Aaron, that when Aaron says it's not fair to me spiritually in the world of רוחניות ruchniyus, השם Hashem says, oh, beautiful. I love it. You're jealous of the way they daven, you're jealous of the way they learn, you're jealous of their חסד chesed, you're jealous of their רוחניות ruchniyus, their spirituality. Good. Push yourself further. I'm going to give you opportunities in that realm and in that area. It's a healthy sense of a of a competitiveness. Good. But that wasn't the Rashi I wanted to bring to your attention. It's the next Rashi. We asked why the word בהעלותך behaaloscha. It's a funny and peculiar word. It should have said להדליק lehadlik, when you come to light the מנורה menorah. What do you mean בהעלותך behaaloscha, when you elevate the מנורה menorah? You're not elevating it, you're lighting it. Why is it described as as elevating rather than as kindling or lighting, which is in fact what's taking place? ז\"ל רש\"י על שם שהלהבה עולה קרא בלשון עלייה Zocher Rashi al sheim shehashalheves olah kara b'lashon aliyah. Because you ever look at a flame, what happens in a flame? says Rashi. An amazing thing about a candle. Any physicists on this call? Amazing thing about a candle, says Rashi. Do you know that if you have a candle and you have a flame coming out of the candle and you turn the candle upside down, you know what the flame does? Does it face the ground? The flame still flickers upward. No matter what direction you hold the candle, the flame flickers up. And that's why lighting a candle is called בהעלותך behaaloscha, בלשון עלייה b'lashon aliyah, up, because the flame of the candle always goes up. Now, no, it tells us, כי נר השם נשמת אדם ki ner Hashem nishmas adam. The the soul of a person is likened to a candle, because the human soul should also be flickering and reaching up. We're always striving. The flame of of a person. Animals walk on all four, they face the ground. They want to get as much out of the earth and earthliness as they can. But the human being uniquely walks on two legs because we stretch, we reach for the heavens. We are עליה בהעלותך aliyah, behaaloscha, like the flame that flickers upward, so too we, we flicker upward. שצריך להדליק עד שתהא שלהבת עולה מאליה Shetzarich lehadlik ad shetehei shalheves olah me'eileha. The גמרא Gemara in שבת Shabbos, Rashi is quoting, says that Aaron and his children after him are instructed to light the מנורה menorah, and how are they meant to light the מנורה menorah? Light the מנורה menorah, kindle it in such a way that you touch your flame to that wick and then the wick rises on its own, שתהא שלהבת עולה מאליה shetehei shalheves olah me'eileha, that the flame should rise on its own. And then Rashi gives a second explanation. עוד דרשו רבותינו מכאן שהיה מעלה הייתה לפני המנורה שעליה היה הכהן עומד ומטיב Od darshu Raboseinu mikan shehayah ma'aleh hayesah lifnei hamenorah she'aleha hayah hakohein omed u'meitiv. There was a platform. There was the מנורה menorah, the great מנורה menorah, the golden מנורה menorah, and before the מנורה menorah, there was a platform. So why does it say בהעלותך behaaloscha, when you elevate the מנורה menorah? Because it means when you elevate yourself to light the מנורה menorah. When you step up on that platform in order to reach over and light the מנורה menorah. So Rashi gives us two explanations. One is that you have to kindle the wick in such a way that the flame rises on its own, and the second, בהעלותך behaaloscha, because you would step up onto a platform and light the מנורה menorah from that platform. Which opinion do we follow? Which opinion do we follow? The answer is both. We follow both opinions. There was a platform in front of the מנורה menorah, and the הלכה halacha is the כהנים kohanim have to light the wick until it catches and rises on its own. Since when do we learn two things from one word? That one word בהעלותך behaaloscha generates and teaches us two separate דינים dinim? How do we learn two separate things from one word? I have the ספר sefer at home, not here. I saw on a beautiful ספר sefer on חינוך chinuch a nice idea, a very wonderful idea that suggests that in fact these are not two disparate or separate or competing, conflicting interpretations, but really they are one and the same. And how are they one and the same? They're one and the same because the message is, you know when you touch your flame to that to that wick and you want it to catch and rise and elevate on its own, how do we as parents, how do educators towards their students inspire that next generation שתהא שלהבת עולה מאליה shetehei shalheves olah me'eileha, that we don't baby and we're not helicopter parents, and we're not putting out every fire, and we are not coming in to rescue, and they're not dependent on us in perpetuity. How do we teach and inspire and enrich the next generation so that they are a wick that catches and rises on their own? How do we achieve it? By stepping up onto a pedestal, by rising up ourselves, by modeling the behavior that we're hoping to communicate and to transmit to the next generation. These two interpretations in Rashi are not in fact competing, they're not even complementary. The truth is, they're in sync, they are exactly the same. The way you achieve getting the wick to catch and rise on its own is by yourself stepping up onto a platform and modeling and elevating yourself in a way that the next generation will follow. A very beautiful interpretation about how we teach and how we transfer to the next generation. We can't just teach with our words, we have to teach with our actions. When we are elevated, when we are inspired, then it overflows, it becomes contagious for those around us and for the next generation. When we simply tell people what to do and give the instruction, but we seem hypocritical or duplicitous in our own behavior, we're not stepping up onto that platform, we're not standing on that stage with that spotlight and modeling the behavior that we see or are demanding in others, then they are not only unlikely, they're not going to, they're not going to follow. The ויז'ניצער רבה Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the great ויז'ניצער רבה Vizhnitzer Rebbe says something different. says the ויז'ניצער Vizhnitzer, on בהעלותך את הנרות behaaloscha es haneros, he says, when do we do this most or most importantly? You all know by now, not only from the פרשה parsha class and from the living with אמונה emunah class, but you know from the turn Friday into ערב שבת Erev Shabbos class, what is my favorite day of the week? What should be every Jew's favorite day of the week? Favorite day of the week is שבת Shabbos. So the ויז'ניצער רבה Vizhnitzer Rebbe, and I've pointed this out as many times, so many of the חסידישע ספרים Chasidishe sforim, so many of the חסידישע רב'ס Chasidishe Rebbes, their interpretations and attitude towards פרשה parsha, their commentary on almost every area always comes back to שבת Shabbos. They live בבחינת שבת b'bchinas Shabbos. They are living all week long, longing, looking forward, anticipating, trying to get to that place that's מעין עולם הבא me'ein olam haba, that place that's closest to the world of truth, that place of שבת Shabbos. So says the ויז'ניצער רבה Vizhnitzer Rebbe, the אמר חיים Imrei Chaim, בהעלותך את הנרות behaaloscha es haneros, when you light the candles, when you elevate the candles, when we are that flame flickering up, where? אל מול פני המנורה יאירו שבעת הנרות el mul pnei hamenorah yairu shivas haneros. ששת הנרות מרמזים לששת ימי החול Sheishes haneros meramzim l'sheishes yemei hachol. The six candles, the six branches of the candelabra correspond with the days of the week. והנר האמצעי רומז לשבת קודש v'haner ha'emtza'i romez l'Shabbos kodesh. The middle candle of the candelabra is שבת Shabbos. אם תלב ותחבין את ששת ימי החול כל השבוע אל מול שבת קודש Im taleiv v'techavein es sheishes yemei hachol kol hashavua el mul Shabbos kodesh, שתתכונן תמיד לשבת אז יאירו שבעת הנרות she'tiskonen tamid l'Shabbos, az yairu shivas haneros. יאיר כל השבוע בבחינת שבת yair kol hashavua b'bchinas Shabbos. Says the אמר חיים Imrei Chaim, בהעלותך את הנרות אל מול פני המאורה behaaloscha es haneros el mul pnei hame'orah. You take the six branches and they're tilted towards the middle branch, שבת Shabbos. It means the six days of our week should all be geared toward שבת Shabbos. How many days has it been since שבת Shabbos? I'm still living off of שבת Shabbos פרשת נשא Parshas Nasso last שבת Shabbos. I'm still listening to the זמירות zmiros ringing in my ears. I'm still feeling the heartwarming games I played with my children. I'm still tasting and I have heartburn. I don't have heartburn from my wife's cooking. I still have, I'm still tasting the delicious, incredible food that we ate. I'm still moved by the transformative davening. I'm still feeling well-rested by the extra שלוף shluff I took. שבת Shabbos of the previous week is still with me, and I'm starting to count down and anticipate. It's Tuesday, only tomorrow morning we're going to say לכו נרננה lechu neranena. It's Wednesday already, it's ערב שבת Erev Shabbos already tomorrow. I'm already starting to shop for שבת Shabbos, cook for שבת Shabbos, play the שבת Shabbos playlist in my Apple Music. I'm already getting ready. The six, the six branches of the candelabra אל מול פני המנורה el mul pnei hamenorah. They were all tilted towards that middle branch. The middle branch is שבת Shabbos. A Jew's entire week revolves around counting down towards, enriched and elevated by the longing and the living for the sense of for the sense of שבת Shabbos. That's the one of the ideas of the מנורה menorah. Okay, skipping right ahead. The consecration of the לויים Levi'im. The לויים Levi'im were separated from כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. We know that after the distinction of leadership was taken away from the בכור bechor because they participated in the חטא העגל chet ha'egel, it was transferred and given instead, it was entrusted to the לויים Levi'im. And the לויים Levi'im as part of their consecration process have to do what? They have to shave their head. Why do they shave their head? First of all, because it's in, it's cool, it's the look. Why do they shave their head? Because it's hot outside and it's humid and it's the most comfortable way to be. They shave their head because there's a coronavirus, a pandemic, no one could go to a barber, all of a sudden everybody's giving themselves haircuts. Why are the לויים Levi'im shaving their own head? I'm going to leave that to you as a question. I saw some מפרשים mefarshim discuss it, we don't have time for it today, but I think it's fascinating that part of the process of consecrating the לויים Levi'im, part of the process of elevating the לויים Levi'im, part of the process of giving the לויים Levi'im this charge, this mission of who they're meant to be and what they're meant to achieve and how they're meant to lead and model for the people, is that they shave their head. Why are they shaving their head? They don't have to keep their head shaved, it's not something that's ongoing, but for the time being, what do you think it demonstrates? What message would they absorb? What do you think it would actualize by shaving their heads? I'll just give you one idea that occurred to me is, I think hair, hair is the part of the body that grows that we style and fashion. There are two parts of the body, we spoke about this in תזריע מצורע Tazria Metzora because it's not a coincidence that the מצורע metzora cuts his nails, cuts his hair, her hair. The two parts of the body that we style and we fashion that grow. Other parts of the body grow like our בויך boich, but we don't show it off. We don't want it to grow, we want it to to shrink. The parts of the body that grow naturally and that people tend to style and fashion, they find their individuality, they express their vanity, are their hair and their nails. And maybe there's a message both in the case of the מצורע metzora and here in the case of the לויים Levi'im, that you in your consecrated holy role, you don't have to keep your head shaved in perpetuity, but in this great moment, it's not about the vanity. It's not about your appearance, it's not about how you look, it's not it's about something so much greater. It's about a moment of elevating that is so much that is so much higher. Apprenticeship and responsibility and we get to פרק י\"א Perek Yud Aleph. פרק י\"א Perek Yud Aleph we're introduced to the laws of פסח שני Pesach Sheni. We've spoken about this on פסח שני Pesach Sheni and we're not going to repeat the details now. פסח שני Pesach Sheni is an incredible holiday. It's the holiday of למה נגרע lama nigara. It's the holiday of second chances. It's the holiday of Moshe didn't come to the people and say anybody who was impure, anybody who was ineligible to observe the first פסח Pesach, don't worry, we've got a solution. Second chance, we've got פסח שני Pesach Sheni. Who instituted, who initiated, who was the one who approached Moshe? It was the people themselves with an attitude of למה נגרע lama nigara. And every time we talk about פסח שני Pesach Sheni, we always paint the picture. Can you imagine today in 2020? Did anyone after this פסח Pesach, where rabbis and פוסקים poskim everywhere gave more היתרים heterim, more leniencies to rely on more minimal cleaning, more minimal kashering, not minimal standards, I don't even like those words, but this unusual year we were able to not kill ourselves פסח Pesach in the usual fashion. Did anyone say no, no, no, no, it's not fair to me. It's not fair to me. I want a backache. I want to kill myself. I want to work hard. It's not fair to me. Can you imagine anyone exempt from פסח Pesach who says, it's not fair to me. And yet that's exactly what this people did. They approached Moshe and they say למה נגרע lama nigara, why should we be deprived? What a message, what an attitude. Could you imagine a יידישקייט Yiddishkeit that we teach our children, a יידישקייט Yiddishkeit that we live ourselves, a יידישקייט Yiddishkeit with an attitude of למה נגרע lama nigara. למה נגרע lama nigara. You know for a long time when we were deprived of being able to daven in a מניין minyan, and ברוך השם Baruch Hashem in Boca Raton, we've been able to resume מנינים minyanim, not every age group, although please God our task force is hard at work and we're hoping to be back in shul, under air conditioning, even within the next few days, with incredibly rigid and strict guidelines and be able to all welcome back all age groups in very, very restricted ways. But when we weren't able to daven with a מניין minyan, did you feel למה נגרע lama nigara or did you feel this is געשמאק geshmak? I could daven on my own, guilt-free, guilt-free. I don't have to go to shul, I don't have to fight for a parking spot, I don't have to keep up the pace of the חזן chazan, I don't have to worry about anyone talking or שוש-ing shushing me for my talking, or did you feel למה נגרע lama nigara? Every day I'm so deprived, I can't take it. השם Hashem, I just want to be with you. I just want to be inside your sanctuary. I just want to be with my fellow Jews. Do we have the attitude of למה נגרע lama nigara? Do we feel deprived? Or do we feel relieved? That's the question that פסח שני Pesach Sheni poses for us. When we don't have access to a מצוה mitzvah, do we feel deprived? Or do we feel relieved? Are we indeed the disciples of the holy Jews who instituted, who initiated the the פסח שני Pesach Sheni? They were impure. Why were they impure? Three different opinions in the גמרא Gemara. We follow the opinion they were carrying the bones of Yosef. Yosef is the the father of second chances. Did Yosef not give the greatest second chances? Rav Eibeschutz writes a beautiful essay on this. Did Yosef is Yosef not the model of giving a second chance to his brothers? So Yosef gave a second chance. These Jews turned to Hashem and said, give us a second chance. We carried his bones. That's why we were ineligible. So give us a second chance, the opportunity to observe פסח שני Pesach Sheni. But moving right along, and then we have how we travel. How we travel. Once upon a time, Jews were able to travel. We were able to travel without masks. So without without distancing. They traveled through the משכן Mishkan. They journeyed through the משכן Mishkan. How did they travel? Was there a travel agent? Was there Expedia? How did they travel? How did they book their tickets? How did they get their assignments? So the Torah tells us, וביום הקים את המשכן כיסה הענן את המשכן לאוהל העדות Uvyom hakim es hamishkan kisa ha'anan es hamishkan l'ohel ha'edus, on page 788 in the Artscroll חומש Chumash, פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Behaaloscha, פרק ט Perek Tes, פסוק ט\"ו pasuk tes vov. Chapter 9 verse 15. On the day the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the the משכן Mishkan. ובערב יהיה על המשכן כמראה אש עד בוקר Uva'erev yihyeh al hamishkan k'mareh eish ad boker. In the night there was a fire, the image of a fire on top of the משכן Mishkan, during the day there was a cloud. כן יהיה תמיד הענן יכסנו Kein yihyeh tamid ha'anan yechasenu. This is the way it always was, a cloud at top. ומראה אש לילה u'mareh eish layla. A cloud would guide them during the day and a fire would guide them at night. ולפי העלות הענן מעל האוהל ואחרי כן יסעו בני ישראל U'lfi ha'alos ha'anan mei'al ha'ohel, v'acharei chein yis'u Bnei Yisrael. And when the cloud lifted, boom, that was time. You know, when you're at the gate, last call, boarding, plane is taking off, we're leaving, don't get distracted, you better get on that plane. Take advantage of your mosaic status and be the first one on. Take advantage of of uh whatever status you have. So here, כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, the cloud lifted, last call boarding, we are heading out. How did we know to travel? פסוק י\"ח Pasuk Yud Ches. על פי ה' יסעו בני ישראל ועל פי ה' יחנו Al pi Hashem yis'u Bnei Yisrael, v'al pi Hashem yachanu. כל ימי אשר ישכון הענן על המשכן יחנו Kol yemei asher yishkon ha'anan al hamishkan, yachanu. The Torah tells us succinctly in this פסוק pasuk. And my dearest friends, I have to tell you, I'm going to tell you a beautiful ספורנו Sforno, I'm going to tell you an incredible Rav Wolbe, and they both resonate deeply for me today because I think they capture so much of what we're going through right now in our times. This פסוק pasuk really speaks about what it means to be a Jew, individually what it means to be a Jew, and what it means collectively to be part of the Jewish people, the Jewish story, the Jewish the Jewish destiny. What do I mean? So listen to what the פסוק pasuk. על פי ה' יסעו Al pi Hashem yis'u. When Hashem tells us it's time to go, that's when we go. על פי ה' יחנו Al pi Hashem yachanu. And when Hashem says sit still, that's when we sit still. Says the ספורנו Sforno, says the ספורנו Sforno, you think it's so simple על פי ה' יסעו ועל פי ה' יחנו al pi Hashem yis'u v'al pi Hashem yachanu. Listen to what the ספורנו Sforno says. The רב עובדיה ספורנו Rav Ovadia Sforno, the great Italian medieval commentary. He says אחרי כן יסעו אחר העלות הענן או הצד שהיה הענן פונה acharei chein yis'u achar ha'alos ha'anan o hatzad shehaya ha'anan poneh. How did you know where to go? When Waze tells you, before there was Waze, there was the ענן anan, there was the cloud. Not quite a satellite, but almost there. The cloud would tell you where to go. How did you know it was time to travel? Because the cloud lifted. How did you know where to go? Left, right? מחלנקס machlinks, how do you know? רעכט recht, how do you go right, you go left? How do you know which direction? So the ספורנו Sforno says, because whichever way the cloud lifted, that's where you went. When you saw the direction of the cloud, that's how they knew where to travel. ובמקום שישכון שם הענן שם יחנו u'v'makom sheyishkon sham ha'anan sham yachanu. And the place that the cloud stopped moving, where the cloud settled, that's where you settled. Listen to the ספורנו Sforno. סיפר זכותן של ישראל שלכתם אחריו במדבר Sipar zechusan shel Yisrael shelechtam acharov bamidbar. What an incredible merit the Jewish people had attained, such a high level. Could you imagine the merit and the miracle? For us, you open your phone, you have GPS, and whatever system you use, Waze or Google Maps or whatever system that you're using, it's incredible. By the way, like so many other blessings in our life, we've come to take it for granted. Who remembers when the driver would drive and the co-pilot had a huge map spread out on the dashboard, was trying to figure out where to go. And you made the wrong turn and now I got to recalibrate and I can't figure it out. West Side Highway, Henry Hudson Parkway, quickly, 1010 News, get on the channel, they're about to announce which one has the traffic, where do we go, when do we go, you missed the turn, how do you go, the map. And then a miracle came out called MapQuest. Oh, wow, what a miracle. Such a thing called the internet. Do you know I could put in my address and it tells me how to go, and then I could print it out. It's amazing. The problem was, it was only as amazing as you're sticking to it. If you made a wrong turn, you could crumple up your MapQuest and throw it out the window. You shouldn't throw it out the window, that's littering. You could throw it in the back seat because it was useless. And then we got GPS. And now our car is connected or our phone is connected to a satellite in the sky, that literally להבדיל lehavdil, like the ריבונו של עולם Ribbono shel Olam, can see over buildings and tells us you can't see, but you know there's a traffic accident up there. You know there's traffic, there's an accident, there's a the road is closed, there's a rally up there, and redirect us and it's a miracle. Who stops and pauses now? You say, oh, it's so annoying, it's so slow, or I change the voice, I didn't like it or we have complaints. It's a miracle. That was the miracle they had in the in the midbar. The Sforno says long before there was a phone or a car or GPS or MapQuest, there was the cloud, the ריבונו של עולם's Ribbono shel Olam's cloud. And it was the זכות zechus of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. What a miracle and what a merit. הראשונה שהיו חונים במקום שישכון שם הענן אף על פי שהיה המקום תוהו יליל ישימון Harishona shehayu chonim b'makom sheyishkon sham ha'anan, af al pi shehaya hamakom tohu yelil yeshimon. Says the Sforno, here are the key words of the Sforno. The Sforno says, you know, here's how these travels worked. Here's how these travels worked. You know, sometimes, the Torah is orchestrating exactly where to go. And the Sforno says by the way of this description, the Torah is recounting the greatness of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. The miracle that they merited for Hashem to be their divine GPS, that the cloud would part, it's time to head out. Which direction the cloud went in, that's the direction that they're meant to go. You know, at times they camped in glorious places. Sometimes the cloud led them to the Four Seasons of the Ritz Carlton in the midbar, and they discovered a pool and a resort and an oasis and they said, wow, געשמאק geshmak, this is incredible. All you can eat buffet, tea room, this is amazing. But other times the cloud lifted and then settled and it took them to a place which was desolate, which was barren, a place that was uncomfortable, a place that was not where they wanted to be, a place that was terribly uncomfortable. So did they have the opportunity to say, you know, we're going to book our stay at the Ritz a little bit longer Hashem. You and your cloud can go. We're going to stay a couple more days. We're extending our vacation. Or you know this place is such a dump, we're out of here like Vladimir. I know the cloud hasn't lifted, but we'll see you there, we're out of here. Says the Sforno, there's something incredibly beautiful here. The זכות zechus of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, the greatness of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael is whatever the cloud led them, they knew that's where they were meant to be, and they leaned in and embraced being there. And says Rav Wolbe, when he expands upon this Sforno in the שיעורי חומש Shiurei Chumash on פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Behaaloscha, says Rav Wolbe so beautiful, what was true physically in the journeys and travels of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael in the desert is true spiritually in our journeys and our travels. Sometimes we find ourselves in a destination we desperately don't want to be. We are in a reality, a quarantine, a distancing, inability to see children or grandchildren, to celebrate שמחות simchos or to mourn and grieve the way we want, deprived of of מניין minyan or deprived of companionship. Sometimes the cloud has settled and left us in a place grossly uncomfortable, inconvenient, we so badly don't want to be there. You know, and other times the cloud lifts and heads out and we say, no, no, no. I don't want the שמחה simcha to end. And I don't want my time with my loved one to end. Hashem, don't take them from me. And I don't want this experience or feeling to end. Cloud, don't go anywhere. Let me stay and savor a little bit longer. And yet, like the greatness of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael in the midbar, who always followed that cloud, no matter what, because they knew it wasn't measured by their comfort or convenience, it was measured by Hashem determining it was where they were meant to be, the same is true for us. There's a virtual cloud that lifts and settles and it guides and directs us in the journeys and travels in our lives. And the merit, the זכות zechus, the greatness of a כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael is not that we follow Hashem to the place and then stay there longer, or get out of there earlier, but rather we follow his direction where he leads us. That we embrace the fact that he is the one in charge, and he takes us and puts us where we're meant to be, even if we don't always appreciate or want it to be exactly that way. That was their greatness and merit then, and that is our greatness and our merit today. And as difficult as it sometimes it is, it's something that we have to lean into and sometimes we have to try to struggle to achieve. Moving right along. פרק י\"א Perek Yud Aleph, we have so much to say. So much to say and so little time. So that is the story of how they traveled. פרק י\"א Perek Yud Aleph with the חצוצרות chatzotzros. The חצוצרות chatzotzros are the trumpets, different than a שופר shofar, it's the trumpet. חצוצרות Chatzotzros did not play, I was learning the פרשה parsha with my son. He said, what happened to the שוואנץ shvantz? shvarim. Because we were learning they played a תקע tekia, and they played a תרועה trua. Those were the signals of when to travel, and when to stay. So there were signals, there were codes, Morse code, but it was only a תקע tekia and a תרועה trua. We were not given in the מדבר midbar, the חצוצרות chatzotzros did not play the שברים shvarim, that note was not part of the was not part of the uh of the musical arrangement. So the חצוצרות chatzotzros would indicate when it was time to leave and when it was time to stay and how we traveled through the מדבר midbar. So in this context, פסוק pasuk פרק י perek yud, chapter 10, פסוק ב pasuk beis. We're on page 782. Says the תורה Torah, וידבר ה' אל משה לאמור VaYidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, עשה לך שתי חצוצרות כסף asei lecha shtei chatzotzros kesef, make two trumpets, כסף מקשה kesef miksha תעשה אותם ta'aseh osam. Make them out of silver מקשה miksha. והיו לך למקרא העדה ולמסע את המחנות Vihayu lecha lemikra ha'eidah ulemasa es hamachanos. And they should be for you for summoning. This is how you will call the עדה eidah, you will call the עדה eidah. First of all, it's a very interesting word. The word מקשה miksha. Where did I see this? I don't even remember where I saw this. Am I going to find this? Because I don't remember where I saw it. The word מקשה miksha is a funny word. What is the word מקשה miksha? I don't remember. I think it was the קאצקער Kotsker. The word מקשה miksha, the מנורה menorah's made מקשה miksha, and the trumpets here are made מקשה miksha. שתי חצוצרות כסף מקשה shtei chatzotzros kesef miksha. What is the word מקשה miksha? It means hammered out. מקשה miksha, hammered out. I think it was the the קאצקער Kotsker who said, from here we see from the word מקשה miksha to be an עקשן akshan. To be an עקשן akshan is to be stubborn. An עקשן akshan is to be stubborn, a stubborn mule. These כלים keilim of the משכן mishkan had to be מקשה miksha. They had to be hammered out and we are hammered out. We have to be stubborn in our יידישקייט Yiddishkeit, stubborn in our ideals and our ideas, stubborn in our belief system and stubborn in our lifestyle. But that's not what I want to bring your attention to. It's to the word עדה eidah. והיו לך למקרא העדה Vihayu lecha lemikra ha'eidah. What were the purpose of these חצוצרות chatzotzros? The goal, the purpose of these חצוצרות chatzotzros was to summon, to call, to communicate with the עדה eidah. Says רב סולובייצ'יק Rabbi Soloveitchik here on these words on the עדה eidah, פרק י Perek Yud, פסוק ב Pasuk Beis. Listen to what he says. It's a lengthy, it's a lengthy comment, but it's really worthwhile. It's the only comment we're sharing from רב סולובייצ'יק Rabbi Soloveitchik this particular week, but it's worthwhile. There are two ways in which people become bound as a group, as a community, a society or a nation. The first is when they face a common enemy. They band together for mutual protection, knowing that only by doing so can they survive. This phenomenon extends far beyond Homo sapiens. Animals too come together in herds or flocks to defend themselves against predators. Such a group is a מחנה machaneh, a camp, a defense formation. There's a quite a different form of association. People can come together because they share a vision, an aspiration, a set of ideals. This is the meaning of an עדה eidah, a congregation. עדה Eidah is related to the word עד eid, a witness. An עדה eidah is not a defensive formation but a creative one. People join to do together what none of them could achieve alone. A society built around a shared project, a vision of the common good, is not a מחנה machaneh, but an עדה eidah. Not a camp, but a congregation. These are not just two types of groups, but in the most profound sense, two different ways of existing and relating to the world. A camp is brought into being by what happens to it from the outside. A congregation comes into existence by internal decision. The former is reactive, the latter proactive. The first is a response to what has happened to the group in the past. The second represents what the group seeks to achieve in the future. Whereas camp exists even in the animal kingdom, congregations are uniquely human. They flow from the human ability to think, speak, communicate, and vision a society different from any that has existed in the past, and to collaborate to bring it about. Jews are a people in both these two quite opposite ways. Our ancestors became a מחנה machaneh in Egypt, forged together in the crucible of slavery and suffering. They were different. They were not Egyptians, they were Hebrews, a word which means on the other side. They were an outsider. Ever since, Jews have known that we are thrown together by circumstance. We share a history all too often written in tears. This is the covenant of fate. This is not purely a purely negative phenomenon. It gives rise to a powerful sense that we are part of a single story, that we have in common as strong as the things that separate us. Our faith does not distinguish between aristocrats and common folk, between rich and poor, between a prince garbed in the royal purple and the popper begging from door to door, between the priest and the assimilationist. Even though we speak a plethora of languages, even though we are inhabitants of different lands, we still share the same fate. If the Jew in נהוואל Nahaval is beaten, then the security of the Jew in the place in the palace is endangered. It leads also to a sense of shared suffering. When we pray for the recovery of a sick person, we do so בתוך שאר חולי ישראל bisoch sha'ar cholei Yisrael, among all the sick. When we comfort a mourner, we do so בתוך שאר אבלי ציון וירושלים bisoch sha'ar aveilei Tzion v'Yerushalayim. We weep together, we celebrate together. This in turn leads to shared responsibility. כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh. And this leads to a collective action in the fields of welfare, charity, deeds of loving kindness, as the רמב\"ם Rambam writes. All these are dimensions of the covenant of fate, born of the experience of slavery in Egypt. But there's an additional element of Jewish identity, the covenant of destiny, the ברית היעוד bris haye'ud, entered into at Mount Sinai. This defines the people of Israel not as the object of persecution, but as the subject of a unique vocation, to become a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש mamleches kohanim v'goy kadosh, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Under this covenant, the Jewish people is defined not by what others do to it, but by the task it has undertaken, the role it has chosen to play in history. The Israelites did not choose to become slaves in Egypt. That was a fate thrust upon them by someone else. They did, however, choose to become God's people when they said נעשה ונשמע na'aseh v'nishma. Destiny, call, vocation, purpose, task, these create not a מחנה machaneh, but an עדה eidah, not a camp, but a congregation. The Jewish people constitute an עדה eidah when we are united in acknowledging and loving השם Hashem. We have a shared desire to live a sanctified life. In such times, they form an עדה eidah, not because they take pride in their intellectuals, scientific geniuses, or inspired authors. Their עדה eidah is distinguished by virtue of its embrace of the prophets, תנאים, אמוראים, עלה הלכה Tanaim, Amoraim, Alah Halacha, holy and heroic people. There are times when Jews come together as a מחנה machaneh, out of fear of an עמלק Amalek or המן Haman, and because it's impossible for them to assimilate. Such is the case in our own time when the sanctity is diminished, שבת Shabbos is in exile, Jewish family life is under assault, and our past spiritual glory is in tatters. We are bereft of the ancient commitment to spirituality that united us in the past. Today we're forced to invoke intellectual and pragmatic considerations for Jewish solidarity and so on. Where there is no shared spiritual vision, fear and trepidation are the only recourse to bring people together. But fear is a negative emotion, utterly incapable of building a lasting unity. Even though a מחנה machaneh might be formed on an emergency basis, its internal divisions will always resurface once the danger has passed. The only unity among Jews that can persist over time is the unity of an עדה eidah, which, like a ציבור tzibbur or קהל kahal, is characterized not by shared fear or anxiety, but by a collective spiritual goal and purpose. I didn't even read to you the whole thing, but what a beautiful, beautiful entry and description by רב סולובייצ'יק Rabbi Soloveitchik. This word עדה eidah is such a different existence. The difference between fate and destiny, the difference between that which binds us out of fear or out of hope, reactive or proactive. There are two reasons we could be a community or a קהל kahal, a congregation. We're not just a camp, we are a congregation. We have a certain sense of mission and charge and purpose, all captured in this word עדה eidah. And the reason this resonates and speaks to me, again, these are פרשה parshah perspectives for today, applying it to what's going on in our lives, is because I think you can apply our reaction collectively to this virus the same way. Are we simply reacting to the virus? Is any sense of unity in America or globally today just because we're all in it together? Just because only if we cooperate and collaborate, can we defeat it? Or is our unity driven by something so much more significant? Is it only by fear and defensiveness, or do we have a patriotism, and do we have a value system that binds us together? Like so many of you, I've been really heartbroken over the last three months, that an opportunity what could have been this generation, this next generation's 9/11 moment to say, you know what, we're under attack not from an enemy outside from a microscopic enemy, and that should bring us together and react and think and contemplate and bind us in a patriotic way, not just how can we collaborate in a way that will ensure our survival, but how can we revisit the very ideals and values of why we're even here. And so tragically in my mind, it actually did the opposite. It divided us further, and it polarized and politicized every way in which we've measured this entire experience and event and the and the reactions to it. It's terribly tragic. It's it's a the tragedy is compounded by that inability to rise together not only reactively, but proactively, to redefine ourselves. I'm not talking even now about the Jewish community in particular, although unfortunately that's true for them, for us as well, but I'm talking about the American people. I'm talking about the global population. I'm talking about however you want to broadly define it, there are two ways to define a group of people, and sadly we defined ourselves only I think by that lower way. It's not too late, and maybe we can still come back. פרק י פסוק כט perek yud, pasuk chaf tes. Still in this section, the trumpets and the and the encampments and how we traveled. פרק י פסוק כט Perek yud, pasuk chaf tes. Now we're up to Moshe inviting his father-in-law. They've they've now received the instructions of the GPS and how they travel and when they know it's time to stop and to rest. And Moshe turns to his father-in-law. ויאמר משה לחבב בן רעואל המדיני VaYomer Moshe leChovav ben Reu'el haMidyani, חותן משה chosein Moshe, נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום אשר אמר ה' אותו אתן לכם Nosim anachnu el hamakom asher amar Hashem oso eten lachem. לכה אתנו והיטבנו לך lecha itanu v'heitavnu lach, כי ה' דיבר טוב על ישראל ki Hashem diber tov al Yisrael. Moshe turned to יתרו Yisro, here identified as חובב בן רעואל Chovav ben Reu'el. He had many names. And he says, we're traveling אל המקום אשר אמר ה' el hamakom asher amar Hashem. We're heading out, new GPS coordinates. The cloud has lifted. It's time to go. Come with us. Do a favor for me. Hashem has spoken good of Israel. Come on, you gotta come with us. Don't leave. Whatever you do, don't leave. Don't leave, come with us. So, some jokingly say, this is a unusual departure where a son-in-law is begging his father-in-law to stay, but I can proudly tell you, my in-laws went back to New York last week. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law is sitting שבעה shiva. They went back because wife's grandmother passed away. And but before they left, we begged, don't go. Come back. We want you to stay. Don't leave. Moshe's telling his father-in-law, don't leave. You have to stay. ויאמר אליו לא אלך כי אם אל ארצי ואל מולדתי אלך VaYomer eilav lo eilech ki im el artzi v'el moladti eilech. יתרו Yisro says, I'm going. I'm going. And Moshe doubles down. No, don't go. You'll be our eyes. You have to stay. And the Torah never tells us, did יתרו Yisro stay or go? We've investigated this in the past. It's a big מחלוקת machlokes among the מפרשים meforshim, among the ראשונים Rishonim. Did יתרו Yisro stay or did יתרו Yisro go? We don't know. The Torah never tells us, which tells me that it's not so important. It's not so important whether he stayed or he went. What is important is that Moshe asked him. Why did Moshe want יתרו Yisro to stay? What did יתרו Yisro provide that what did יתרו Yisro provide rather that Moshe himself couldn't? What did יתרו Yisro's presence, what did יתרו Yisro's perspective, what did יתרו Yisro's leadership provide that Moshe nor anyone else with them could? So much so that Moshe was begging his father-in-law to stay. I leave that for you as a question. But on these words, נוסעים אנחנו nosim anachnu. נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום אשר אמר ה' nosim anachnu el hamakom asher amar Hashem. My good friend Rabbi ארי מירזוף שליט\"א Ari Merzoff, shlita directed me to this beautiful אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. The ויז'ניצר Vizhnitzer says on these words, נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום nosim anachnu el hamakom, this is the bumper statement. This is, put this on your, put this on your mirror. This is what it means, the motto of the Jewish people. נוסעים אנחנו nosim anachnu. Our whole life should be defined, informed, inspired by, we're going. And where are we going? נוסעים אנחנו nosim anachnu. My whole life is trying to go אל המקום el hamakom. I'm going to השם Hashem. מקום Makom is one of the names of השם Hashem. We say המקום ינחם אתכם hamakom yenachem eschem. We say ברוך המקום ברוך הוא Baruch hamakom baruch hu. That word המקום hamakom is one of the names of השם Hashem. And therefore, this פסוק pasuk homiletically is capturing what is the mission statement, what is the goal of a Jew and a Jewish life and lifestyle. What is our mission? נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום Nosim anachnu el hamakom. We're going. אני נוסע אל מקום שמדבר רק משמו יתברך Ani nosei el makom shemidavar rak mishmo yisbarach. Where am I going? Only to a place that is reaching this striving, this a flickering flame, ascending and reaching high. נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום noseim anachnu el hamakom, says the ויז'ניצר Vizhnitzer. אמר משה רבינו לישראל Amar Moshe Rabbeinu l'Yisrael, מיר פֿאָרן צום Mir faren tzum, I don't know what the Yiddish is. זה כל תכליתנו על אדמות Zei kol tachliseinu al adamos. This is the תכלית tachlis, the goal, the mission, the purpose. This is why we're here. נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום noseim anachnu el hamakom. The whole reason we're here is to go back to, to find, to feel connected with Hashem. This is what it's all about. And he begs, he begs יתרו Yisro, you got to stay. What does he say? לכה אתנו והיטבנו לך כי השם דיבר lecha itanu v'heitavnu lach ki Hashem diber. Do a favor for us. Do a do a do me a טובה toiva. כי השם דיבר ki Hashem diber, because השם Hashem spoke. Says the ויז'ניצר Vizhnitzer, אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, אמר משה ליתרו Amar Moshe l'Yisro, לכה אתנו והיטבנו לך lecha itanu v'heitavnu lach. Come with us and do us a favor. ומהי הטובה U'mahi hatovah? What's the favor you could do? כי השם דיבר ki Hashem diber. נדבר תמיד בהשם יתברך nedaber tamid b'Hashem yisbarach. You know the favorite a Jew can do for another Jew? Talk about השם Hashem. Share a דבר תורה dvar Torah. Lift me up. Offer inspiration. Increase my אמונה amunah. לכה אתנו והיטבנו לך Lecha itanu v'heitavnu lach. A Jew turns to another Jew and says, come with me and do me a favor, and what's the favor? כי השם דיבר ki Hashem diber. Let's talk about השם Hashem. The biggest favor you can do for me is don't tell me about the Corona data and don't tell me about the latest headlines and don't tell me about the stock market, although ברוך השם Baruch Hashem it's mostly recovered, and don't tell me about the sports scores, that there are no sports scores to even report, and don't tell me the latest gossip and juicy info on the neighborhood, and don't tell me about the rabbi's דרשה drasha, what you rated, but rather כי השם דיבר ki Hashem diber. The biggest favor והיטבנו לך v'heitavnu lach, the biggest favor a Jew could do for a for a fellow Jew, כי השם דיבר ki Hashem diber. Let's talk about השם Hashem. Let's talk about השם Hashem. Tell me a שטיקל תורה shtickel Torah, tell me a beautiful insight, elevate, raise me, כי השם דיבר ki Hashem diber, tell me a beautiful דבר תורה dvar Torah. אַזױ זאָגט די אמרי חיים Aze zogt di Imrei Chaim, a beautiful insight of the ויז'ניצר Vizhnitzer. Turning the page. We have the story of the first journey, three days. They went to go check, the cloud, ויהי בנסוע הארון vayihi binsoa ha'aron, the upside down נו\"ן'ס nun's. Ooh, the upside down נו\"ן'ס nun's. The upside down נו\"ן'ס nun's. Do we have time for the upside down נו\"ן'ס nun's? The upside down נו\"ן'ס nun's bracket off these two psukim. We say one when we take the Torah out, we say the other one we put the Torah back. And this the גמרא Gemara says is a ספר בפני עצמו sefer bifnei atzmo. We call it a חומש Chumash and we act as if the חומש Chumash is made up of five books, but the truth is the חומש Chumash is made up not of five books but of seven books. We have במדבר Bamidbar is really three books, before the first נון nun, the two psukim, after the second נון nun, there's three books within במדבר Bamidbar. So 4 + 3 is 7. There are seven books of the תורה Torah, not five. This bracket is its own book. What's going on with these נו\"ן'ס nun's that bracket it off? These two psukim. The גמרא Gemara in Shabbos on Daf kuf... on Daf kuf tes ayin zayin, explains that the more appropriate place for these two psukim was the beginning of במדבר Bamidbar when we were talking about the encampments. The insignias and the logos and where everybody went, that's what they should have been. ויהי בנסוע הארון ובנוחה יאמר Vayihi binsoa ha'aron u'v'nucho yomar. These two psukim really belong there. So why are they here? Because they're an interruption between the stories, negative stories of the Jewish people. We are about to share themes with the Jewish people, a bunch of complainers, incorrigible people, it would reflect poorly to have a pattern or string of them. To break it up, we inserted it here. That explains the usual unusual placement. But why the unusual נון הפוכים nun ha'fuchim, upside down נונים nunim. We have a backwards נון nun. Now the truth is an inverted נון nun looks like a bracket. So you can simply say that they didn't have a printing press and so the upside down נון nun looked like a bracket to bracket off this section. However, the Kabbalistic work, the מדרש הנעלם Midrash haNe'elam explains differently. Listen to the מדרש הנעלם Midrash haNe'elam. כבודו של הקדוש ברוך הוא Kevodo shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu ממש mamash, והם מעיקר של עולם ve'heim mei'kar she'olam. The very glory of Hashem's foundation of the world, ובאלו נונין u'v'eilu nunin, עשה הקדוש ברוך הוא oseh Hakadosh Baruch Hu, לפרוק להו לישראל על ידי משיח lifrok lehu l'Yisrael al yedei Mashiach. Hashem is going to redeem the Jewish people and bring משיח Mashiach by virtue of these two nunim. Couple of brackets? Through two brackets, the font, the bracket, the the punctuation? Hashem's going to bring משיח Mashiach through punctuation? Ha? What does it mean? So the Midrash says because of this that יעקב Yaakov blessed his children, for one of יעקב Yaakov's chief ברכות brachos was וידגו לרוב בקרב הארץ v'yidgu larov b'kerev ha'aretz. They'll be plentiful in the land. All right, this is a very cryptic comment in the מדרש הנעלם Midrash haNe'elam. What does that mean? In the merit of the brackets of the punctuation, משיח Mashiach will come. Why? Fulfilling יעקב Yaakov's ברכה bracha, וידגו לרוב v'yidgu larov, you'll multiply like the fish. What in the world is this talking to? Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, זכרונו לברכה zichrono livracha, who we're still mourning and grieving his loss, שבעה shiva is still being observed, explained the enigmatic Midrash the following, I think very beautiful way. He was a master, master דרשן darshen, a model to so many of us who can't even come close to measuring up. וידגו לרוב V'yidgu larov, he says the blessing of יעקב Yaakov to his children was to increase, to promulgate profusely like דגים dagim, like fish. Another word in Hebrew and Aramaic for fish, the Aramaic word for fish is, drum roll, please, נון nun. The תרגום Targum on the ברכה bracha, וידגו לרוב v'yidgu larov, the תרגום Targum says, וכנוני ימא יסגון u'chenunei yama yisgun. They should be as plentiful, כנוני ימין chenunei yamin, like the נון'ס nun's of the sea. Elsewhere in our פרשה parsha, the people complain, they say we remember the fish, I'm not sure we'll have time to get to it at the end of our פרשה parsha. We remember the דגה daga, the fish. And there the תרגום אונקלוס Targum Onkelos again says the דגה daga, נוניא nunaya. The Aramaic word for fish is נון nun. So Dr. Lamm says the following. Do you know that once salmon mature and they're ready to lay eggs of their own and produce offspring, they have an urge to return to the river in which they were born. They want to go home, they simply want to go home. So incredibly, using their keen sense of smell and chemical trail, salmon have the ability to migrate back from the sea or ocean to their freshwater place of birth in order to be able to spawn. And this urge is so strong that salmon can do something that you'd never guess they can do. It propels them to be able to literally swim upstream. They go against the current in order to get back to where they came from. If you don't believe me, I watched a video online, you can Google this or go on YouTube, and you could watch a video of salmon swimming upstream, and it's really an incredible sight to see. They are so driven by the desire to go home, to go back to where they came from, that they're able to literally swim upstream. Why did יעקב Yaakov wish for his children to be like fish? Like נונין nunin? And why will being like נונין nunin bring משיח Mashiach? So listen to what Rabbi Lamm suggests, quote: In order to bring about the redemption to set the world to right and justify its continued existence, to bring the spirit of divinity into the world, what is necessary is the readiness to do what fish do. A willingness to swim upstream, to go against the tide, to dare the raging currents of the foaming sea. The ability to you to your vision even when the masses declare you are blind or unfit. Even when the powers of the world or community disparage you and isolate you, without the readiness to swim upstream when you are convinced that is the only right way to go, you'll never get to the other side. That readiness is what we call courage, he writes. That's what it means. So therefore, these two נונין nunin, these נונין הפוכין nunin ha'fuchin, were chosen specifically, we have to be willing to go and to swim upstream. Separately, he doesn't quote Dr. Lamm doesn't reference the Piaseczna Rebbe. But the great Piaseczna Rebbe, זכותו יגן עלינו zehuto yagen aleinu, Hashem yikom damo, Rav Kalonymus Kalman Shapira writes in his tzav v'zeiruz, his spiritual diary, listen to this quote. He says, you cannot remain static in this torrent river just by standing firm in your place. You must actively swim against the flow. You may not be successful in swimming upstream, but at least you will not be swept down by the flow. So it is with spiritual life and the purity of spirit that you have attained. You cannot retain them against the flow unless you continue to struggle for spiritual growth. You must swim upstream without respit, upward, onward against the flow. There may be a limit to how far you can go, but at least you will not be drawn down. WC Fields once said, quote, remember, a dead fish can float downstream. It takes a live one to swim upstream. So whether you're dead or alive spiritually is determined by your willingness to swim upstream, to be like a נון nun, a fish, to go against the stream. These brackets, these backwards nunin, these fish, it's in their merit that Mashiach will come, it means our willingness and our commitment to be willing to swim upstream. האספסוף Hasafsoof, after this story comes, ויהי העם כמתאוננים vayihi ha'am k'misonenim. And that word כמתאוננים k'misonenim, we became a bunch of complainers. This is the section we wanted to bracket off, in order to break up the pattern that is describing we're a bunch of incorrigible, immature, adolescent complainers. ויהי העם כמתאוננים Vayihi ha'am k'misonenim. We were like a bunch of complainers. That word מיתאוננים misonenim is the hitpa'el. The problem is not complaining. That's not a problem. There are a lot of legitimate things to complain about. There are legitimate things to complain about. However, do you complain and criticize constructively or destructively? And much more significantly, when you come with a problem, do you offer a solution? Or you only like to harp on pointing out the problem? You see what what went wrong here is ויהי העם כמתאוננים רע באזני ה' vayihi ha'am k'misonenim ra b'oznei Hashem. The problem here is, מיתאוננים misonenim. I think it's the קאצקער Kotsker who says, the problem here, כמתאוננים k'misonenim is, they became, it's not that they were good, well-balanced, generally positive, appreciative people who had a legitimate complaint. ויהי העם כמתאוננים Vayihi ha'am k'misonenim. They transformed themselves into a group of complainers. We all know people like that. Are you generally appreciative? Do you generally see the good and the positive? Are you generally constructive? Are you generally part of the solution? And once in a while there's a legitimate thing to complain about? Or are you a incessant, perpetual, endless complainer. There's a difference between being a good and happy person with a legitimate complaint. מיתאוננים Misonenim is hitpa'el. It's reflexive. They turned themselves into complainers. Nobody wants to be around a complainer. Nobody wants around be around a person who's default status is to offer the complaint, to see what's wrong, to criticize. So it's a world of difference between being a person with a complaint or to be a complainer. כמתאוננים רע באזני ה' K'misonenim ra b'oznei Hashem, that's where they went wrong, and that's why they were held accountable. That's where they lost Moshe. Moshe couldn't take it. It's one thing when you're well-balanced, appreciative, good, generous, and you have a legitimate complaint. It's another when you've just turned yourself into a complainer. I I understand Moshe, I can relate to Moshe. Nobody's interested in somebody who is just a complainer. And that's where we have to ask ourselves, when we're coming to offer that complaint, are we pointing out only the problem, or are we also offering the solution? Are we pointing out a complaint, but we also are appreciative, or are we just a complainer? ויהי העם כמתאוננים רע Vayihi ha'am k'misonenim ra. And וישמע ה' vayishma Hashem, Hashem heard them and he got very angry. Moshe davens here for them. והאספסוף אשר בקרבו V'ha'asafsoof asher b'kirbo, פסוק ד pasuk daled. Who are these אספסוף אשר בקרבו asafsoof asher b'kirbo? There was a rabble. The rabble. These uh asafsoof. אשר בקרבו Asher b'kirbo. התאוו תאוה His'avu ta'avah. They cultivated a craving. וישובו ויבכו V'yashuvu v'yivku. They sat and they cried, מי יאכילנו בשר mi ya'achileinu basar? I want some flesh. It sounds like me on שבועות Shavuos. I want some meat. I want some flesh. Enough with the מילכיגס milchigs. Enough with the פרווה parve. Enough with the מן man. Where's the meat? Show me some meat. Where's the meat? I want a barbecue. I want some flesh. Where's the meat? So who are the rabble rousers? Who are the instigators who started this rebellion, this riot against Moshe and against Hashem? They were the אספסוף asafsoof. And who are the אספסוף asafsoof? So רש\"י Rashi helps us identify them. Says רש\"י, אלו ערב רב שנאספו עליהם בצאתם ממצרים Rashi, eilu erev rav she'ne'esfu aleihem b'tseisam mi'Mitzrayim. These were the ערב רב eirev rav. Who are the ערב רב eirev rav? רש\"י Rashi says these אספסוף asafsoof, these rabble rousers, are the ערב רב eirev rav. ערב רב Eirev rav means literally translates to a mixed multitude. Who are the mixed multitude, the mixed multitude? So we know that the mixed multitude are already in מצרים Mitzrayim. The ערב רב eirev rav were the Egyptians who were circumcised by יוסף Yosef who said they were attracted and drawn to יוסף Yosef's lifestyle and way of life, his ideology, and they said we want to be connected. We want to walk away from idolatry and paganism. We want to connect to you. So יוסף Yosef already circumcised them in Egypt, and they stayed with יוסף Yosef and his offspring, and in מצרים Mitzrayim, when 210 years we were in servitude, they lived isolated in their own cities for hundreds of years until it came time for יציאת מצרים yetzias Mitzrayim. And now when God took us out, they attached themselves to the Jewish people, and they followed the Jewish people into the barren wilderness. So what happened? What went wrong? How did they go from being this noble group of of potential, almost converts, to being these rabble rousers who instigate this rebelliousness within the Jewish people? So, רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe, again in שיעורי חומש על פרשת בהעלותך Shiurei Chumash on parshas Behaaloscha. Rav Wolbe points out something very, very important to see. Namely, sometimes a person starts out well. You have very noble intention, very noble goals, and you set out and start out on a path towards a wonderful, a wonderful destiny. And then you get distracted and it gets compromised along the way, and you lose your focus. The journey on which the ערב רב eirev rav embarked was true greatness, but their resolve broke down, and they began to focus instead of on ideas and ideology, they began to focus on their appetite and their on their uh desires. And when they did, when they followed the desire and their appetite, that's when the pasuk says, the האספסוף asafsoof. You know, it's not enough to climb the mountain, but you have to stay on top of it. So this ערב רב eirev rav attached themselves, they almost made it there, but then they hit a ceiling. And what was the ceiling that they hit? It was the ceiling of appetite and desire, and it caused them to give up. It's not enough to start, you got to finish. You got to make it all the way through. In עקידת יצחק Akeidas Yitzchak, Hashem says to אברהם Avraham, please withstand the test. And רש\"י Rashi explains what he's pleading with him is, don't just do the first nine tests and fail the 10th and the people will say it was nothing. When you start something, you got to see it all the way through. You have to finish it and you have to complete it. המתחיל במצוה Hamaschil b'mitzvah says the ירושלמי בראש השנה Yerushalmi in Rosh Hashanah, המתחיל במצוה אומרים לו גמור hamaschil b'mitzvah omrim lo gemor. Whoever starts a mitzvah, you tell them, finish it, get it right. רבי ישראל סלנטר Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the מוסר mussar giant said, you know, a person is not always obligated to be a גדול gadol. You can't always be a super genius. You can't always be great. But while not everybody is destined to be a גדול gadol, to be great, we can be what is called a שלם shalem, we can be whole, we can be complete. To be a complete person is to finish what you start, is to continue on that path, is to make a resolution and to arrive at the destination. You set out to learn that safer, you set out to lose that weight, you set out to start that new pattern, you set out to do that חסד chesed, you set out to volunteer, whatever you set out to do, be whole, be complete, be a שלם shalem even if you can't always be a גדול gadol, even if you can't always be a גדול gadol. רב וואלבע Rav Wolbe quotes his רבי rebbe, רב ירוחם ליוואוויץ Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, who compares it to a pot with a with a hole. He says, such a utensil is not a pot with a hole, it's not a pot at all. So if אברהם Avraham had failed that 10th test, he wouldn't have been someone who passed most of his tests. He'd be a person who failed his tests. So that's what it means that we have to be whole, to finish it through and to see it all the way through. רב פאם Rav Pam had a very similar idea. רב פאם Rav Pam said a very similar idea on פרשת תרומה, תצווה, ויקהל, פקודי parshas Trumah, Tetzaveh, Vayakhel, Pekudei. We've shared this many times. Why do we have ויקהל פקודי Vayakhel Pekudei repeating everything that was in תרומה ותצווה Trumah and Tetzaveh? Says רב פאם Rav Pam in his uh ספר על חומש sefer on Chumash, because often people set out, we start, but we fail to complete. We hit a wall, we hit a ceiling and we give up. תרומה ותצווה Trumah and Tetzaveh are what we're meant to do. ויקהל ופקודי Vayakhel and Pekudei were, we were complete, we did it, we finished. And the fact that we finished what we started is in itself worthy of even repeating. You see this I want to suggest also in the beginning of our פרשה parsha. פרק ח Perek Ches. פסוק ג Pasuk Gimmel. When Hashem is telling אהרן Aharon to light the מנורה menorah, it says ויעש כן אהרן אל מול פני המנורה Vaya'as kein Aharon el mul pnei hamenorah. That אהרן Aharon did what he was instructed. Says רש\"י, להגיד שבחו של אהרן שלא שינה Rashi, lehagid shivcho shel Aharon shelo shinah. This speaks to the praise of אהרן Aharon that he didn't change. ויעש כן אהרן Vaya'as kein Aharon. אהרן Aharon did what he was told to do. Why do I need to be told that? Did I suspect otherwise that אהרן Aharon wasn't going to do what he was told to do? What I suspect otherwise? So רש\"י Rashi tells us, להגיד שבחו של אהרן שלא שינה lehagid shivcho shel Aharon shelo shinah. This is praise of אהרן Aharon that he didn't change. שלא שינה Shelo shinah. What didn't he change? He didn't deviate from the instructions. There were divine instructions. What I think for one moment that אהרן Aharon would deviate, corrupt the instructions? So, a few answers are offered. רב מאיר מפרמישלאן Rav Meir Mi'Premishlan says that even though אהרן Aharon was a כהן גדול Kohen Gadol and he was on the highest level, להגיד שבחו שלא שינה lehagid shivcho shelo shinah, this teaches the praise of אהרן Aharon that he didn't change, it means אהרן Aharon didn't change. אהרן Aharon had this incredibly noble opportunity. אהרן Aharon had this high level. אהרן Aharon had the point of distinction that he got to light the מנורה menorah. You might have thought אהרן Aharon's head would swell, you might have thought אהרן Aharon would get arrogant or egotistical, you might have thought אהרן Aharon would think he's all that. להגיד שבחו שלא שינה Lehagid shivcho shelo shinah. This is the praise of אהרן Aharon that he didn't change, means not that he didn't deviate the instructions, that he didn't change. He himself didn't change. He remained the same humble, modest person. The קאצקער, מנחם מענדל פון קאצק Kotsker, Menachem Mendel of Kotsk has a separate interpretation. And he says, what it means is, שלא שינה shelo shinah, you know, on the outside, אהרן Aharon looked like he was going through the motions of doing the same thing. He didn't change his outside and his insides. You know the קאצקער Kotsker was against people who דאווענען daven and they שאקלען shuckle like crazy, and they flail their arms, and their religious righteousness, everybody has to see is on display for the world. No, outside, calm, cool, collect, dignified. What's going on inside, your כוונה kavana, your intentionality, your mindfulness, your concentration, should be a deeply personal internal experience, not something on the outside. That's how the קאצקער Kotsker understands. And the שפת אמת Sfas Emes gives a third explanation. The שפת אמת Sfas Emes says, it means that אהרן Aharon never changed. You know, the first time you put תפילין tefillin on in your life, the excitement you have, and then you get used to putting on תפילין tefillin so it grows old. The first time you lit candles, it's exciting, and then you go on and you light candles, so it grows old. The first time you do something, it's so exciting and the longer you do it, this more stale it grows. להגיד שבחו של אהרן שלא שינה Lehagid shivcho shel Aharon shelo shinah. The praise of אהרן Aharon that he didn't change means, it never grew stale. It had the same enthusiasm, the same excitement, the same energy. It remained just as fresh, just as new. That is the greatest praise for אהרן Aharon that it never got old. It stayed just as real and just as fresh. Perhaps that's what it means to see it all the way through. Maybe that's part of the idea of the ערב רב eirev rav, it got old, the אספסוף asafsoof, the rabble rousers, when they started out it was exciting, when they started out they had big plans and big goals, and it grew old. They hit a ceiling, they hit a wall, they gave up, they walked away. And we learned from their failure the definition of success, how we have to sometimes double down and gain that alacrity, and that enthusiasm and that momentum and fight through to run through that wall around it, over it or under it, whatever it takes to get to that other side because we have to be a שלם shalem, you have to be whole, to be complete, to finish what we start, even if we can't always be a, be a גדול gadol.I can't believe the hour is up. I'm only halfway through what I wanted to share with you. But ברוך השם Baruch Hashem we have next year. I'll just point a few things out to provoke your curiosity. You can look on your own. The Jewish people say, take us back to Egypt, we remember the great fish we got there, it was free. We had free fish in Egypt. Free fish in Egypt. Free? חינם Chinam? What was free in Egypt? Didn't they work, slave labor? Was anything free? Why are they describing it as free when they literally labored, they were slaved in order to earn it? Question number one, look at the רש\"י Rashi and the רמב\"ן Ramban there. Question number two, when השם Hashem reacts to Miriam speaking gossip about her brother משה Moshe, the פסוק pasuk describes that השם Hashem reacts פתאום pitom, suddenly. reacts suddenly, פתאום pitom. Why the word suddenly? פתאום Pitom seems entirely extraneous. What do you have the word פתאום pitom here suddenly? Why did we need that there at all? Those are the two questions I'll leave you with. We'll start with those next year פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Behaaloscha. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and holy day. If you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe to the channel. Even if you're not, join us tomorrow for 10 minutes of meaning with שמחת שלום Simchas Shalom at 8:15. Living with אמונה emunah at 8:45, here on the same Zoom channel or on youtube/rabbiephraimgoldberg. Wishing everyone a wonderful day.
