Transcript
Good morning and בוקר טוב Boker tov and welcome back to our weekly פרשה Parsha perspectives for today in which we examine and analyze the פרשה parsha and try to extract the lessons that can inform and inspire our everyday living today. Thank you so much for being with us and as always we want to thank our generous sponsors of the פרשה parsha series for the year, our dear friends Becky and Avi Katz, who've sponsored in memory of Becky's father, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש L'iluy nishmos Dovid ben Menachem Manish, David Grossman, whose נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah. Also a special thanks as always to the OU for partnering and promoting this שיעור shiur. We're so grateful to the OU for all that it does. Okay, let's dive right in because this week we have two פרשיות parshiyos, we have a double פרשה parsha, מטות Matos and מסעי Maasei. This is a fantastic week. We're going to conclude במדבר B'midbar. We're going to get to scream חזק חזק ונתחזק chazak, chazak v'nischazek, strengthen one another, and together we will be strengthened. It's always important. We finish and we have the opportunity to say this in the three weeks, a time of פירוד pirud, of divisiveness and conflict. We can turn to one another and say, חזק chazak, be strong, and חזק chazak, be strong, and together, ונתחזק v'nischazek, together we will be strengthened as a result. So it's important to be able to say that in these three weeks, and the message and the lesson of the three weeks is that we are not divided, we're not in conflict, we're not contentious, but rather our mission and our goal is חזק חזק chazak chazak, to be able to strengthen one another. And the result of strengthening one another is collectively ונתחזק v'nischazek to be strong. Okay, פרשת מטות Parshas Matos begins in the Artscroll Stone Chumash on page 900. וידבר משה אל ראשי המטות לבני ישראל לאמר, זה הדבר אשר ציוה ה' Vayidaber Moshe el rashei hamatos l'vnei Yisrael leimor, zeh hadavar asher tzivah Hashem. Moshe spoke to the ראשי המטות rashei hamatos, the heads of the tribes. He gives them this position of distinction. Why specifically to the heads of the tribes? Why to these זקנים zekeinim? Why to these elders? What is the message? What is the law he is about to teach? He's about to teach the law of נדרים nedarim. Other laws, we have 613 מצוות mitzvos in the Torah. So many of the others were not delivered specifically to the ראשי מטות rashei matos, to the heads of the tribes, to the זקנים zekeinim, to the elders. Why specifically are these laws given to the elders? So what are the laws that are given? איש כי ידר נדר לה', או השבע שבועה לאסר אסר על נפשו, לא יחל דברו, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה Ish ki yidor neder l'Hashem, o hishava shvua l'esor isar al nafsho, lo yachel dvaro, k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh. If a person takes a vow, if a person takes an oath, if a person makes a promise or a pledge, to Hashem, then they have created a prohibition on themselves, לאסר אסר על נפשו l'esor isar al nafsho. So right now, the keyboard, the mouse that are in front of me, they're perfectly permissible. Not on שבת Shabbos or יום טוב Yom Tov, but throughout the week, and not depending what I type into and where I go with them, but they as objects are perfectly permissible. And yet, man has the power, the capacity, that if I say they are forbidden to me like a cheeseburger, they become forbidden like בשר בחלב bosor b'chalav. We can transform the very nature, we can transform the very status and identity of objects from permissible to prohibited. לאסר אסר על נפשו L'esor isar al nafsho. So if I make that promise and pledge, I take an oath, I'm not going to eat corn chips from Trader Joe's, my kryptonite anymore, I'm not touching the potato chips at 12:00 at night anymore, I'm not going to whatever the case may be, something which is permissible, then לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, do not violate your word. ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה K'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh, everything you say you're going to do, you should do. I saw one of the commentaries, I don't remember where I saw this, wonders, I don't understand. The Torah's already structured, 613 מצוות mitzvos. We have positive commandments, we have negative commandments. And one of the prohibitions we have is בל תוסיף bal tosif. I'm not allowed to add on. I can't pile on to the prohibitions that I have. I can't expand or add on to the מצוות mitzvos, I don't add on to the prohibitions. So why isn't the concept of a נדר neder or a שבועה shvuah a form of בל תוסיף bal tosif? Why doesn't it violate the prohibition of adding on to the existing Torah? Right now the keyboard and mouse are permissible, right now the chair and the table are permissible, right now the Trader Joe's corn chips are not good for me, but technically they are permissible. Why am I allowed to expand the list of prohibitions? Isn't that a violation of בל תוסיף bal tosif? So, I forgot where I saw it, I apologize, I'm not, I am not fulfilling saying something בשם אמרו b'shem omro. But the answer is, that's why this section specifically, that's why this section is introduced with the idea of in front of the ראשי המטות rashei matos, in front of the leaders of the tribes, because how is it that I can make a נדר neder? Because I could always annul it. The Torah builds in the mechanism to take a vow, a pledge or a promise, to transform the status of something, but it also builds in the way out. It gives me the loophole, it gives me the ability to annul the vow or the promise I took, in front of whom? In front of a בית דין beis din, in front of the זקנים zekeinim, in front of הדיוטות hedyotos, a simple בית דין beis din or a more complicated בית דין beis din, depending on the vow or the promise that I took. So therefore it's not a violation of בל תוסיף bal tosif because unlike the rest of the prohibitions of the Torah, which are non-negotiable, which are not debatable, which I cannot annul or release myself from, a vow I always can back out, a vow I always can annul. And that's why specifically this was delivered in front of the ראשי המטות rashei matos, because they are a critical part of the solution of how to get out of the vow, and they're a critical part of the reason that the institution of vows is not a prohibition of the general attitude or mandate of בל תוסיף bal tosif. So here the Torah says that if you take this promise, לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro. What do these words לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro mean? So look at רש\"י Rashi, says רש\"י Rashi, לא יחל דברו, כמו לא יחלל דברו, לא יעשה דבריו חולין lo yachel dvaro, k'mo lo yechalel dvaro, lo ya'aseh d'varav chullin. That word יחל yachel comes from the word חול chol. We have a long list of words that begin with ח' ל' ches lamed. We have a long description that are really ultimately what חולין chullin or חול chol is about. For example, the weekday contrasted to שבת Shabbos or יום טוב Yom Tov, שבת Shabbos and יום טוב Yom Tov are called קודש kodesh and the weekday is called חול chol. It's mundane, it's secular, it's profane in nature. A person who desecrates God's name has created a חילול ה' chillul Hashem. A person who violates שבת Shabbos is a מחלל שבת mechalel Shabbos. Somebody who converted something consecrated or holy, made חילול chillul to it. Somebody חלל chalal creates a vacuum. That that those letters ח' ל' ches lamed are secular, mundane, profane. They are the opposite or inverse of קודש kodesh of holiness. When there's a violation of holiness, when there's an absence of holiness, the opposite of holiness that you get is חול chol, is חולין chullin. So therefore לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, don't make your words חולין chullin. Don't make them חול chol. What does it mean not to make them חול chol? So if we establish that חול chol is the opposite of קודש kodesh, it means what should one's words normally be? קודש Kodesh. What should a person's words normally be? קודש Kodesh. Words are a conduit, an instrument of holiness. We can build, we can construct, we can encourage, we can transform, we can elevate, we can enrich. What we can do with our words, what differentiates us from the animal kingdom, is our words. It is what makes us קודש kodesh. It's what empowers us and enables us to be holy. And when we violate those words, when our promise, our pledge mean nothing, when we don't follow through, when we don't show up, when we use our words too freely, too loosely, too profanely, then we've turned what should be naturally קודש kodesh, our words, into חולין chullin. We've turned them into חולין chullin. לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro. Says the Torah, you make a promise, a pledge, you have the ability with your words to turn the microphone, the keyboard, the table, the chair. You took something that God gave that was simple and you made it holy. לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, you made it holy, don't reverse it. לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, says רש\"י Rashi, don't turn it into חולין chullin. לא יחל, לא יחלל דברו, לא יעשה דברו חולין Lo yachel, lo yechalel dvaro, lo ya'aseh dvaro chullin. Don't turn it into חולין chullin. The צדוק Tzadok, רב צי הירש Rav Tzi Hirsh of אובדשלוב Avadishlov explained the pasuk, כי ידר נדר, לא יחל דברו ki yidor neder, lo yachel dvaro. If a person makes a נדר neder, if a person makes a promise, לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, don't violate it. Don't come up short on it. Don't not fulfill it. And then the Torah says, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh. So he sees the following lesson here. He sees, איש כי ידר נדר ish ki yidor neder, what happens? You say, I've had it. I'm dieting, I'm changing. It's not a diet. No, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. A diet is that I'm from now, I'm not eating that. It's a lifestyle change. Carbs, sugar, flour, lifestyle change. כי ידר נדר Ki yidor neder. The new Peloton, the new treadmill, it's no longer a clothing hanger. I'm going to go on it five to, no, six times a week. שבת Shabbos I'll take off. But this is not a new habit of exercise, it's a lifestyle change. I'm going to learn ש\"ס shas. The רמב\"ם יומי Rambam Yomi just began. I'm going to finish the רמב\"ם Rambam once a week, all of משנה תורה Mishneh Torah. You get so, I'm never getting angry again, I'm never getting jealous again. כי ידר נדר Ki yidor neder, you get so excited, you make a promise, you make a pledge. That's it. I took a seminar on time management, I took a seminar on how to organize my email. I'm getting back to everyone that hour. No one will ever wait. I'm changing my whole life. כי ידר נדר Ki yidor neder, that's it. That's it. I'm changing everything. לא יחל דברו, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה Lo yachel dvaro, k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh. Says the צדוק Tzadok, רב צי הירש Rav Tzi Hirsh, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh means the same level of enthusiasm, the same level of excitement and joy with which you took that promise or pledge, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh, fulfill it. Don't let it wax or wane, don't let it wear off. Don't come a week, a month, a year later, oh that pledge? Yeah, that was during coronavirus I said I'd exercise. Oh yeah, I remember that. During the pandemic I said I would behave in that way. No, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh, let the same level of excitement, the same level of enthusiasm that you have when you when you began that project, let it carry you, let it carry you forward. But it means something else also, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh. It means are we people who fulfill our promises? On Wednesday mornings, we learn מסילת ישרים Mesillas Yesharim for 10 minutes, 10 minutes of meaning. And we're up to the פרק perak of נקיות nekius, the third quality in the 12 step program to self-perfection. And it's called נקיות nekius, it's how do we rid and purge ourselves of the kinds of behaviors and habits that sabotage our own success, our own meaning and purpose in this world. And we go through them one by one, and the character trait, the quality that the רמח\"ל Ramchal has now been talking to us is about fulfilling our promise and our word. If I say to you, you know, I'll call you back, I'll follow through, I'll take care of that thing, I'll meet you at this time, and then I'm perpetually late, and then I don't follow through, I don't call you back, then I have violated my word. What is the value of my word? What is the value of of my commitment to you? What is that relationship? לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, it has to mean something. When I say something, it has to mean something. In that context, I told the story, which I'll repeat here because it's it's worthwhile to repeat. And that is, you know, Rav Schechter, מורי ורבי Mori V'rabi Rav Schechter, should be well, who's been a hero for all of us during this time, putting out תשובות chuvos and giving us הלכה halachic instruction and his broad shoulders that we that we rely on and lean on and stand on in times like this and and so many beyond. So he gives many many many שיעורים shiurim, it wears out his voice and he drinks tea all the time. And whenever you bring him tea, he's been at my house many times, should be many more, please God. Rebbe, can I bring you a tea? Yes. What would you take in it? Sweet'n Low, sugar? Nothing, I take it plain. So he takes it plain for many years since I've known him and well before. So he was once challenged, why why don't you take sugar? Why don't you take Sweet'n Low? And after one of his תלמידים talmidim muched him and and challenged him so many times, he finally told the story that 50 years earlier, he had been in Israel. When he was first married, he and his wife, the Rebbetzin, went to Israel, and they were in a home of somebody who wasn't strict with the laws of kashrus, and offered him something. He thought a tea was safe to have. He had a tea. And the person said, would you like sugar? Whatever the kashrus complications of sugar in Israel, but he said, instead of saying, I don't trust your kashrus, he simply said, I don't take anything in my tea. And for more than 50 years since then, since he uttered the words, I don't take anything in my tea, though he could have said, look, I was doing it משום שלום mishum shalom. I distorted the truth a little bit in order to maintain and preserve שלום בית shalom bayis. I did it in order not to insult the person. I did it in order not to make a חילול ה' chillul Hashem. I'll do הטרת נדרים hataras nedarim from that promise. No, ככל מוצא שפתיו יעשה k'chol motzei s'fasav ya'aseh, pasuk in כי תצא Ki Seitzei, which says, מוצא שפתיך תשמור motzei s'fasecha tishmor, everything that leaves your lips, you should keep. And the same thing here, ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה k'chol hayotzei mipiv ya'aseh, whatever leaves your mouth, you should say. Don't use your words lightly. Don't waste them, and don't turn them into חולין chullin. לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, don't turn them into חולין chullin. And in that regard, I'll just end and we'll move on to the next section, by telling you, and I've shared this before as well, and it's really, really important during this time of pandemic and of pessimism, during this time that people are so down and despondent, that the Lubavitcher רבי Rebbe, זכותו יגן עלינו z'chusoh yagein aleinu, the Lubavitcher רבי Rebbe, זכר צדיק וקדוש לברכה zecher tzaddik v'kadosh l'vracha was very strict about the usage of words. And he based it on our פרשה parsha. He based it on an understanding. The Torah tells us that לא יחל lo yachel, what you should not make חולין chullin is דברו dvaro. How do you say your word in Hebrew? דברו Dvaro. לא יחל דברו Lo yachel dvaro. Your דיבור dibbur, to speak is דיבור dibbur, your word, דברו dvaro. לא יחל Lo yachel, don't turn that into חולין chullin. And the רבי Rebbe noted that that same word דברו dvaro, that same word דיבור dibbur which means to speak, also the word דבר davar means a thing. You turn something into a thing by the way we speak about it. Our words matter. Our words create reality. Our words transform the universe. And when we use those words lightly, when we use those words mindlessly and thoughtlessly, when we use those words insensitively, when we use those words with no real commitment or plan to follow through behind them, then we've created, our דיבור dibbur has created a דבר davar. It's created a reality, a thing. We're not trustworthy, we're not reliable, we're not holy, we're not elevated, we don't seek to enrich other people's lives. And this is something the רבי Rebbe drew from קבלה kabbalah, kabbalistically, but it's also been reinforced through modern day science and neuroscience. Neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and Professor Mark Robert Waldman, words can actually change your brain. They have a book, Words Can Change Your Brain, and they write, quote, \"A single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.\" MRI scans demonstrate a single negative word can increase the activity in the amygdala, the fear center of the brain. Seeing a list of negative words for a few seconds will make a highly anxious or depressed person feel even worse. And the more you ruminate on them, the more you can damage key brain structures that regulate memory, feelings, emotions, and they impact your sleep, appetite, and sense of well being. And I won't belabor this point, but when we use negative words incessantly, pessimistic words, when we use words that describe despondency or hopelessness, when we use words like quarantine and pandemic regularly, then we wonder why we can't sleep or have no appetite or are filled with anxiety. לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, the דיבור dibbur creates the דבר davar. It rewires our brains and it impacts our mental and our physical health and well being. And therefore the רבי Rebbe emphasized the importance of choosing those words incredibly careful. There's a great article on Chabad.com or .org, The Rebbe's Unusual Word Choice by Rabbi Mendel Kalmanson, and I highly recommend it. But I'll just give you a couple examples and then we'll move on. The רבי Rebbe took this incredibly seriously. He wouldn't use negative or pessimistic words because of the impact, the דיבור dibbur on the דבר davar, the reality of the way we think and where we are. So for example, the רבי Rebbe disliked the word deadline. He wouldn't talk to somebody about get your article in, you're on a deadline, what's the deadline for the project. He preferred due date. Deadline includes the word dead, as opposed to due date describes the birth of something new, creativity and excitement. And again, so we'll say, ah, it's semantics, and who cares, and what does it matter? So many conversations I've had, particularly with young people, where you're trying to promote being careful with clean language. Don't curse, don't use profanity and vulgarity. And they say, ah, words are arbitrary constructs of man. What's the difference? What do you, what difference does it make anyway? לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro, דיבור dibbur creates a דבר davar. It makes a difference. It wires our brain. If you call it a deadline versus a due date, it makes a difference. Do you call it a retreat or do you call it a conference? A retreat sounds like you're going backwards. You're regressing, you're surrendering. The רבי Rebbe didn't like it. The רבי Rebbe didn't like undertaking projects. Undertake connotes half-heartedness. Under is like underneath. He didn't say you undertake a project. He didn't describe geographical places or people as far away. The רבי Rebbe, who had such an impact on קירוב kiruv, refused to call it outreach. Outreach suggests you're far and I'm close and I'm bringing you to where I am. When the רבי Rebbe was asked for an endorsement on a hospital, he said on one condition. It's not called a בית חולים beis cholim, a place for sick people, it has to be called a בית רפואה beis refuah, a place for healing and for healthy people. And the examples could go on and on. I'll give you one more. We know that there are four levels of existence. You have the דומם domeim, and then you have the צומח tzome'ach, the חי chai, and the person, the מדבר medaber. First of all, notice that the highest level person is the מדבר medaber. The דומם domeim, we would normally translate, in fact, when one of the great rabbis was translating תניא Tanya into English, he translated the word דומם domeim, as it's classically translated, as inanimate. And the רבי Rebbe corrected him and refused to publish the translation that way. And said, not inanimate, because inanimate implies there's no connection to God, there's no spiritual flow, there's no energy in it. Everything in existence, according to the Tanya, is influenced, informed, inspired, only exists because there is an a flow of energy from Hashem. So he changed, he crossed out the word inanimate and changed it to the word silent. The דומם domeim is silent. The table and the chair, of course, are not inanimate, they're animated by Hashem, but it's a silent animation. We don't perceive it, as opposed to the צומח tzome'ach, the vegetative world, and the חי chai, the animal kingdom. And the highest level is, not coincidentally, the human being is described as the מדבר medaber. לא יחל דברו, דיבור lo yachel dvaro, dibbur. What differentiates us, what distinguishes us, what elevates us, what reflects us is דברו, דיבור dvaro, dibbur, is our language. The words we use, the דיבור dibbur creates the דבר davar, creates the reality of what we of what we have. And the list of examples could go on and on, that the רבי Rebbe was careful. לא יחל דברו Lo yachel dvaro, do not waste your words. Okay, let's go ווייטער viter. So this whole first section is about is about that, taking our words seriously. Every year I share the Rav's insight. כל נדרי Kol Nidrei night, יום כיפור Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. And what does it begin with? כל נדרי Kol Nidrei. כל נדרי Kol Nidrei. Is there a more anticlimactic moment in the world than getting on all white, mouthwash, getting ready to fast 25 hours, taking on the persona of angels, coming together, and what is our first act? Not to declare שמע Shema, ואהבת לרעך כמוך vi l'reacha kamocha, not to talk about holiness and sanctity. What do we do? The very first thing to greet and welcome יום כיפור Yom Kippur, כל נדרי Kol Nidrei. Let us repeat three times this legalistic liturgy of annulling our vows. Is there anything more anticlimactic? Is there anything more lacking in spirituality or excitement or energy to begin the holiest day of the year? And Rav Soloveitchik said, you know why you begin כל נדרי Kol Nidrei night? Because you're about to undertake the process of repentance for 25 hours, you need to know that your words matter, they mean something. When you took on this pledge and promised to be an observant Jew, whether explicitly or implicitly, you were born into it, the promises you made to relate to others, to be good to others, kind to others, to follow through with others, we begin יום כיפור Yom Kippur by reviewing and reminding ourselves of the value of our words, that they matter, that they must mean something, that לא יחל דברו lo yachel dvaro. And we have the whole detailed section here, which I wish we had time to go through, some of the insights on, about נדרים nedarim, and how they're annulled, husbands and fathers and בתי דינים bezdinim, and what if you violated the spirit of your vow, even though you didn't violate technically the actual law of your vow. Nevertheless, ונסלח לה v'nis'lach lah, you still need repentance and atonement from Hashem and why that is, but we don't have time. Page 902, because we got two פרשיות parshas today, מטות Matos and מסעי Maasei. We got a lot to get through. פרק ל\"א פסוק א' Perek lamed aleph, pasuk aleph, page 902 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, the next section, וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר: נקם נקמת בני ישראל מאת המדינים, אחר תאסף אל עמך Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, nikom nikmas bnei Yisrael mei'eis haMidyanim, achar te'asef el amecha. Take revenge against the people, the Jewish people should take revenge against whom? The Midyanim. Why? אחר תאסף אל עמך Achar te'asef el amecha, afterwards you will be gathered to your people. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is given this last instruction, it's time to take revenge. The Jewish people don't get angry, we get even. We do? What happened to the fact that we're not supposed to get even? לא תקום ולא תטור Lo sikom v'lo sitor, we're not supposed to take revenge. That too is not for now, the whole Jewish attitude towards revenge. But here we have נקם נקמת בני ישראל nikom nikmas Bnei Yisrael. In fact, in אב הרחמים Av Harachamim, השם Hashem, you should avenge the martyrs of the Jewish people. How do you reconcile this פרשה parsha? How do you reconcile that prayer with the prohibition that we're not supposed to be a vengeful people? I'm giving you a lot of things that are not for now. I want to make sure you continue to come back every week and every year for פרשת מטות parshas Matos and מסעי Maasei. So we take this revenge against the Midian people. What did the Midianite people do to us? They actually were our kryptonite. When Bilam couldn't successfully curse us, they sent a bunch of Moavi Midyani women to us and they took us down with promiscuity, licentiousness, they tempted us, and we fell for it. And therefore, Moshe is told, החלצו מאתכם אנשים לצבא, ויהיו על מדין לתת נקמת ה' במדין he'chaltzu mei'itchem anashim l'tzava, v'yihyu al Midyan laseis nikmas Hashem b'Midyan. Gather an army, put together a mighty force, and now you need to avenge God's honor against Midian. Here too, by the way, there's a contradiction. We called it נקם נקמת בני ישראל nikom nikmas Bnei Yisrael. Whose honor are we avenging? The vengeance, the revenge is for whom? בני ישראל Bnei Yisrael. And now just two psukim later, two psukim later, לתת נקמת ה' במדין laseis nikmas Hashem b'Midyan. Is it נקמת בני ישראל nikmas Bnei Yisrael or is it נקמת ה' nikmas Hashem? Which is it? So those of you who listen to Siddur Snippets, which should be all of you, if you don't, you could listen on podcast or Why You Torah or Rabbi from Goldberg every day or sign up for our WhatsApp groups, many times a week for the six minute Siddur Snippets, we just covered in אז ישיר Az Yashir, one of the commentaries, one of the psukim in אז ישיר Az Yashir is that we see that נקמת ה' nikmas Hashem and נקמת בני ישראל nikmas Bnei Yisrael are intertwined. They're one and the same. When you mess with my kids, if you're unkind to my children, if you're cruel to my children, if you mess with my children, you're messing with me. I don't say I'm avenging my children, I say I'm avenging me. My children are me. If you are rude or discourteous, if you're unkind or you're immoral towards my children, I will destroy you. I won't get angry because anger is prohibited, but I will make sure to take care of you. Why? You don't touch my children. That's how הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu feels. אבינו שבשמים Avinu shebashamayim, he's our father. So the נקמה nekama for us is is against him. And we reciprocate, we feel the same way. Our whole mission, our whole purpose here on earth is to promote and spread our name. What is our name? It's our family name. It's our family value system. It's who we are and it's who we represent. And if you're going to besmirch, if you're going to violate my family name, you're going to speak that way about my parents, believe me, you will pay a very heavy price. And so the נקמת ה' nikmas Hashem and נקמת בני ישראל nikmas Yisrael are inherently and intrinsically intertwined, they're one and the same. Our whole mission and existence here on earth is to be מרבה כבוד שמים marbeh k'vod Shamayim, to advance the honor of Hashem, and Hashem has a very special relationship with us. He is אבינו שבשמים Avinu shebashamayim, we are בנים אתם לה' banim atem l'Hashem, we are His children. And therefore, he brings the attitude that if you mess with my children, you're messing with me. And we bring the attitude that if you mess with who we are and what we represent, Hashem, then you're messing with us. So we therefore go against Midian. אלף למטה, אלף למטה לכל מטות ישראל תשלחו לצבא Elef lamateh, elef lamateh l'chol matos Yisrael tishlechu l'tzava. We recruit members for the army to go to war against the people of Midian. וימסרו מאלפי ישראל אלף למטה שנים עשר אלף חלוצי צבא Vayimasru me'alfei Yisrael elef lamateh, shneim asar elef chalutzei tzava. וישלח אתם משה Vayishlach osam Moshe, משה Moshe sends them out. And who's going to lead us? Who do we know as the most courageous warrior who doesn't wait, doesn't hesitate? He is brave, tenacious, resilient, runs headlong into battle. Who has proven himself very recently? We are led by פנחס בן אלעזר הכהן לצבא, וכלי הקדש וחצצרות התרועה בידו Pinchas ben Elazar haKohen l'tzava, u'chlei hakodesh v'chatzotzros hatruah b'yado. We've got our instruments, we've got our weapons, we are ready to go. Time to take on Midian, to wipe them out, to prove to not only Midian, but to the world, you don't mess with Klal Yisroel and you don't mess with Hashem. So I'll tell you, I saw a very interesting question. And I heard this question from a seven and a half year old little boy. I was learning parsha Sunday with my son Shy, and we were learning about the fact that the Jewish people are going to go to war and battle with Midian. And he said to me a question I never thought of. He said, אבא Abba, משה Moshe went to war with his father-in-law? I had to think for a moment. יתרו Yisro was כהן מדין Kohen Midyan. So in his mind, associating יתרו Yisro as being a leader of מדין Midyan, he said to himself, what do you mean? משה Moshe went to war against his own father-in-law, against יתרו Yisro? So I told him, according to many opinions, though it's a debate, יתרו Yisro converted, he joined the Jewish people. But he said to me, still, יתרו Yisro was a leader, he came from מדין Midyan. Wouldn't it be hard for משה Moshe to lead a battle and a war against the very people that his father-in-law, that his wife, his wife grew up in מדין Midyan, and now he's leading battle? I thought that was a fascinating question. Sometimes out of the mouths of babes, they bring an innocent perspective when they're learning the parsha for the first time or for the first few times, they bring a perspective we often don't. So the Torah here tells us, what happens? They go to battle. They go to battle. And what do they have to do when they go to battle? They, Moshe rebukes the officers, he gets them all ready, and when they go to battle, they, ל\"א, ח\"ב, ל\"א, ח\"ב, they come back from battle. ויאמר אלעזר הכהן אל אנשי הצבא הבאים למלחמה V'yamar Elazar haKohen el anshei hatzava haba'im l'milchama. They're successful, they triumph. Hashem is behind them. They are avenging his honor and our own. So what happens? אלעזר הכהן Elazar haKohen, אהרן Aaron's son, tells those who are returning from war, זאת חקת התורה אשר צוה ה' את משה zos chukas haTorah asher tzivah Hashem es Moshe. What did they conquer at war? They came back with, you know, every man knows when he goes on a business trip, he better come back with something for his wife. So they go to battle, business trip, they're exercising their job, and they better come back with something for their wife. So there are no silver stores, and there was no Godiva chocolate in Midian they could come back with. What do they come back with? The spoils, the booty, the loot of the war. And what is the best spoils, booty, and loot? Honey, I got you a new Pyrex dish. I brought you a new frying pan. I got you a new set of cutlery. I got you a new set of, they came back with all the kitchen appliances and utensils. What's the problem? Midian didn't keep kosher. So here is where the Torah inserts the laws of how to kasher. They triumph against Midian, they bring back these utensils, and now it's time to kasher. But I want to draw your attention first to a very interesting anomaly. When Elazar talks to the people, he talks to the people who are, chapter 31, verse 21, page 906 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, ויאמר אלעזר הכהן אל אנשי הצבא הבאים למלחמה v'yamar Elazar haKohen el anshei hatzava haba'im l'milchama. הבאים למלחמה Haba'im l'milchama? What do you mean הבאים למלחמה haba'im l'milchama? What should it say? הבאים מן המלחמה Haba'im min hamilchama. They're not הבאים למלחמה haba'im l'milchama. They're not coming going to war, they're coming from war. It should be a מ' mem, from war, not a ל' lamed, ל' le, to war. They're coming from war, not going to war. What's going on? I saw the סאטמאר רבי Satmar Rebbe, רב יואליש Rav Yoelish asked this question, and also in the set of svarim that nobody looks at that you got for your Bar Mitzvah, you know, the thin little white מעינה של תורה Mayana shel Torah? There's great stuff. Take it off the shelf, dust it off. Every person, doesn't matter how many years since your Bar Mitzvah, you should be looking at the מעינה של תורה Mayana shel Torah. There's great stuff in there. I don't mean to denigrate the מעינה של תורה Mayana shel Torah. Maybe people look at it religiously. It makes a wonderful gift. Everybody should study it closely. So in both places, they ask the same question, and both places they give the same answer. The מעינה של תורה Mayana shel Torah and רב יואליש Rav Yoelish in the סאטמאר רבי Satmar Rebbe, they say the same thing. Why does it say הבאים למלחמה haba'im l'milchama, not מן המלחמה min hamilchama? They say the following. I'll read it to you from the מעינה של תורה Mayana shel Torah. בספר חובות הלבבות מצאנו מעשה בחסיד אחד שראה פעם חבורה של בני אדם חוזרים משדה המלחמה, שמחים ועליזים, ובעטורי זר נצחון B'sefer Chovos Halevavos matzanu maaseh b'chasid echad sh'ra'ah pa'am chavurah shel bnei adam chozrim m'sdei hamilchama, s'meichim v'alizim, u'v'aturei zer nitzachon. In the ספר חובות הלבבות sefer Chovos Halevavos, רבינו בחיי אבן פקודה Rabbeinu Bachya ibn Paquda gives the example, the משל mashal, that he once encountered a brigade, a unit in the army, and they were coming back from a battle, they were coming back from a war, and they were so jolly and joyous and happy and toasting לחיים l'chaim to one another because they had been successful. So אמר להם amar lahem, he says to them, אתם נצחתם במלחמה קטנה ומועטת ערך, ואילו כעת צפויה לכם מלחמה גדולה פי כמה, הלא היא מלחמת היצר atem nitzachtem b'milchama k'tana u'mutas erech, v'ilu ka'eis tzfuya lachem milchama gedolah pi kama, halo hi milchemes ha'yetzer. You're so joyous because you think you're coming back from a war. You think you won and it's over and it's time to celebrate. My dear friends in the brigade and the unit in the army, you've won the small war, but you're coming back to fight what is the much bigger and more daunting war. And that is the war with the יצר הרע yetzer hara. Your own success is going to breed arrogance. Your own success is going to breed ego. Your own success in that smaller war is going to make you someone difficult to live with. You're going to become this person who micromanages and imposes yourself on others. So often, you see this is hard. Officers, soldiers, they come home from war, aside from the PTSD that they bring back, but sometimes that that warrior, that sense of might, that power, that adrenaline release, the the sense of of hero syndrome of coming back can make it hard to re-enter and hard to get along with others. And so he gives this משל mashal, you're coming back from the smaller war, but know that you're about to fight what is the bigger war. כיוצא בזה אמר גם אלעזר לאנשי הצבא, אף על פי שהם חוזרים ממלחמת מדין, בכל זאת יודעים כי הם באים עתה למלחמה הגדולה האמיתית, מלחמת היצר K'yotzei b'zeh amar gam Elazar l'anshei hatzava, af al pi she'hem chozrim m'milchemes Midyan, b'chol zos yodim k'hem ba'im attah l'milchama hagdolah ha'amitis, milchemes ha'yetzer. You're coming back from defeating from defeating, you're coming back from defeating Midyan, but you need to know you're about to engage, before you let your guard down, before you start stop fighting and battling, you need to know you've got another fight to fight. ונותן להם מצוות הגעלת כלים רמז בזה כי על ידי קיום טהרת ליבם V'nosan lahem mitzvos hag'alas keilim remez b'zeh ki al y'dei kiyum taros libam. כרגע שגאווה הטמון בהם. And what is the antidote to arrogance? You need to purge. Arrogance is fire. You're on fire with an ego. How do you extinguish it? How do you replace it? How do you purge it? With fire. That's that's the mitzvah of הגעלת וליבון כלים hag'alas v'libun keilim. The mitzvah of kashering. כבולעו כך פולטו K'volo kach polto, the way that you absorbed is the way that you have to purge. So if you absorbed arrogance and ego with war, with fire, then you get it out with fire. And that's why that is the law that's given. And he says here in the מאור ושמש Ma'or V'Shemesh, doesn't include this, this answers a question of the רמב\"ן Ramban. The Ramban wonders here on our parsha the following question. The Ramban says, is this the first battle? Is this the first war the Jewish people have faced? Is this the first time the husbands are coming home from a business trip and they had to chap something to give to their wives? So they took the kitchen utensils and appliances? No. Where else did they fight? The Ramban says, we defeated סיחון ועוג Sichon v'Og. So we already defeated Sichon and Og. And we came home with frying pans and cutlery and crystal and all kinds of wonderful new things for our dining room table and our kitchen. So why weren't these laws given then? Why weren't these laws given then? Why didn't we take the spoils then? So he says because מלחמת סיחון ועוג השתתפו כל בני ישראל, ולא היה איפה מקום לגאווה עקב הניצחון milchemes Sichon v'Og hishtatfu kol Bnei Yisrael, v'lo hayah eifo makom l'ga'avah eikev ha'nitzachon. Because when it came to Sichon and Og, all the Jewish people participated in that war. We all went. So no one came back feeling superior to anyone else. No one came back feeling more triumphant and therefore more arrogant over anyone else. אבל מלחמת מדין השתתפו רק שנים עשר אלף מבני ישראל Aval milchemes Midyan hishtatfu rak shneim asar elef m'Bnei Yisrael. In this, only 12,000 participated in. And therefore they might have come home, and after the parade celebrating their victory, they might have displayed a dose of arrogance. And that's why specifically here, we need to be given these mitzvos, these mitzvos. So the Torah tells us, what do you do? You get new utensils. What is the process? What's the procedure? What do you need to do? We've mentioned some of these before, but we're going to expand on them now.So first, Torah says this: את הזהב ואת הכסף, את הנחשת, את הברזל, את הבדיל ואת העופרת Es hazahav v'es hakesef, es hanechoshes, es habarzel, es habedil v'es ha'ofares. The Torah here lists all kinds of metals. All these metals, gold and silver, and copper, iron, tin, and lead. Everything that comes in fire, כל דבר אשר יבוא באש תעבירו באש וטהר, אך במי נדה יתחטא, וכל אשר לא יבוא באש תעבירו במים kol davar asher yavo va'esh, ta'aviru va'esh v'taher. Ach b'mei nidah yischata, v'chol asher lo yavo va'esh ta'aviru va'mayim. We have a principle, כבולעו כך פולטו k'volo kach polto, the way something absorbs taste is the way it purges taste. Those who learned סמיכת חבר smichas chaver with me last year, we went through these laws in depth. Many took the test and passed it. Means that a barbecue, great, a frying pan, something where heat is the medium to impart taste, heat is the medium to take the taste out, to purge the taste. Where a liquid medium, where a liquid is what imparted the taste, then הגעלה hagala, we boil water, we immerse it in boiling water in order to extract the taste. The way it goes in is the way it comes out. However, the Torah says there's something else you have to do, במי נדה יתחטא b'mei nidah yischata. What do you have to do with new כלים keilim? If you get a new utensil that you acquire from a non-Jew, and it's made by a non-Jew, what do you have to do with it? You have to immerse it in the מקוה mikvah. The כלים מקוה keilim mikvah, please God, a little bit more rain and our כלים מקוה keilim mikvah will reopen. We're just waiting for a little bit more rain. But in a lake, in a river, it has to meet certain criteria to be a מעין ma'ayan, a מקוה mikvah, you have to immerse that new utensil before you can, before you can use it. Why? Where does this obscure, somewhat bizarre הלכה halacha come from? I understand people immerse, and they purify, and they elevate through the experience of immersion. But my utensils? My utensils, my pots, my pans, my forks, my knives, that really matters? Why? Why? So the מאירי Meiri in the גמרא בעבודה זרה Gemara b'Avodah Zarah, the משנה בעבודה זרה Mishnah b'Avodah Zarah, the גמרא בעבודה זרה Gemara b'Avodah Zarah is where we have these laws. And the מאירי Meiri there writes the following: טבילה זו, כיון שנכנסה לקדושת מאכלות, אין מכלין שאינם אלא אחר ששכשכו... שכן מטבילין אצל שכנו. היאך נכנסו בלא קדושה Tvilah zu, ki'van she'nichnasah l'kdushas ma'achalos, ein mechelin she'einan ela achar she'shikshku... she'kein matbilin etzel sh'cheino. Hey'ach nichnasu b'lo kdusha. That what is the experience of טבילה tvila? Anytime we put something in a מקוה mikvah, we are transforming, we're elevating. We're giving it a sense of holiness. We're taking it kind of like לא יחל דברו lo yachel d'varo. Our speech can be חולין chulin, it can be profane, mundane, or the opposite, the inverse, it can be holy. Similarly, everything material, physical in our world, our very כלים keilim, our utensils can be used in a secular, profane, mundane way, or they can be instruments, they can be tools of holiness if I transform them. The פניני הלכה Pninei Halacha, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva and the רב Rav of הר ברכה Har Bracha, says the following in his ספר פניני הלכה sefer Pninei Halacha. Says יש כאן ענין אחר לגמרי, הנוגע למוסג העמוק של קדושת האכילה yesh kan inyan acher l'gamrei, ha'noge'a l'musag ha'amok shel kdushas ha'achila. אכילתו של יהודי צריכה להיות שונה מאכילת הגוי, לא סתם אכילה למען סיפוק התאווה, אלא אכילה רוחנית יותר, כדי לשאוב כוחות לעשיית מעשים טובים Achilaso shel Yehudi tzricha l'hiyos shonah mei'achilas ha'goy, lo stam achila l'ma'an sipuk ha'ta'avah, ela achila ruchanis yoser k'dei lishov kochos l'asiyas ma'asim tovim. Do you know why we have this whole הלכה halacha of טבילת כלים tvilas keilim? When you learn this, it'll change the way that you see טובל'ן כלים toiveling keilim. The whole institution of טבילת כלים tvilas keilim is to ingrain and engender within us a different attitude towards the act of eating. That which the rest of the world sees as profane, mundane, animalistic, necessary, we see as an opportunity and invitation to holiness. We don't eat like a pig, we don't eat like an animal, we don't fress, rather we eat with sanctity, with holiness. We eat only with that which is kosher. We make a ברכה bracha before and after that which we eat. We invite others to eat with us. We share what we have with others. The food itself becomes the ability. קדושת האכילה Kdushas ha'achila, the holiness of eating. We use it in order to, in order to gain a holiness. The holiness of eating. The word לחם lechem and מלחמה milchama are from the same root. Because bread, there's a battle every time we eat. Are we going to do it in a mundane, profane way, or are we going to eat in a way which elevates us, which helps us achieve holiness? Do we live to eat, do we eat to live? Do we eat the same way as somebody who doesn't have Torah in their life? Do we eat in the same way that someone who's not an עבד השם eved Hashem, a ירא השם yirei Hashem? Or is somebody distinguished in their eating? What they eat, and how they eat, and how much they eat, how often they eat, why they eat, with whom they eat? Everything about our eating can say so much about us. Do we eat like everyone else? Or is our very act of eating something which reflects a yearning and an aspiration, an ambition for greater holiness? And therefore טבילת כלים tvilas keilim, just like the person who's impure becomes pure by going in the מקוה mikvah, we take our utensils and we put them in the מקוה mikvah. And when we put them in the מקוה mikvah, we essentially affirm our intention that these utensils are meant to be instruments of not of profanity, not of of something secular or mundane, but they are instruments of holiness. We transform them. We put them in the מקוה mikvah and they come out. In the same way that a human being who goes in the מקוה mikvah is able to reinvent themselves, is able to start again, is able to achieve a holiness and a sanctity, so too our very utensils achieve that and have that goal and have that purpose. Rav Hirsch here in our parsha also says something very similar and fascinating. The Torah when it lists the utensils, the material, the ingredient of utensils that have to go in the מקוה mikvah, the Torah gave five types of metal. But metal's not the only biblical commandment. Many people don't realize this. Glass is also biblically obligated to go to the מקוה mikvah, it's just not listed in the Torah. We extrapolate from metal, because just like metal can be broken down, melted and reconstituted, so too the glass is something which is reconstituted. Glass and metal have to go to the מקוה mikvah. Earthenware does not. Plastic does not. There are detailed laws of טבילת כלים tvilas keilim, which we're not going to go through now. But why does the Torah specifically provide metal as the example? And Rav Hirsch writes the following: כלי מתכת מיצג שלטון הרוחני של האדם על הארץ ועל חמרה. לא רק צורת הכלי, אלא גם החומר שלו מעיד על שלטון זה. Kli mateches m'yatzeg shilton ha'ruchani shel ha'adam al ha'aretz v'al chomra. Lo rak tzuras ha'kli, ela gam ha'chomer shelo me'id al shilton zeh. He says the following, a very beautiful and fascinating insight. He says the metal represents our control over the world, because nobody ever finds or mines metal in the shape of a fork or a spoon or a pot or a pan. When you see metal in the form of a utensil, it means that man exerted our creativity, our dominion, man exerted our innovation on it, that we created that utensil. So man is able to take that hard material and we're able to shape it into something. We take the material world and we shape it into something that has a purpose and has meaning and has a goal. And therefore, says Rav Hirsch, what is it for? For the very act of eating, which is an animal act, we take a utensil which man shaped to have meaning and purpose, to tell us that our eating should have meaning and purpose. We don't fress and we don't eat to satisfy some carnal animal urge, but we eat in order to elevate, in order to transform. Such a beautiful insight. So specifically metal was given as the example. Why? Because metal is something that we manipulate, metal we mold, we form, we shape, and that is the attitude and the mentality that we're supposed to have to our entire lives, is to mold and shape and form our lives into meaning and purpose, into instruments and utensils to make a difference and to be a difference in our lives and in the lives of others. And that gives a whole new meaning. טבילת כלים Tvilas keilim is not just, ugh, you got to load the trunk, the newlyweds, all the gifts, you got to peel off the stickers and the sticky glue, you got to wait online, and the garbage is already overflowing, and the water is disgustingly yucky, and you dropped the fork that fell out of the basket, and how you're going to recover it. And טבילת כלים tvilas keilim should not be some burdensome, torturous experience. It is, it is such a beautiful elevating when you understand it in the context of the מאירי Meiri, the פניני הלכה Pninei Halacha, Rav Hirsch, it is such a beautiful elevating experience of טבילת כלים tvilas keilim. Who doesn't want to run to the כלים מקוה keilim mikvah right now and tovel something and make the statement that our eating, the utensil, the instrument, the molding, the shaping of our lives is entirely different than those who eat for other kinds of purposes. We said that everything that goes in fire, anything that absorbed the taste in fire, you have to purge it with fire. So I'll tell you, because we have to say an אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, the Vision of the Rebbe says the אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim and the Holy Vision of Rebbe, כל דבר אשר יבוא באש תעבירו באש kol davar asher yavo ba'esh ta'aviru ba'esh. Anything that became that contracted taste through fire, you purge it with fire. כל דבר שנגרם על ידי אש וחמימות היצר הבוער בקרבכם, תעבירו אותו באש קודש וחמימות והתלהבות למצוות ומעשים טובים, בתורה ותפילה Kol davar she'nigram al yedei esh v'chamimus ha'yeitzer ha'bo'er b'kirbechem, ta'aviru oso b'esh kodesh v'chamimus v'hislahavus l'mitzvos u'ma'asim tovim, b'Torah u'tfila. הבלא מפיק הבלא Havla mapik havla. כבולעו כך פולטו K'volo kach polto. If you had such fire, enthusiasm, passion, you ran to the internet to watch that thing, you ran to the magazine, you ran to give that gossip, that לשון הרע lashon hara, you ran to cut corners on your tax returns, you ran to whatever sense of fire that drove you to do the wrong thing is the same level of fire that you need to employ in order to pursue and chase doing the right thing. כבולעו כך פולטו K'volo kach polto, כל דבר אשר יבוא באש kol davar asher yavo ba'esh, whatever you did with fire, then you need to get it out also equally with the pursuit, with with a sense of with a sense of fire. Okay, ל\"ב ה' lamed beis hey, let's keep moving. We have barely begun and there's so much more to say. ל\"ב lamed beis we have the story of the מקנה רב היה לבני גד ולבני ראובן mikneh rav hayah l'vnei Gad v'livnei Reuven. Two and a half of the tribes are going to take up, um, are going to take up residence east of the ירדן Yarden. And they come, בני ראובן, בני גד Bnei Reuven, Bnei Gad, and half of מנשה Menashe, and they say, we don't want to live with everybody else. We're not ready to make עליה aliyah because our business is east of the ירדן Yarden. מקנה רב Mikneh rav, we've got a lot of livestock, and therefore, it's much more convenient. It's much more profitable for our business to in fact not live in Israel proper, but to live east of the of the east of the ירדן Yarden. So Reuven and Gad put forth this request. מקנה רב היה לבני גד ולבני ראובן, עצום מאוד Mikneh rav hayah l'vnei Gad, l'vnei Reuven, atzum me'od. They had a lot. And Moshe's reaction is האחיכם יבואו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה Ha'acheichem yavo'u la'milchama v'atem teshvu po. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Everyone else should risk their children's lives, front fight on the front line, and you're going to sit conveniently and comfortably under your palm trees because this is where your business, this is where it's profitable, this is where it's more comfortable? No, you got to get over here, you'll join us in fight, and where we have the institution of תנאי t'nai, of condition, in business is learned from this section because Moshe gives them a condition. You come and you fight, then no problem, you could take up residence there, but you're not going to let other people. What bothered Moshe most, what bothered Moshe most is not that Reuven and Gad were not Zionist, that they were willing to live outside of Israel. That's not what bothered him. What bothered him was that they were not נושא בעול עם חברו nosei b'ol im chaveiro. Your brothers should risk their lives, the rest of the community should be on the front line, and you're sitting comfortably and conveniently. This is a message for diaspora Jewry, that even, you know, we're all obligated to send our sons into the into the army. And make no mistake, the IDF is protecting Jews all around the world and us wherever we may live. And if we have a valid reason not to make aliyah yet, we don't have a valid reason not to be struggling with aliyah, but none of us have an excuse not to be supporting the IDF in whatever which way, our soldiers who are risking their lives and fighting in the front line. האחיכם יבואו למלחמה ואתם תשבו פה Ha'acheichem yavo'u la'milchama v'atem teshvu po. I'm not suggesting all of our children need to go and volunteer, but all of us need to reach into our pockets, we need to do what we can. That is part of the message of this, a very part a big part of the message of this of this story. Moshe gives them a שטיקל מוסר shtickel mussar because they began and they said, let us let us build pens for our flock. Oh yeah, we'll also build homes and schools for our children, and we want to settle here. And Moshe says, yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll take care of your children and they take then you'll take care of your then you'll take care of their property. So he's giving them a little bit of a a מוסר mussar that what needs to come first, the priority in your life needs to not be your things, but needs to be your people, needs to be your relationship, needs to be your family, needs to be your children. There's someone else in חומש Chumash described as having מקנה רב mikneh rav, but doesn't get that criticism. Moshe here gives מוסר mussar, gives תוכחה tochacha. There's someone else in חומש Chumash who's described as having מקנה רב mikneh rav, lots of livestock, wealthy, and yet they're not criticized, namely אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. ואברם כבד מאוד במקנה בכסף ובזהב V'Avram kaved me'od ba'mikneh, ba'kesef u'va'zahav. Avram had a lot of livestock, a lot of gold, and a lot of silver, and yet there's no criticism. Hashem doesn't seem disappointed in Avram. So the sefer נחלת צבי Nachlas Tzvi explains that with Avram it first mentions his name and then מקנה mikneh. Why? This is such a powerful lesson. It says, ואברם כבד מאוד במקנה v'Avram kaved me'od ba'mikneh. He was Avram. Avram the עבד השם eved Hashem, Avram the עברי Ivri, Avram the person. Oh, he also happened to be very wealthy. He also happened to have a lot of things, but that didn't define him. It wasn't who he was. It wasn't intertwined and wrapped up with his very identity. However, when it came to Reuven and Gad, ומקנה רב היה לבני גד ולבני ראובן u'mikneh rav hayah l'vnei Gad v'livnei Reuven. You know who they were known by? They had the Mercedes, the Tesla, they lived in the mansion, the private plane, the yacht. They wore the, I don't even know the names, the Ferragamo or the whatever. ומקנה רב היה לבני ראובן ולבני גד u'mikneh rav hayah l'vnei Reuven v'livnei Gad. They were defined by it. It was wrapped up with their identity. It's who they were. So Avraham Avinu, you're allowed to have and you're allowed to enjoy. Not only is there nothing wrong, there's something beautiful with having all that. It can never define you. You can never confuse it with who you are or what your life is about. So first he was an Avram, defined by his values, his ideals, his personality, his relationships with with his family, with others with Hashem, and only after that are we told that he also happened to have lots of things. Where in contrast, Reuven and Gad had lots of things and then, yeah, that's what defined them, that is in fact who they were. פרק ל\"ב, פסוק ה Perek Lamed Beis, pasuk hey. ויאמרו אם מצאנו חן בעיניך יותן את הארץ הזאת לעבדך לאחוזה, אל תעבירנו את הירדן Vayomru im matzanu chen b'einecha, yutan es ha'aretz hazos l'avadecha l'achuza, al ta'avireinu es ha'Yarden. So my my daughter, my oldest daughter Rachel, once suggested this pshat as a shabbos table, and then this year I saw it in the קדושת אהרן Kdushas Aharon. So I have to tell her that she was מכוון mechaven to a קדושת אהרן Kdushas Aharon. What does the קדושת אהרן Kdushas Aharon say? The קדושת אהרן Kdushas Aharon says, the קדושת אהרן Kdushas Aharon says, why is it described as, um, why is it described why why did they want to go east of the ירדן Yarden? They had no Zionist leanings, they didn't connect to the rest of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael? Was it simply driven by the vort we just said, that they prioritized their things ahead of their people? Why is it that they wanted to go east of the ירדן Yarden? So the קדושת אהרן Kdushas Aharon says a beautiful vort. You know why they wanted to do it? Not because they lacked נושא בעול nosei b'ol, because they had an incredible נושא בעול nosei b'ol. Not because they didn't care about their fellow Jew, because they cared incredibly about their fellow Jew. And who was their fellow Jew they cared so much about? Was none other than משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe desperately wanted to get into Israel. And no matter how many times he asked and how many times he requested, Hashem said, I'm so sorry, but the answer is no. So Reuven and Gad hatched this incredible scheme. They said, you know, if we take up residence east of the ירדן Yarden, and we expand the border a little bit that way, then Moshe, you will in fact have been in the greater Israel. Maybe not Israel proper, but you will have been and visited in the greater Israel. So therefore they requested east of the ירדן Yarden, says the קדושת אהרן Kdushas Aharon, so that Moshe Rabbeinu himself would be able to be in and part of the greater Israel. And in that way, it's not a failure of being נושא בעול עם חברו nosei b'ol im chaveiro, it's an expression of being נושא בעול עם חברו nosei b'ol im chaveiro. That's why they requested it. And then we have the end of the parsha, which tells us, פרק ל\"ב, פסוק כ\"ב perek lamed beis, pasuk kaf beis, that ונכבשה הארץ לפני השם ואחר תשובו v'nichbesha ha'aretz lifnei Hashem v'achar tashuvu. You better follow through on your word. We made this condition. You're going to join us to conquer the the land, and then you can go back and take up residence where you want east of the ירדן Yarden. And why do you have to do this? והייתם נקיים מהשם ומישראל Vihyisem n'kiyim mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael. You need to be clean. You need to be נקי naki. You need to be clean in the eyes of others and in the eyes of and in the eyes of Hashem. You need to be clean in the eyes of others and in the eyes of Hashem. Rabbi Soloveitchik in the Rav Chumash points out that the prohibition of מראית עין mar'is ayin involves avoiding doing things that raise suspicion that you're violating Halacha. He quotes here the רמ\"א Rama that, you know, the רמ\"א Rama says they used to produce milk from almonds. People wanted a pareve of coffee, so they had almond milk. So the Shulchan Aruch, the רמ\"א Rama quotes that if you're drinking almond milk after you had meat, you need to have almonds on the table next to the milk so people will know. Right, when when non-dairy creamer first came out, the היתר hechsherim required at a שמחה simcha that you actually had the container of the non-dairy creamer or some sign that it's non-dairy creamer, lest it be מראית עין mar'is ayin, you just served a fleishig seudah, and now you're putting out milk. So you had to have the bottle, you had to have the carton of non-dairy of non-dairy creamer. It's a הלכה halacha in שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch because of מראית עין mar'is ayin. מראית עין Mar'is ayin. Why do we have an institution of מראית עין mar'is ayin? What do I care what people think? If I go into Burger King to get a Diet Coke or to use the bathroom, what do I need to be concerned what someone will thinking about why I'm there? If I'm drinking what I know to be almond milk, non-dairy creamer, what do I care that someone thinks that I just am having milk right after I have meat? Who cares? As long as I do the right thing, don't I have to answer to myself? Don't I have to be able to look in the mirror? Don't I have to be able to sleep at night? Why do I care what other people think? This is the Torah's reason. Says the Rav, this is the source of מראית עין mar'is ayin. והייתם נקיים מהשם ומישראל Vihyisem n'kiyim mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael. You need to be נקי מהשם ומישראל naki mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael. We do care. We do care what other people think. And here he says there's a מחלוקת machlokes within the רמ\"א Rama and the מהרש\"ל Maharshal, and there are two reasons of מראית עין mar'is ayin. According to one, מראית עין mar'is ayin is a prohibition of לפני עיוור lifnei iver. Because if someone sees me coming out of Burger King, they don't know I had a Diet Coke or used the bathroom. They think, I guess Burger King went under the ORB. If somebody sees me drinking milk in my coffee after having meat, they don't know it's almond milk. They think, I guess there's a new קולא kula. Coronavirus קולא kula. It must be during coronavirus, you're allowed to have dairy right after meat. So the first understanding of the prohibition of מראית עין mar'is ayin is it's a function of לפני עיוור lifnei iver. You're putting a stumbling block in front of somebody else. They're going to misinterpret and not know what you've done and they're going to extrapolate the wrong conclusion, and they themselves are going to violate law. However, that's the מהרש\"ל Maharshal. However, the רמ\"א Rama understands מראית עין mar'is ayin differently. מראית עין Mar'is ayin is not a fear that I'm going to put a stumbling block in front of you. מראית עין Mar'is ayin is, I'm not allowed to speak לשון הרע lashon hara about myself. Just like I can't gossip or misrepresent or distort things about you, I also can't do so about myself. So to give you an impression about me that's not true is a violation of, it's a violation of לשון הרע lashon hara about myself. והייתם נקיים Vihyisem n'kiyim. והייתם נקיים Vihyisem n'kiyim, you have to be pure, you have to be holy. You have to represent truth. You have to represent yourself very, very well. Rav Asher Weiss quotes a third reason. Rav Asher Weiss says והייתם נקיים מהשם ומישראל v'hiyisem n'kiyim mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael, he quotes an incredible חתם סופר Chasam Sofer. The חתם סופר Chasam Sofer in תשובות חתם סופר, חלק ו', סימן נ\"ט Teshuvos, chelek vav, siman nun tes, the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer says the following: דע, בני ותלמידי, Da, banai v'talmidai, know my children and my students, says the Chasam Sofer, Rabbi Moshe Sofer of Pressburg, and he says the following. Know my precious children and students, כי כל ימי הייתי מצטער על הנקרא הזה, והייתם נקיים מהשם ומישראל ki kol yamai hayisi mitzta'er al ha'nikra ha'zeh, v'hiyisem n'kiyim mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael. The Chasam Sofer says I'm not worried about keeping kosher, and I'm not worried about how I did when it came to לשון הרע lashon hara, and I'm not worried and I don't I'm not anxious about my my observance of other areas of Halacha. You know what keeps me up at night says the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer? You know what worries me? Whether I fulfilled this mitzvah. והייתם נקיים מהשם ומישראל Vihyisem n'kiyim mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael. Have I been above approach? Have I been beyond criticism? Have I have I have I followed through? ובשני חלקי נקיות אלו, נקיות מהשם ונקיות מישראל, הם שני רחמים צמודים על גבונו U'v'shnei chelkei n'kiyus eilu, n'kiyus mei'Hashem, n'kiyus mei'Yisrael, heim shnei rachamim tzmidim al gabeinu. ויותר קשה להיות נקי מישראל מאשר נקיות מהשם יתברך, כי יותר קשה לצאת ידי חובת הבריות מאשר ידי שמים V'yoser kasheh l'hiyos naki mei'Yisrael me'asher n'kiyos mei'Hashem yisborach, ki yoser kasheh latzeis yedei chovas ha'briyos me'asher yedei shamayim. יותר הרבה ויותר מלצאת ידי הבריות, כי הם חושבים מחשבות זרות Yoser harbeh v'yoser milatzeis yedei ha'briyos, ki heim choshvim machshavos zaros. He says you know it's easier to be נקי naki from Hashem than it is to be נקי naki from other people. Why? Because Hashem always knows the truth. Hashem knows our motivation, Hashem knows our behavior, Hashem knows everything. So to be נקי naki from Hashem, you can't hide anything from him anyway. So says the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer, which part of this mandate is harder? Being נקי naki from Hashem or being נקי naki from other people, מישראל mi'Yisrael? It's harder to be נקי naki from people. It's harder to be נקי naki from people. Don't circumvent or skirt the system. Don't do shtick. Don't get away with shtick. Don't a person has to be נקי מהשם ומישראל naki mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael. Do the right thing and be the right thing when people are looking, when they're not looking. נקי Naki. A person should be נקי naki. So one ders and he goes on and on. He says אני הערכתי כמה פעמים ani he'erachti kama pe'amim says the Chasam Sofer, I wondered many times אם אפשר שיקיים אדם בעולם מצווה זו על מתכונתה im efshar she'yikayem adam ba'olam mitzvah zo al matkuntah. I wonder whether anyone has ever truly fulfilled this mitzvah. Has anyone ever truly fulfilled this mandate? והייתם נקיים מהשם ומישראל Vihyisem n'kiyim mei'Hashem u'mei'Yisrael. Is anyone above reproach? Is anyone above criticism? Is anyone above suspicion? Is anyone able to carry and conduct themselves at that level? So Rav Asher unpacks this Chasam Sofer and tries to get to the bottom line. We don't have time to go in depth into his essay. But he says, what's at the core of this mitzvah? He says הרי עלה מצידנו שכל דבר שיש בו מראית עין או חשדא, יש בו חילול השם harei alah m'tzideinu she'kol davar she'yesh bo mar'is ayin o chashda, yesh bo chillul Hashem. It's not a function of לפני עיוור lifnei iver and it's not a function of לשון הרע lashon hara. You know what the prohibition is of מראית עין mar'is ayin? It's a prohibition of חילול השם chillul Hashem. We are put here to live a certain life and carry ourselves in a certain way. And if we conduct ourselves in a way that people can be suspicious, then we've created חילול השם chillul Hashem. So at the core of this mitzvah that the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer wonders whether anyone has ever kept it all the time, is the potential problem of having made a חילול השם chillul Hashem. Okay, a lot more to talk about. Let's move over to פרשת מסעי Parshas Masei. We got to give some love to פרשת מסעי Parshas Masei. Parshas Masei, page 918 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, פרק ל\"ג perek lamed gimmel, chapter 33. אלה מסעי בני ישראל אשר יצאו מארץ מצרים לצבאותם ביד משה ואהרן Eleh masei vnei Yisrael asher yatzu mei'eretz Mitzrayim l'tziv'osam b'yad Moshe v'Aharon. Let's review everywhere we've been. It's time now to go through all the stops along the journey. Let's go through all the journey. The מגן אברהם Magen Avraham writes in the commentary on שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch, the מגן אברהם Magen Avraham says that this is so important to review the journey that it's אסור assur to break it up. The עליה aliyah that includes all the stops of the journey, we have the custom, we don't break up that עליה aliyah. It makes for a very long first עליה aliyah of פרשת מסעי Parshas Masei. That's how important it is to read this and to read it all as one unit. What is so important about it? What's going on here? Says Rashi, למה נכתבו המסעות הללו Lama nichtevu ha'masa'os ha'lalu? Why are we reviewing all the places I've been? Imagine at the end of someone's life, well we lived here and we lived there, we took a vacation there, we stopped here, I worked at that company, we went here, we went here. Okay, all that's nice. Why are you taking our time now with it? I was there with you. I remember. I read the book. I read it all. I lived it all. Says the Rashi, להודיע חסדיו של מקום l'hodia chasdav shel Makom. It's telling us הקדוש ברוך הוא's Hakadosh Baruch Hu's incredible loving kindness. Rashi says the main purpose that we're delineating all of these places that we're reviewing is to consider the first 14 journeys took place during the before the מרגלים meraglim, first 16 months. Eight happened in the back end, after the 39th year. So even though the Jews were condemned to 40 years in the desert, and we thought that we were packing and unpacking all the time, Rashi tells us the first pshat is Hashem's incredible kindness that we stayed in most one location in Kadesh for 20 years. We were not in fact such wandering nomads. Hashem was so kind to us that he structured things in such a way that we were not wandering that often and that's why we're reviewing this in order to see Hashem's חסד chesed, in order to see and feel his loving kindness. Rashi has a second second pshat. Namely, ועוד הוציא משם חסד המסעות שאילך מיתת אהרן, ונסתלקו ענני כבוד. It's a mashal of a melech, she'haya b'no choleh v'holicho l'makom rachok l'refuaso. It's a mashal of a person, God forbid, had a sick child, and you traveled far in order to try to treat this child. Keivan she'hayu chozrim hischil ohev v'moneh kol ha'masa'os. On the way back of successful treatment, you start to, oh we stayed in this hotel, and we had a layover in this airport, and then we went over here. Remember the Toblerone bar I bought you when we passed through Switzerland. Amar lo, kan yashavnu, kan kar'nu, kan chashas roshecha. These were all the places we stopped, these are all part of the process of our journey. This reminds all of this, reminds us about where we came from. What is really going on over here? So, I just want to share a couple of insights with you. The Sforno, the Sforno says, you know what's going on over here? Let's go right back to the medieval sources, the מפרשים meforshim. The Sforno says, you know what's going on over here? As soon as I find the Sforno, I will read it to you. Where did he go? Rav Ovadia Sforno. There it is. אלה מסעיהם למוצאיהם Eleh mas'eihem l'motza'eihem. It says these are the aseh, these are the journeys, their goings out and their coming in. And we reverse this language and we change this language. And which is it? Is it the going out or the coming in? Is it the journey or the standing still? And says the Sforno, ולפעמים קרא הפך זה u'l'famim kara hefech zeh. We keep switching it back and forth. Which is it? כי כוסף גם כן ענין המסע, שהיה לצאת ממקום למקום, בלי הכנת צדה. שהיה זה קשה מאוד, ובכל זה לא נמנו. וכן נכתב בכל אחד מהם, ויסעו ממקום פלוני ויחנו במקום פלוני. כי המסע והחניה היה כל אחד בהם קשה. Ki kosef gam kein inyan ha'masa, she'hayah latzeis mimakom l'makom, b'li hachanas tzeidah, she'hayah zeh kasheh me'od, u'v'chol zeh lo nimnu. V'chein nichtav b'chol echad meihem, vayis'u mimakom ploni v'yachanu b'makom ploni, ki ha'masa v'ha'chanaya hayah kol echad b'hem kasheh. Sometimes the going out was difficult. Sometimes the coming in was difficult. The Sforno says, you know, we have journeys and we have departures. In life, sometimes you leave in order to go, and sometimes you go because you need to leave. Sometimes there's a destination you're going to, so it's time to leave. And sometimes you need to get out of here, so it's time to go, and you don't even know where the destination is. And says the Sforno, both are hinted to. The Jewish people on their journey, and the ספרי קבלה sifrei kabbalah, all the חסידישע רבי'ס chasidishe rebbes talk about that all these stops and all these journeys reflect and represent what each of us have, what every Jew has in our life. Our lives are made up of journeys, of travels, of sojourns. And sometimes we get up and we go because we need to leave. It was time to leave Eastern Europe in the 20th century. Some think it's time to leave North America, America now. Sometimes you get up and you need to leave because it's time to leave long before you know where you're going. In other times, you want to go, and so you in order to go, you get up and leave. So in either case, the Sforno says, it's represented in these journeys, which really reflect our attitude to in life. The אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh has a different interpretation. And the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim Hakadosh says the following. Says the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim, אמר הכתוב עצמו טעם אלו המסעות אלה, שהם של בני ישראל שיצאו מארץ מצרים, ובכור הברזל אשר היא ארץ מצרים, ובזה היו נשמותם ראוים לברר ניצוצי הקדושה בכל מקום אשר יבואו שמה Amar ha'kasuv atzmo ta'am eilu ha'masa'os eilah, she'heim shel bnei Yisrael she'yatzu mei'eretz Mitzrayim, u'v'kur ha'barzel asher hi Eretz Mitzrayim, u'v'zeh hayu nishmosam re'uyim l'varer nitzotzei ha'kdusha b'chol makom asher yavo'u shamah. It's a very powerful Kabbalistic idea. And the idea is the following: wherever we go in life and whatever we've been through in life is part of our journey. We could regret it, we could wish it didn't happen, we can reject it, we can try to delete it, but it's part of shaping who we are. Instead, we should embrace it and we should realize that our mission and our challenge was what whatever part of our journey, whatever stops made along the way was to be able to enable it to transform us, was to be able to transform it with קדושה kdusha. The Jewish people took out the sparks of holiness. Every place they stopped, they were meant to go there. This is one of the ideas of the exile. Hashem dispersed us across the world to take our Jewish values and ideals and to bring it to every single civilization and society in which we we were destined to live. It's one of the understandings of why we were spread out in the exile. That's true collectively and nationally, and it's also true independently and individually for each and every one of us. Going through corona, going through a pandemic, going through a hard time, we're not supposed to live with regret and wishes. We're supposed to live and say, what am I meant to take out of this? How is it meant to make me better or different or transform me? Why is this one of the stops on my journey? Why am I here? And why was I destined to stop here? So just like Klal Yisrael had all these stops and had to review them, so too we go through the same, we go through the same experience. Um, let's end with one more vort. I want to talk about why is עד מות הכהן ad mos ha'kohen? Why is the person who kills by accident, who's sent into an עיר מקלט ir miklat, a city of refuge, why is why are they there until the kohen, why is it tied to the kohen's life, the כהן גדול kohen gadol, until the kohen gadol dies? What was the kohen's responsibility to daven for his generation? It's a lot to talk about, but we don't have time. So let's go to one last thought. פרק ל\"ה, פסוק כ\"ד Perek lamed hey, pasuk kaf daled. Chapter 35, verse 24. On page 930 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash. Says the pasuk, פרק ל\"ה, פסוק כ\"ד Perek lamed hey, pasuk kaf daled. אני השם Ani Hashem. Sorry, wrong pasuk. ל\"ד Lamed daled. ל\"ד Lamed daled. Page 932. ולא תטמאו את הארץ אשר אתם יושבים בה V'lo t'tam'u es ha'aretz asher atem yoshvim bah. We have these ערי מקלט arei miklat. Someone murders by accident, we set up the cities of refuge. We have three in Israel and three east of the ירדן Yarden. Why did two and a half tribes need as many cities of refuge as the other nine and a half tribes? You know why our rabbis tell us? Because the two and a half tribes prioritized their things. And when people prioritize things, they end up having more accidental murders in their midst. And people who don't prioritize things but prioritize ideas and values have less accidental murders in their midst. So you needed three for nine and a half and three for two and a half tribes. east of the Yarden. In any case, the Torah says ולא תטמא את הארץ אשר אתם יושבים בה v'lo titameh es ha'aretz asher atem yoshvim bah, do not contaminate the land that you are dwelling on, כי אני שוכן בתוכה ki ani shochen b'sochah, says God. Why? Cause you know who else lives there? It’s my house. You're a guest in my house. God says the land is my house. Don't make it dirty. Don't contaminate it. Don't soil it. כי אני השם שוכן בתוך Ki ani Hashem shochen b'soch, בתוך בני ישראל b'soch Bnei Yisrael. Says Hashem, because I am Hashem and I dwell and exist among you. ReVolba has a beautiful comment on this, and ReVolba can be found in his ספר sefer, עלי שור Alei Shor, page ר\"פ ב' resh peh beis. שער ו' Sha'ar vav. עלי שור Alei Shor, page ר\"פ ב' resh peh beis. And he says the following, we'll end with this insight of ReVolba.He says, לא זו בלבד lo zu bilvad, very appropriate for the three weeks we're longing, the חורבן churban, we want to get back, ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, שכינה shechinah, גאולה geulah. לא זו בלבד שארץ ישראל ניתנה לשבטים, גם לאדם לא ניתנה Lo zu bilvad she'Eretz Yisrael nitna lashvatim, gam l'adam lo nitna. We tend to think that Hashem gave us the whole earth. He said, וכיבשוה v'kivshuha, go conquer it. להשם הארץ ומלואה LaShem ha'aretz u'mloah. I'm sorry. השמים שמים להשם, והארץ נתן לבני אדם Hashamayim shamayim laShem, v'ha'aretz natan livnei adam. The heavens belong to God, but the earth he gave to us. That's a mistake. If you look at the ספורנו Sforno on פרשת בהר Parshas Behar, כי לי הארץ ki li ha'aretz. The ספורנו Sforno writes something amazing. Even though Hashem said השמים שמים להשם, והארץ נתן לבני אדם Hashamayim shamayim laShem, v'ha'aretz natan livnei adam, I'm keeping the heavens for me and I've given you the earth, says God, except for one small country. הארץ נתן לבני אדם Ha'aretz natan livnei adam, with the exception of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. That's still mine. That's still mine. When you go to Boca, and to the five towns and Teaneck and Detroit and Chicago and L.A. and South America and Australia and South Africa, it's your house. That's your space. הארץ נתן לבני אדם Ha'aretz natan livnei adam, it's yours. But when you come to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, it's my house, says the ספורנו Sforno. He never gave it to us. He continues to dwell there.ולפי דברי הספורנו אין לנו בארץ ישראל אלא אכילת פירות ולא גוף הארץ U'lfi divrei haSforno, ein lanu b'Eretz Yisrael ela achilas peiros v'lo guf ha'aretz, which means that you never really own property in Israel because it really continues to belong to God all along. So what do we have in Israel? We don't actually have ownership in the land. All we have and all we have access to is the פירות peiros, the fruit of the land, what it produces. And that's why, are you ready? הלכה למעשה Halacha l'maaseh here. I'm glad you stayed with us. Stay with us one more moment. That's why in the ברכה אחרונה bracha achrona, what do we say? In the ברכה מעין שלש bracha mein shalosh, אשר רצית והנחלת לאבותינו לאכול מפריה ולשבוע מטובה asher ratzisa v'hinchalta l'avoseinu le'echol mipiryah v'lisboa mituvah. We reference and ask Hashem to take us back to Israel, the good land that he gave us. And why did he give it to us? לאכול מפריה Le'echol mipiryah, to eat of its fruit, ולשבוע מטובה v'lisboa mituvah, and to be satisfied from its goodness. ויסוד נסתר זו בירמיהו V'yesod nistar zu b'Yirmiyahu, and ReVolba points out we get this from ירמיהו Yirmiyahu and נחמיה Nechemia. And now he points out the following. There's a מחלוקת פוסקים machlokes poskim. The טור Tur quotes a מחלוקת machlokes, in the ברכה מעין שלש bracha mein shalosh, do you say לאכול מפריה ולשבוע מטובה le'echol mipiryah v'lisboa mituvah? Do we include those words or not? And the ב\"ח Bach says about this, וכתב עוד v'kasav ode, לאכול מפריה אין לאומרו le'echol mipiryah ein l'omro. The ב\"ח Bach says about this not to say it, but he says, how could that be? הלא קדושת הארץ נשפעת מקדושת ארץ העליונה Halo kedushas ha'aretz nishpaas mikedushas eretz ha'elyona. How could you not say it? Hashem lives in the land. What he's saying, and we have to end with this, the ב\"ח Bach says, when you eat the fruit of Israel, you're imbibing Hashem. You're tasting Hashem himself. And that's why we say ונוכל מפריה ונשבע מטובה v'nochal mipiryah v'nisba mituvah. Those are the very words that we're saying. We're imbibing a sense of Hashem. We're eating, we're spirituality, the שכינה shechinah itself, the attitude. You drink wine from Israel, it's not just wine, it's from Israel. It has the grapes. It comes with the שכינה shechinah of Hashem. It's an altogether different approach and attitude even to the very way we eat. Wishing everyone a happy, a holy, and a healthy day. Stay tuned tomorrow morning, 10 Minutes of Meaning at 8:15, Living with Emunah at 8:45, tomorrow night, Behind the Bimah at 9:00 p.m. If you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe to our channel, even if you're not, please do so. And everyone have a great, great day.
