Transcript
Good morning and בוקר טוב Boker Tov. Great to be back together again to study the פרשה parsha. This week we do have a פרשה parsha, this שבת Shabbos, האזינו Haazinu. We don't get to study it together that often because of the way the calendar usually falls, so grateful to have the opportunity to study it together this morning. I want to thank our generous sponsors for the פרשה parsha series for the year, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן נחום מנשה L'iluy nishmas Dovid ben Nachum Manish. Thank you so much to the Katzes, deeply appreciate their generosity. This morning's class is also sponsored by Jorie Epstein. So grateful to Jorie, thank you for that sponsorship. Thank you for listening. She sponsored for, in honor of our שול shul for offering so many meaningful classes during COVID-19. and we're grateful to your generosity and to listening. I also want to mention that this morning's שיעור shiur is part of a global learnathon. There's a beautiful effort across the globe to provide a 24-hour learning in anticipation of יום כיפור Yom Kippur, all to benefit a group of חסד chesed organizations, and I'm proud to be part of it and grateful to those who have organized that to be able to join as well. So פרשת האזינו Parshas Haazinu. האזינו Haazinu is a song. If you actually look at the way it's even laid out in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash, it's on page 1,100, 1100, and if you look at the way it's laid out, you see that it's two columns. It actually appears as poetry. It's a song. האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי Haazinu hashamayim v'adabeira, v'sishma ha'aretz imrei fi. The text reads very unusual, different than what we were used to ordinarily reading in the פרשה parsha, in the Torah. It reads like poetry, it reads like a song. It should be put to music. Very, very poetic words. The the text itself really jumps off the page. It's very significant to us. Now, it's very interesting, the גמרא Gemara in ראש השנה דף ל א Rosh Hashanah daf lamed aleph entertains something that we don't do. We hear האזינו Haazinu once a year, one שבת Shabbos a year, we read האזינו Haazinu. We actually hear it maybe more often than other פרשיות parshios because not only do we read it the Monday and Thursday before, but depending on the way that ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah falls, you could read it several Mondays or Thursdays or שבת מנחה Shabbos Mincha depending on how the calendar is is arranged. But in the time of the גמרא Gemara, the גמרא Gemara records in again ראש השנה ל א Rosh Hashanah lamed aleph, the גמרא Gemara entertains the possibility that האזינו Haazinu was not only read one שבת Shabbos every year, but was in fact read every שבת Shabbos. Why? The גמרא Gemara there delineates the שיר של יום shir shel yom, the songs that would accompany different קרבנות korbanos, different sacrifices. It tells us the power of song. You know, there as many people have suffered and struggled in this pandemic, the thought that we would have to entertain ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur without being able to sing, sing is what opens up the heart. It's what opens up the soul. Song is what moves us, transports us, uplifts us, enriches us. Sing has a song has a tremendous capacity. We talked about this several weeks ago when the Torah tells us כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת kisvu lachem es hashira hazos, פרשת וילך Parshas Vayeilech, the 613th, the last and final מצוה mitzvah in the Torah is to write a ספר תורה sefer Torah. Every Jew is obligated to write a ספר תורה sefer Torah. Is it every Jew and how do you fulfill that מצוה mitzvah and how do you fulfill it today, all not for now. But if you recall, we saw the beautiful and brilliant insight of רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik that Torah is likened to a song, because a song one immerses themselves in. You can hear a song in the year 2020 and all of a sudden you're back in in your summer camp in 1982. You're back on your college in the 1970s, you're back in your childhood, even far beyond. Song transports, you're immersed in it, it moves you. It has the ability to impact you more than what you read, more than, more than simply words in a prose. And Torah is therefore likened to a song because we immerse ourselves. Torah doesn't speak just to the head, it speaks to the heart. Just like music doesn't just speak to the head, you don't analyze music in your brain, but rather you feel music in your קישקעס kishkes. You ever, you ever see there's a a song that comes on in the old days when people weren't so nervous and on edge, if you were in the supermarket or the store, and a song with a great beat came on, you'd see people almost against their will dancing in the aisle. You'd see someone tapping their foot, you'd see someone moving to the beat. Song has the ability to to move us in ways as if almost we don't have the ability to fight it. And that's what Torah is. Torah should penetrate into our soul, it should move us, we are immersed in it. So שיר של יום shir shel yom, the קרבנות korbanos, the word קרבן korban means קרוב karov, we come close to השם Hashem and what are the mechanisms or means, one of the instruments to be able to come close to השם Hashem is to be accompanied by song. The לויים Leviim were given, were tasked with this great responsibility, with this very holy responsibility that as the קרבן korban was offered, as we were drawing close, קרוב karov, the song, the שיר shir was being offered. So the גמרא Gemara there in ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah talks about what was said, what was the text of the song, what was the liturgy that was offered with each of the קרבנות korbanos. Quotes רבי יהודה Rebbe Yehuda in the name of רבי עקיבא Rebbe Akiva, the first day of the week, ביום ראשון b'yom rishon, what did they say, ביום שני b'yom sheini, what did they say? On שבת קודש Shabbos Kodesh, what was the שיר של יום shir shel yom for שבת קודש Shabbos Kodesh? Now we know the שיר של יום shir shel yom is מזמור שיר ליום השבת mizmor shir l'yom haShabbos, which is peculiar because the rest of the paragraph doesn't mention שבת Shabbos whatsoever. Why is that the שיר של יום shir shel yom of שבת Shabbos? Not for a parsha class on האזינו Haazinu, but well worth investigating. The שיר של יום shir shel yom of שבת Shabbos doesn't have anything to do with שבת Shabbos, says מזמור שיר ליום השבת mizmor shir l'yom haShabbos and that's the only mention of שבת Shabbos, why was that chosen? But the מוסף Mussaf had an additional song. There was the שיר של יום shir shel yom of the תמיד tamid, the regular daily offering, but there was an additional song that would accompany the additional sacrifice of the קרבן מוסף korban Mussaf. And there the גמרא Gemara quotes רב ענן בר רבא Rav Anan bar Rava who said in the name of רב Rav, what was the song? It was חזי\"ו לך Haziv Lach. חזי\"ו לך Haziv Lach is a reference to האזינו Haazinu. האזינו Haazinu can be divided into six sections. It's a poem that can be divided into six units or six sections, and the acronym for those six sections is חזי\"ו לך Haziv Lach. So the גמרא Gemara therefore says, the גמרא Gemara in ראש השנה דף ל א Rosh Hashanah daf lamed aleph says, entertains the possibility that the לויים Leviim song for the מוסף Mussaf was האזינו Haazinu. I share that with you to introduce our study of האזינו Haazinu, to tell you, האזינו Haazinu was so significant, so beautiful, so moving, so exciting, that it wasn't only read once a year, but the גמרא Gemara entertains the possibility that it was read each and every week, each and every שבת Shabbos. Now again, we don't, we don't פוסק'ן pasken like that and we don't incorporate it and read it that way, but it should nevertheless impress us just how significant and how important, how meaningful האזינו Haazinu is and its connection to שבת Shabbos. So what is that connection? If you look at רש\"י Rashi, רש\"י Rashi describes the beginning of האזינו Haazinu and he tells us that האזינו Haazinu draws from the past and the present and the future. It's a peculiar song. It's a peculiar song. Because unlike most songs whose lyrics inspire, unlike most songs whose lyrics, not only are you moved by the melody, but the words themselves can open up your heart, האזינו Haazinu's lyrics are harsh. They criticize, they even condemn. So who would want to sing a song whose lyrics include, this is from האזינו Haazinu, הלהשם תגמלו זאת עם נבל ולא חכם HalaHashem tigmelu zos am naval v'lo chacham. הלא הוא אביך קנך הוא עשך ויכננך Halo hu avicha konecha, hu ascha vayechonenecha. Do you thus requite the השם Hashem, oh dull and witless people? Is it not he the father who created you, fashioned you, made you to endure? וישמן ישורון ויבעט שמנת עבית כשית Vayishman Yeshurun vayivat, shamanta avita kasisa, ויטש אלוקה עשהו וינבל צור ישועתו vayitosh Eloka aso, vayenabel tzur yeshuaso. ישורון Yeshurun, the Jewish people, you grew fat and you kicked, you grew fat and gross and coarse, you forsook השם Hashem, you spurned, you violated the rock. The רמב\"ן Ramban writes, the רמב\"ן Ramban writes here that האזינו Haazinu is called שירה shira, האזינו Haazinu is called song because Jews had to practice to read this text regularly a song. The רמב\"ם Rambam, not only the גמרא Gemara entertained it being read each and every שבת Shabbos, but the רמב\"ם Rambam in the seventh chapter of הלכות תפילה Hilchos Tefillah, the רמב\"ם Rambam mentions a practice of saying האזינו Haazinu every day. We have parts of Torah we say every day. We say שמע Shema every day, some read the story of the עקידה Akeida every day. The רמב\"ם Rambam in הלכות תפילה Hilchos Tefillah, פרק ז הלכה יג perek zayin halacha yud gimmel says some have the practice of reading האזינו Haazinu every day. So again, I ask you, who would want to read a song which criticizes, which condemns, a song that is so harsh? Why would we want to read a song or sing a song that tells us how dull and witless we are, how fat and coarse we grew, how gross we are to God? These are the lyrics that should inspire and move us? Why would we read it every day or every שבת Shabbos or even want to read it, let alone each and every year? The ספרי Sifrei, the מדרש ספרי Midrash Sifrei praises האזינו Haazinu. רש\"י Rashi quotes, because it presents the past, the present and the future, the time continuum. It puts the Jew in a context of history. The רמב\"ן Ramban and רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya both write that all of Jewish history is encapsulated and incorporated, it is captured in part in פרשת האזינו Parshas Haazinu. When you read האזינו Haazinu, you are commemorating the past, it is inspiring and informing the present, and it is opening up the future. האזינו Haazinu begins on a positive note, it describes our special relationship with השם Hashem, and it ends on a positive note about achieving peace in the world, a longing for the eschatological era, the time when everything will make sense, when we'll be able to put together the pieces, when we'll be able to just get along, when the Jewish people will not have to spend energy, time, and resources defending and protecting ourselves, but we can dedicate all of our time, energy and resources exclusively to the service of השם Hashem, to repairing the world in his image, and to making the world a bigger and a better and a lighter place. So true in the middle, couched in between the positive note at the beginning and the vision for the peace in the future at the end, in the middle, there's negative. But here's the message of האזינו Haazinu. This is the first point I want to share with you this morning, and it's a point relevant not only to האזינו Haazinu but to עשרת ימי תשובה Aseres Yemei Teshuvah, to this time in which we find ourselves, couched between ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur. These are the days to prove our worth, to prove that we are essential staff, essential personnel, essential to the Almighty, essential to the people around us, essential to ourselves. That maybe the message of האזינו Haazinu is whose life doesn't have positive, maybe at the beginning and the end, but whose life in the middle doesn't have some negative, doesn't have some challenging moments and challenging times. האזינו Haazinu tells us don't be focused in a narrow way on that challenging time. Don't let the pandemic, don't let the quarantine or solitude, don't let the particular crisis maybe in your life, in an individual's life become the sum total of the way life is remembered, the way life is memorialized. It's not the sum total of our existence. האזינו Haazinu tells us, zoom out the lens, focus on the big picture, on the whole story. See things in a context and as part of a continuum of history. And when you do, you'll dig deep and you'll find what's worth singing about. You're right, that moment is challenging, it's harsh, it's crisis, it's difficult. Collectively, we're all going through a difficult time and individually, people are going through very difficult times, related to this pandemic or unrelated. And if you focus on it, it becomes the sum total of your thinking. But you got to zoom out the lens and look at life. Look at how we got here, where we are, and please God where we are going to go afterwards. That is our vision and that is our mission and that is our role. We spoke about this in פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo, the farmer who brings the ביכורים bikurim. The farmer doesn't just say, here you go God, here's my first fig. Take it. Here's my first pomegranate. Take it. No, the farmer says, you know, my forefather in Egypt was almost vanquished, was almost decimated. And yet we were taken out of Egypt and we wandered through the desert. And this farmer reviews Jewish history to get to this point because to be grateful means you're not zoomed in narrowly. To be grateful, you have to see context, continuum. You have to focus out and say, you know what? What a privilege, what an honor. How grateful we are to be here. You're right this moment's challenging. You're right this moment's difficult. You know, you could look at שול shul on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur and you could see what was missing or you could focus on what's there. You could say I can't believe the people who can't qualify to be here, they're too vulnerable or fragile. It's too dangerous. You could look at the שול shul and say, six feet, seven feet, eight foot separation. Look at how many chairs are missing. Our main sanctuary normally holds over 700 and we're barely at 200, less than a third of our capacity. We don't hear the resounding singing, the walls are not reverberating, we're wearing masks, we can't even see or smile at one another. Or you could say, thank God, what a miracle it is that we're here. How many times over the last few months did we say, I can't even picture being together ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. I don't know how that could possibly happen. The choice is up to us what we look at. And this is not the classic half full or half empty, it's are we zoomed in or zoomed out. Are you narrowly defining and clouding all of your judgment, are you filtering all of your perception through what that one moment? Or do they have the capacity to zoom out that lens and to see the bigger picture, to see the bigger picture of the miracle of being here and to be able to therefore have the courage and the tenacity and the faith to take us to where we're going. That's the message perhaps of האזינו Haazinu. This positive in the beginning and there's positive and a vision of the end, and in the middle there's negativity. The middle is harsh, the middle is critical, and the middle has crisis. But whose life doesn't have both מצה matza and מרור maror? Whose life doesn't have that combination and that mixture in it? It has both. And it's all a question of what we focus on. That's what משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu was telling us at the end of his life, ובחרת בחיים uvacharta bachaim. Choose life. Choose to focus on the big picture, the good, choose life altogether. The זוהר Zohar calls the סוכה sukkah, the צלא דמהימנותא tzela d'meheimnusa, the shadow of faith. When sitting in the סוכה sukkah, we're to feel that we are in the shade of divine providence. If you're in Florida, you're lucky if you have an air conditioned סוכה sukkah or if you're sitting in the shade. It still has a feeling of over 100 degrees. I understand from family in New York that it was in the 40s on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. It's amazing how we had diametrically opposed experiences, those who דאווענט davened outdoors in Florida and those who דאווענט davened outdoors up north. But what does it mean? צלא דמהימנותא Tzela d'meheimnusa, that סוכות sukkos and I know I'm jumping ahead. We have to get through יום כיפור Yom Kippur first. But I know סוכות Sukkos is described by the זוהר Zohar, the shadow, the shade of faith. רב חיים פרידלנדר Rav Chaim Friedlander, the great משגיח Mashgiach of פוניבז' Ponevezh in his שפתי דעת Sifsei Das writes that we can achieve this by thinking of השם's Hashem's hand in history. When you sit in that סוכה sukkah, if you narrowly focus on that moment, either I am, I'm suffering from the heat. I'm מצטער mitzta'er from the, from the oppressive heat. Or if you're up north in my memories of my childhood, how many jackets and how many blankets can you bundle in? Maybe I'm struggling and suffering and shivering from the cold. So where do you feel that you're in the shadow or shade of faith of השם Hashem? Says רב חיים פרידלנדר Rav Chaim Friedlander, on סוכות Sukkos the mission is zoom out the lens. As you sit in that סוכה sukkah, think not only about that moment, as you sit in that סוכה sukkah, think about what it took to get here. Do you have parents or grandparents who are survivors? How many didn't make it to sit in a סוכה sukkah? How many would give anything to be a little cold or a little hot? How many would give anything to be in שול shul in a mask distance from others ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah or יום כיפור Yom Kippur? Don't look at the moment, look at the context of history and see השם's Hashem's guiding hand. השם Hashem guided everything in the past and he's guiding our present and he is planning and orchestrating, he's choreographing and curating our future. When we sit in that סוכה sukkah under the protection of השם Hashem, the צלא דמהימנותא tzela d'meheimnusa, we reflect not only on that moment, but we reflect on our lives and we consider where our family came from and where we are going. That's every Jewish holiday. The שלוש רגלים Shalosh Regalim, the word רגל regel, like the word הרגל hergel, it comes to break up the הרגל hergel. הרגל Hergel means the habit, the rote. We've become this momentum that we fall into and our lives just are this runaway train, and we don't differentiate yesterday from today from tomorrow. And all we think about is the crisis or the discomfort of right now. And the רגל regel, the רגלים regalim come and they break the הרגל hergel. They interrupt that momentum and they say, stop. Stop and reflect and think about the miracle that is you, and what your family endured and what your story and family narrative are, how you got here, where you are, and where you're going. And that's שבת האזינו Shabbos Haazinu. That is the פרשה parsha of האזינו Haazinu. That is עשרת ימי תשובה Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. Part of the process of personal growth and introspection, part of the process of עשרת ימי תשובה Aseres Yemei Teshuvah is to embrace the האזינו Haazinu of life. That there's positive, but there's also some negative mixed in. It begins and it ends wonderfully, but there's some challenging times and crisis. And when a person can do that, you can sing. האזינו Haazinu is a song that moves you. When your life is a song, when you hear the music no matter what's going on, no matter what's going on. The בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov described אמונה emunah is like that. The בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov said, the people who have אמונה emunah, it's like they hear the music and they're dancing to it. And sometimes there are people, what are you dancing about? It's dead quiet in here. What are you dancing to? You look like a fool. Say, no, no, you just don't hear the music. I hear the music. You know, there's um, there's a new fad, there was at שמחות simchas when we still went to them, please God it will come again, בר bar and בת מצות bas mitzvahs and so on, they have uh silent DJs, I think they're called. Silent DJs. You're all giving me blank looks, you have no idea what I'm talking about. What's a silent DJ? Again, who would ever think of this? Certainly I didn't. You know what a silent DJ is? It's that the kids on the dance floor wear headphones and the DJ is playing different music through different headphones and it's fun for the kids because they look like fools. This one's dancing to fast music, and this one's dancing to slow Jewish music, and they're dancing at different rates and different rhythms and they're having a lot of fun because they all look hilarious to one another. And the best part is that the adults sitting on the side don't have hearing loss when it's over because the kids are listening to all that music on headphones and you get to enjoy. So if you walk into that room and you look at that dance floor, you also burst out with laughter. The silent DJ, the kids are all dancing and you're saying, what are they dancing about? Where's the music? It's silence, but they hear the music. The בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov said, that's אמונה emunah. When you see השם's Hashem's guiding hand in our lives, when you see השם's Hashem's guiding history, when you understand there's no random and chance, it's all from above, then you hear the music. They sing the שירה shira, האזינו Haazinu, then you're dancing through life because you see, you're able to connect those dots. You're able to step back and see the big picture and not just focus on the little dots. It's not a blur, it comes into focus. When it comes into focus, you can't help but sing. We sing in בשלח Beshallach פרשיות parshas, we sing שבת שירה Shabbos Shira and we sing in האזינו Haazinu, the song of, the song of שירה shira. The לובביטשר רבי זצ\"ל Lubavitcher Rebbe zatzal in his ליקוטי שיחות Likutei Sichos also talks about the significance of האזינו Haazinu. This is all by way of introduction, by the way. We're gonna get to the שיעור shiur momentarily. I still have a שבת שובה דרשה Shabbos Shuva drasha to prepare. כל שירת האזינו Kol shiras Haazinu, he writes, נקבע בפרשה אחת ובפרק אחד nikva b'parsha achas u'v'perek echad. All of האזינו Haazinu appears in one פרק perek, the song of האזינו Haazinu appears in one פרק perek. The whole song, the שירה shira of האזינו Haazinu is in פרק לב perek lamed beis, which is not a coincidence because פרק לב perek lamed beis alludes to and is a hint to the totality of the whole Torah. כפי הידוע שהתורה מתחילה בב' K'fi hayadua shehaTorah maschila b'beis. The Torah begins with the letter ב beis. What's the first word of the Torah? בראשית Bereishis. The Torah begins with the letter ב beis ומסתיימת בלמ\"ד u'mistayemes b'lamed. And the Torah ends with the letter למ\"ד lamed. What's what are the last words of Torah? לעיני כל ישראל L'einei kol Yisrael. We're going to make a סיום siyum on Torah soon. It begins with ב beis and ends with למ\"ד lamed, which is לב lev, the heart. שכשם שהלב כפשוטו מקיים ומחיה את הגוף כולו, כך תלויה התורה כולה באיזו שהוא שיר של האזינו, זהו הלב של התורה כולה Shek'shem she'halev k'pshuto mekayem u'mechaye es haguf kulo, kach tluya haTorah kula b'eizo shehu shir shel Haazinu, zehu halev shel haTorah kula. says the לובביטשר רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe. Just like the heart keeps the body alive, right? Our very definition, it's a מחלוקת machlokes, how do you define death? Brain death or the cessation of automated respiratory, how you define death is of course a tremendously halachically complicated and controversial topic, not for now, but one opinion is that הלכה Halacha defines life and death by heartbeat. If your heart is beating, can beat spontaneously, then you are alive. If your heart can no longer beat on its own, then you are dead. The heart is the definition of life. הדם הוא הנפש Hadam hu hanefesh. The blood flow through the veins that is pumped by the heart, הדם הוא הנפש hadam hu hanefesh, that is the definition of life. So just like the לב lev, just like a person is only as healthy as their heart, the heart defines the health of the body, so too Torah defines the health of the נשמה neshama. And what is the heart of Torah? האזינו Haazinu. So the Rebbe says, all שירת האזינו shiras Haazinu is in פרק לב perek lamed beis, לב lev, because שירת האזינו shiras Haazinu, the song of האזינו Haazinu is the heart, it is the health of the whole Torah and of the whole, of the whole נשמה neshama. Okay, very good. Let's start now. So פרק לב perek lamed beis, we just said, the whole thing is in פרק לב perek lamed beis, פסוק א pasuk aleph, האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי Haazinu hashamayim v'adabeira v'sishma ha'aretz imrei fi. The לובביטשר רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe's ראשי ישיבה roshei yeshiva, Rabbi Weinberger, loves to quote, the לובביטשר רבי Lubavitcher Rebbe say האזינו השמים ואדברה haazinu hashamayim v'adabeira. We're not going to spend time on this, but why the shift from the word האזינו haazinu, give ear, to ותשמע v'tishma and listen. האזינו Haazinu, like the אוזן, אוזניים ozen, oznayim, here, and תשמע tishma, שומע shomea, to listen. Why the shift? What's the difference between the words? One is harsh and one is soft. Why do we use one word to talk about שמים shamayim and another word to describes ארץ aretz? There's countless commentary on each of these פסוקים psukim, but on that. But האזינו השמים haazinu hashamayim, speak to the heavens, give ear, heavens, and I will speak and may the earth hear the words of my mouth. So the Rebbe say, do you know how ארץ aretz, ארץ aretz represents the physical body, the גוף guf? Here we are on earth, distracted by all the earthly things. That's what we're doing תשובה teshuva for all these עשרת ימי תשובה Aseres Yemei Teshuvah are all about. We are reflecting on our lives. This battle that rages in us, am I the godly soul or am I the animal instinct and impulse? Do I give into my urge and appetite to look at the wrong thing, eat the right wrong thing, go to the wrong place, be lazy and procrastinate? Or am I disciplined and dignified? Do I reign supreme and sovereign over my life? Am I in charge and am I in control? That is the battle within man, generic man, the battle within us of heaven and earth. Heaven is the brain, heaven is the head, heaven is the נשמה neshama. Heaven is the yearning, the spirituality, what we reach for, and the earth, the earthliness is what we're drawn to. I've shared many times, but it's worth sharing again. The human being is the only that stands on two feet. Why? The animal walks on all four because the animal faces the earth. Because the animal is defined by the here and now, בהמה behema, בה מה ba ma, what you see is what you get. The animal is the here and now, the animal is drawn to the earth. The animal has an appetite, an impulse, an animal instinct. The animal does what it wants, with whom it wants, where it wants, when it wants, and so on. The human being, we don't face the earth. We are not defined as a בהמה behema, בה מה ba ma, we are an אדם adam, and אדם adam and האדמה ha'adama, we have the capacity to grow. We are a rich soil that's all about growth. So what is the human being? We stand on two feet, why? Because we face the heavens. We reach for the heavens, we stretch for the heavens. We're trying to grow, we're trying to be bigger, better, greater. We're trying to be our best selves. Not בה מה ba ma, what you see is what you get, but אדם adam, we're constantly on this journey, this path towards growing. We're not standing still, וילך vayelech, לך לך lech lecha, we're הלכה halacha, we're constantly in movement, we're growing, we're doing, we're trying to be better. So האזינו שמים Haazinu shamayim, we have to speak to the נשמה neshama in us. We have to speak to the שמים shamayim in us. We have to listen to those who speak, like רב משה ויינברגר Rav Moshe Weinberger, who speak to the שמים shamayim in us, not just the ארץ aretz in us. Don't just listen to that which talks to the earthliness in us, that talks to the here and now, the physical in us, but stretch and reach and strive for the שמים shamayim, for the heavenly, for the spiritual in us. האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי Haazinu hashamayim v'adabeira v'sishma ha'aretz imrei fi. And רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik says on these words האזינו Haazinu in the רבי על החומש Rebbe al HaChumash, he says, why does Moshe invoke heaven and earth to witness the covenant he made with the Jewish people? Here, Moshe is reminding the people there's a promise, there's a pledge, there's a covenant, there's a responsibility, there's a contract. And who are the witnesses to this contract? You didn't call in two witnesses. You didn't have to get notaries. Who are the witnesses? None other, says the פסוק pasuk, says Moshe then, heaven and earth. Why does Moshe invoke heaven and earth? So רש\"י Rashi cites the מדרש Midrash which explains that the heavens ask the Jewish people, have you ever seen the sun rising in the west and setting in the east? Have you ever planted wheat and reaped corn? What's the message? What's רש\"י Rashi saying? Nature abides strictly by the laws that were implanted in it. By following the laws of physics, chemistry and biology, the world follows God's laws. No one dares violate the dynamics of the cosmos as represented by the heaven and earth. His primordial will created and regulates all of creation, both organic and inorganic manner, intelligent beings as well as the beast. Nature behaves in accordance with regulated patterns, a behavior which attests to his absolute sovereignty. Yet, yet, as far as the moral law is concerned, השם's Hashem's sovereignty is not universally accepted. Man tries to divine his own moral code and decide on his own what is good and evil. The vision of the מלכיות malchiyos section of the ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah liturgy expresses our belief that man will ultimately accept his moral law in the same way that he now acknowledges the natural law. ובכן תן פחדך, ובכן תן כבוד U'v'chen ten pachdecha, u'v'chen ten kavod, the description, the liturgy of both ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur, מלכיות malchiyos in particular, it depicts and describes a time where it's not only science which becomes immutable, it's not only physics, biology, and chemistry which are non-debatable. Nobody today is going to debate that the earth is round or that gravity is a pull. Those are immutable. They're facts. Nature has facts. They are simply rules with which the world operates. And that שמים וארץ shamayim v'aretz, heaven and earth are the symbol of nature. And just like nature is immutable, it's not debatable, nature is entirely obedient and compliant. Whatever God programmed and designed into nature, nature now does, so too we are supposed to be like nature. You know, we say in קידוש לבנה, שלא ישנו את תפקידם Kiddush Levana, shelo yeshanu es tafkidam. In קידוש לבנה Kiddush Levana, we look up at that moon and we celebrate the rebirth, the renewal of the moon, and we think about the moon and the sun and the stars, the constellation, the cosmos, and we acknowledge and we say, we're not God forbid worshipping the moon. In fact, many of the custom to turn around and have their back to the moon when we say the ברכה bracha of קידוש לבנה Kiddush Levana in order to ensure that no one will have the misimpression that we're worshipping the moon. So why do we say קידוש לבנה Kiddush Levana? In the text of the ברכה bracha of קידוש לבנה Kiddush Levana, שלא ישנו את תפקידם shelo yeshanu es tafkidam. Say the moon, the sun, it never changes. It does what it's supposed to do, when it's supposed to do it. We have a monthly sunrise minyan at the beach. We've not yet resumed it. In a month and a half, soon. Monthly we go to the beach. We take Pompano Park Road all the way east, you get to the end, there's a gazebo. We meet at that gazebo with a beautiful, beautiful minyan, literally overlooking the ocean. And whatever time it said on the calendar, whatever it said on the cover of the newspaper, on מאי זמנים.com myzmanim.com, whatever time it says the sun is supposed to rise, punkt, right then, it's amazing. Say the ברכה bracha, גאל ישראל Gaal Yisrael, silence comes over the gazebo, you look out over the ocean, and there it is. The top of the sun pokes through. It's magnificent to see. It's really, really amazing. It's beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And there it is. And every time that we have our monthly sunrise minyan, our נץ Neitz minyan, הנץ מנין ha'neitz minyan at the beach, I'm always amazed, שלא ישנו את תפקידם shelo yeshanu es tafkidam. I could look at what time sunrise is a thousand years from now. And you know what the sun by then won't say, I was lazy, I needed a day off, I needed to sleep in. I was, my cat, my whole schedule was thrown off. There was a pandemic. Whatever time it says the sun is supposed to rise, punkt, there it is. No excuses, no cop out, no rationalizations, no justifications, no blame, there it is. שלא ישנו את תפקידם Shelo yeshanu es tafkidam, it does what it's meant to do. Says the Rav, האזינו השמים ואדברה Haazinu hashamayim v'adabeira, why is Moshe invoking the image of heaven and earth in order to be the witnesses testifying to this covenant, this promise? Because we are to uphold our moral promise to השם Hashem. We the Jewish people, collectively and individually, are supposed to be role models and examples to the world of what it means to live a moral and ethical life. And you know, just like science, nature, chemistry, biology and physics, they don't make excuses, punkt, whatever they're supposed to do, they do. There are rules, they're immutable, they behave, they're not debatable, they don't change. So too the moral and ethical laws of השם Hashem, שלא ישנו את תפקידם shelo yeshanu es tafkidam. They should be non-negotiable. We can't change them, we can't deviate from them. We should, we should fulfill them the exact way that they were, they were dictated, just as nature and science fulfills exactly what it was meant to do as well. Okay, next, פסוק ב pasuk beis. יערף כמטר לקחי תזל כטל אמרתי כשעירים עלי דשא וכרביבים עלי עשב Ya'arof k'matar likchi, tizal k'tal imrasi, kis'irim alei deshe, v'chirvivim alei eisev. If we don't study האזינו Haazinu, again, timing-wise it rarely falls out that we can study it together in the parsha class, but most people, I think, it's a pretty busy time of the year. Hopefully you do your Shnayim Mikra V'echad Targum, but unlike the narrative sections of Torah, of Chumash, which are exciting, Haazinu is very tough. As I said, the Hebrew and the poetry, it's unusual, it's a departure from what we're used to in terms of the style. יערף כמטר לקחי Ya'arof k'matar likchi, may my teaching drop like rain. תזל כטל אמרתי Tizal k'tal imrasi, my utterance flow like dew, like טל tal. כשעירים עלי דשא Kis'irim alei desha, like storm winds on vegetation, וכרביבים עלי עשב v'chirvivim alei eisev, and like rain drops on blades of grass. What does this meaning? What is this telling us? רב שמחה בונים Rav Simcha Bunim of פשיסחא Peshischa, why is Torah likened, Torah and teachings are likened to rain and to dew. Why? What does that mean? Says רב שמחה בונים Rav Simcha Bunim, the צדיק tzaddik of פשיסחא Peshischa, he says when rain or dew fall on a garden, so you don't see the impact right away. I mentioned, I think, recently that this summer, at the end of the summer, one of my daughters and I planted a garden. We've been talking about it for a long time and again, one of the beauties of the pandemic, gives us opportunity and windows into time and things that we here to fore have not done. So we went to Home Depot and we said, talk to us like we have no idea what we're doing. And they did because we have no idea what we're doing. And we got tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and we got red peppers, and we got basil, and we got peppermint, and we got, I don't remember what else. And we dug up the grass and we spread out the soil and we planted. And we're having an enormously fun time. Every day we go out there. And it's an amazing thing. If you look daily, you can't see any growth. First of all, the best gardener in the world, who is our partner, is of course השם Hashem, who makes it rain every day and waters our garden. garden without which it would probably dry up, because we're not that good. So השם Hashem is a great partner, deserves acknowledgement. So here's the amazing thing that she's learning that I'm learning. If you look every day, you don't see the tomato vines growing, you can't see any growth. But what she's having fun doing is she takes pictures. And if you compare the picture from 10 days ago to the picture today, side by side, all of a sudden you say, wow, it grew significantly. It's budding, it's on its way. We're going to eat tomatoes one day from these vines, אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem.So the רב שמחה בונם מפשיסחה Reb Simcha Bunim of Pshischa says that why is the תורה Torah likening the teaching of תורה Torah to vegetation, like rain on the garden, like dew on the vegetables. Why are we likening? The same way. The teaching of תורה Torah, you can't necessarily measure the growth in real time. You don't see within your children or your students or even within ourselves. You don't necessarily see the results in real time. But the same way when you water a garden, you can't see it in real time, but if you look over time, it's undeniable the growth. The same is true with the impact of תורה Torah. If you allow תורה Torah, the image of רבי עקיבא Rabbi Akiva, the drip, if you allow תורה Torah to drip, drip, drip, if you allow תורה Torah to fall like rain, to rest like, to rest like dew, then over time, undeniably, you will see that breakthrough, you will see that growth, you will see that impact. It happens over, it happens over time.רב וולבה Rav Wolbe, שלמה וולבה Shlomo Wolbe has another insight onto this פסוק pasuk. So again, יערף כמטר לקחי ya'arof kamatar likchi, may תורה Torah drip like rain. רב וולבה Rav Wolbe quotes his רבי rebbe, רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem. רב ירוחם לבוביץ Rav Yeruchem Levovitz of the מיר Mir. So רב וולבה Rav Wolbe quotes his רבי rebbe, רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, who explained the פסוק pasuk, why are we comparing תורה Torah to rain? And he has a different insight, different than the צדיק tzaddik, רב שמחה בונם Rav Simcha Bunim. He says the following. Rain dampens the soil, and it creates fertile ground. The rain is helpful. You would have hard earth. The rain dampens, makes moist, it makes the soil more available to place seeds in order for them to grow. But the growth of the plant or of the vegetable, of the vegetation comes not from the rain. You need the rain, but where does it come from? If you want to eat that tomato, if you want to eat that red pepper, if you want to put that basil in your soup, how is it going to grow? Where does it come from? It comes from inside the seed itself. So although תורה Torah prepares and cultivates a person to grow, תורה Torah is like rain. It waters us, it cultivates us, it prepares us, it nourishes us, it nurtures us. But the growth has to be like a seed, the growth has to come, says רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, from inside ourselves.Such an important insight. Because people wonder and they wait. Say, I don't understand that person learns תורה Torah. These children get that Jewish education. Why aren't, why aren't they מענטשן menchen? Why don't they behave? Why aren't they moral? Why aren't they ethical? It's very disturbing. It's very frustrating. And it's caused many people to go off the דרך derech. The people who learn תורה Torah but don't live תורה Torah. Why is there that break? Why is there that barrier? So רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem is explaining, יערף כמטר לקחי ya'arof kamatar likchi, תורה Torah is likened to rain. Rain and dew, they nurture and they nourish. They can make it fertile for growth, but they can't produce the fruit. Only what's inside that seed has to come out. And the same is true with us. We have a נשמה neshama inside ourselves. We have potential. We have the life that we're capable of. We have the impact. We have the mission that we're meant to live. And תורה Torah is like the rain. The תורה Torah nourishes and it nurtures. The תורה Torah makes us fertile soil for growth, but like the seed it has to come from inside ourselves.רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem quotes רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah in שערי תשובה Shaarei Teshuvah in פרק ב perek beis. רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah writes, quote, if a person does not arouse himself, what will מוסר musar help? רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah says, מוסר musar is beautiful, מוסר musar is like rain, תורה Torah is like rain. But if you don't wake yourself up, if you don't get yourself going, if you don't decide in your own heart that you're ready to finally break through, that you're going to start changing your life, you're going to become more patient, and less envious and jealous, and slower to anger, that you're going to learn more, daven better, you're going to make ברכות brachos, you're going to be more grateful, more appreciative, more honest, have more integrity. If you don't decide to wake up and change your life, you could have the greatest rabbi, the greatest friends, you could listen to the best classes, you could attend the best seminar, you can hire the best trainer, the best chef, the best coach, the best manager. You can take care of all the things outside yourself. You could even sit and study תורה Torah all day long like rain. All those things can help, but it has to come from inside ourselves. Says רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah, if you don't wake yourself up, then מוסר musar cannot help.And רב וולבה Rav Wolbe quotes this from רבינו יונה Rabbeinu Yonah and רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, and רב וולבה Rav Wolbe elaborates. And he says you could listen to endless מוסר שמועסן musar shmuesen, but if you don't decide at the end that you want to grow and you want to break through, then no change, then nothing is measurable is going to happen. And says רב וולבה Rav Wolbe, we could take the same observation about סוכות Sukkos. סוכות Sukkos has the potential to be one of the most spiritually uplifting times of the year. Are we going to sit in the ענני הכבוד ananei hakavod, and I'm giving some סוכות Sukkos דברי תורה divrei Torah. It's wishful thinking, but we've got to get through יום כיפור Yom Kippur first. We could sit through the ענני הכבוד ananei hakavod, surrounded by השם'ס Hashem's השגחה hashgacha, rejoicing in forgiveness, אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem that we're going to earn on יום כיפור Yom Kippur. סוכות Sukkos and the rest of the ימים נוראים Yamim Noraim, תשרי Tishrei end with שמחת תורה Simchas Torah, with the joy. And what we say is תורה Torah, you are the rain, you nourish and you nurture us, but we celebrate that we broke through from within, from within ourselves.So two different insights into why, into why יערף כמטר לקחי ya'arof kamatar likchi, why is the study of תורה Torah likened to the falling of rain or dew. רב שמחה בונם מפשיסחה Rav Simcha Bunim of Pshischa, who says because you don't see the growth in real time. It takes time, but over time if you measure side by side, you'll see that there's enormous growth and enormous breakthrough. That's a very powerful lesson for parents, for teachers, for educators. Excuse me, for us to be patient. Be patient. You won't see it right now, but it'll happen. It'll happen. I always admire my colleagues, my dear friends, the educators who have a child in their class, and they don't necessarily see the breakthrough because that child doesn't grow or break through till years later. They don't get the נחת nachas immediately. But it's over time. There's a famous קאצקער Kotzker. We say in שמע Shema על לבבך al levavecha. We put the תורה Torah... what do you mean על לבבך al levavecha? On our heart. We should put it בלבבך bilvavecha, in your heart. Why is it על לבבך al levavecha? It's a very famous קאצקער Kotzker he says, because our job is to put the תורה Torah on top of the heart. Just leave it there. And you never know when the heart will break, when the heart will open up and it'll seep in. Leave it there, put it there. Teach, model, communicate, inspire. על לבבך Al levavecha. Place the תורה Torah there, and you never know when the shell of the, of the תורה Torah will dissolve. You never know when the heart will get a crack, you never know when the heart will open up and the על לבבך al levavecha, the תורה Torah will seep in. For ourselves, keep putting it there, keep putting it there, you never know when you're going to break open, or for our children or for others, we never know when that breakthrough will happen.Next פסוק pasuk, הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט קל אמונה ואין עול צדיק וישר הוא Hatzur tamim pa'alo, ki chol derachav mishpat, Kel emunah v'ein avel, tzaddik v'yashar hu. הצור תמים פעלו Hatzur tamim pa'alo, פסוק ד pasuk daled. The deeds of השם Hashem, now השם Hashem is likened here, הצור Hatzur, to a rock, a mighty rock. תמים Tamim. The deeds of the rock are perfect. כי כל דרכיו משפט Ki chol derachav mishpat. השם Hashem is pure justice. קל אמונה Kel emunah, he is the God of faith, a faithful God. אין עול Ein avel, there's no injustice. צדיק וישר הוא Tzaddik v'yashar hu, he is righteous and he is upright. This is a very important פסוק pasuk. We say this פסוק pasuk, הצור תמים פעלו Hatzur tamim pa'alo, forms the core, it's the basis, it's the first part of צידוק הדין Tziduk Hadin. At a funeral, לא עלינו lo aleinu. At the end of the funeral, either the mourners themselves or the rabbi who's officiating on behalf of the mourners, recites what's called צידוק הדין Tziduk Hadin. צידוק הדין Tziduk Hadin is the acceptance of divine judgment, divine justice. Meaning, just like when a person hears that there's a loved one that's lost, they say, ברוך דיין האמת Baruch Dayan Ha'Emes. Blessed is the, the true judge. That's a very succinct articulation of accepting השם Hashem that it comes from them even when it's difficult to accept. The longer version is צידוק הדין Tziduk Hadin. It's a long, long paragraph. And it starts with these words, הצור תמים פעלו Hatzur tamim pa'alo. הצור Hatzur. We call השם Hashem here a rock. It's very interesting. Earlier in the whole תורה Torah, the word צור Tzur barely appears. We don't call God a צור Tzur. And here in this section alone, צור Tzur appears five times. Five times. הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט Hatzur tamim pa'alo, ki chol derachav mishpat. And then we go on, we call him צור Tzur no less than five times. What is the significance of calling God a rock? What is the significance of the reference to calling God a rock?So רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya has two interpretations which are very interesting. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, however you pronounce his name, the great Spanish commentator. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says the following. He says number one, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu at the end of his life... You have to understand for משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, he's not, he is 120, but he's not on his deathbed looking back and saying I lived a good life and a peaceful life and I realized all my dreams and I fulfilled everything I wanted, all my hopes and wishes. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is escorting the people, they are on the cusp of entering the land. They, the people, are about to fulfill his dream, and he is going to meet his end. It's a very frustrating, very difficult, very painful for him to accept that he got so close and yet he can't get in. And yet here he calls השם Hashem, הצור Hatzur. Says רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, that should not be lost on you, that he's giving the name for השם Hashem of הצור Hatzur, the rock. Why is that significant? Because why is it that Moshe can't go into Israel? It's a brilliant insight, רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya. Why is it that Moshe can't go into Israel? The punishment, the consequence from מי מריבה Mei Meriva, the punishment and the consequence for the fact that Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock. So within his own acknowledgement at the end of his life, within his own praise of השם Hashem, he is invoking the image of his own mistake. When he's describing that God, he's תמים tamim, he's pure. משפט Mishpat, he's just. אין עול Ein avel, there's no injustice. He is basically saying to the people in a, in a hinted way, he's alluding to the people בדרך רמיזה bederech remiza, in a very nuanced way, he's saying, 'You know God is just, there's no injustice. I so badly want to go in. But he's right. הצור Hatzur, he the rock is just in punishing me because I hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock.' Isn't that געשמאק geshmak? You should all be smiling. You should all be enjoying that much, much better. It's a געשמאק geshmak. Not corona, just a sneeze. It's an incredible insight. הצור Hatzur. At the end of his life when he should be resentful, bitter, I saw some of you like moving away from the camera. Don't worry, it can't go through Zoom, doesn't come through YouTube, the sneeze. And it's not, it's not corona, it's just a sneeze. Just lack of sleep and fasting, and a lot of speaking. הצור Hatzur, at the end of משה'ס Moshe's life, he is הצור Hatzur. He's praising השם Hashem. It's not a lukewarm praise. It's not a bittersweet praise. It is a whole-hearted, full-fledged sneeze, praise to השם Hashem. It is a full praise, הצור Hatzur. השם Hashem, you, in the very statement, in the very affirmation that השם Hashem stands for justice, he recognizes השם Hashem as צור Tzur. He is in fact invoking his own failure, he's invoking his own shortcoming when he's referencing that השם Hashem is כולו kulo just, he is entirely just, there is no injustice. That's number one.Number two, he is invoking השם Hashem as השם Hashem as the creator. השם Hashem, you are the creator, and you mold and shape the world, and everything is from you. How is he invoking that in the word צור Tzur, says רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya? The word צור Tzur includes like יצר yatzar. השם Hashem created, וייצר ה' אלקים va'yitzer Hashem Elokim. השם Hashem created. In תפילת חנה tefilas Chana she says, אין צור כאלקינו ein tzur k'Elokeinu. There's no rock like God. To which חז\"ל Chazal understand not אין צור כאלקינו ein tzur k'Elokeinu but אין צייר כאלקינו ein tzayar k'Elokeinu. There is no artist like God. אין צור כאלקינו Ein tzur k'Elokeinu, אין צייר כאלקינו ein tzayar k'Elokeinu. What a beautiful insight. When I had the great honor and privilege to go to Montana, to Glacier National Park, and I went to the Swiss Alps, in both of those places all I could think about was that חז\"ל Chazal. אין צור כאלקינו Ein tzur k'Elokeinu, there's no rock like God, אין צייר כאלקינו ein tzayar k'Elokeinu. Give man all the time in the world, you can't create Glacier National Park. All the technology in the world you can't create the Swiss Alps. He, there's no greater artist. He is the greatest artist of all time. אין צייר כאלקינו Ein tzayar k'Elokeinu. And our lives are the tapestry upon which he paints. Our lives, he is the artist who is painting our lives. And that's משה רבינו'ס Moshe Rabbeinu's acknowledgement to השם Hashem that השם Hashem you created, you, you were יוצר yotzer, יוצר המאורות yotzer ha'meoros. אשר יצר Asher yatzar. You are the יוצר yotzer, you are the צור tzur. You are the rock, steadfast, reliable, dependable, predictable. You are the rock, and you are also the יוצר yotzer, the צייר tzayar. You are the artist, and you are the creator. And משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu is invoking all of that over here.I want to quote an insight from רב דרוק Rav Druck, רב ישראל מאיר דרוק Rav Yisrael Meir Druck. רב דרוק Rav Druck says the following. Oh. הצור תמים פעלו Hatzur tamim pa'alo. He asks a געוואלדיגע gevaldike question. The פסוק pasuk says אין עול ein avel. השם Hashem, you're only just... I would say with you, by you, they would say by you but that's not English. By you השם Hashem, with you השם Hashem, in reference to you השם Hashem, אין עול ein avel, there is no injustice. What are you bringing it up? So רש\"י Rashi there says, אין עול ein avel, אף לרשעים משלם שכר מצוות קלות שבעולם הזה af l'rasha'im meshalem schar mitzvos kalos sheb'olam hazeh. Even with the wicked, he is giving them their reward in this world, he is saving their punishment for the future world. Says רב דרוק Rav Druck, the פסוק pasuk says שבח של הקדוש ברוך הוא שאין עול shevach shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu she'ein avel. One of the ways we're praising השם Hashem, one of the ways that Moshe is praising השם Hashem is there's no injustice. דבר זה הוא תמוה ביותר Davar zehu tamua b'yoser. How bizarre, how strange. What praise is it to tell God there's no injustice? דוד המלך David HaMelech says the same thing. להגיד כי ישר ה' צורי ולא עולתה בו Lehagid ki yashar Hashem, tzuri v'lo avlasa bo. You remember it from our davening Friday night. להגיד כי ישר ה' Lehagid ki yashar Hashem, צורי ולא עולתה בו tzuri v'lo avlasa bo. To tell that השם Hashem is ישר yashar, he's straight. צורי Tzuri, he's my rock. This is דוד המלך'ס David HaMelech's play on words of משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu. Has the same words: צור Tzur and ולא עולתה בו v'lo avlasa bo, אין עול ein avel. What kind of praise is it for השם Hashem to say, 'And השם Hashem, you're not corrupt. You're not on the take. There's no bribing you. There's no injustice with you.' That's a praise for the Almighty, the omnipotent, the infinite God, that there's no injustice with you? It's a bizarre type of a praise. Bizarre praise.So רב דרוק Rav Druck quotes the הגר\"א Gra, some say in the name of רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter, the following. He gives the following metaphor. If a person עבר על חוקי המדינה והוא עומד לפני השופט avar al chukei hamedina v'hu omed lifnei hashofet. Somebody who was accused of a crime and they are brought before the judge for sentencing, for ruling, for justice. אז דן אותו השופט על פי מעשיו, ומטיל עליו את העונש המגיע לו Azai doneh oso hashofet al pi ma'asav, v'matil alav es ha'onesh hamagia lo. So what's going to happen? The judge is going to listen and the judge is going to have a hearing and join, and the judge is going to rule based on the merits of the person who comes before him. Tomorrow night on מאחורי הבימה Behind the Bima, we're having a federal judge, Judge Al Hellerstein, very excited to hear his take about Supreme Court justice and what it's like to be a judge, how his Judaism impacts his justice, and give us some good hints how to come before the judge of judges as a judge himself. So when a person comes before a judge, the judge is listening on the merits of that person, on the merits of that person themselves. Whether they're guilty, whether they're innocent, whether they have virtue or whether they in fact deserve to have the book thrown at them. So what does the lawyer for that accused do? They say, no, no, no, listen. Listen to the family of the accused. And the family come and they say this person is so essential to me and I love them and what they've done for me and how they transformed me, and you cannot punish them because if you punish them you're punishing me. You're punishing me. And then the rabbi comes, and the recipients of the צדקה tzedakah come, and the friends come, and the organizations come, and the חברה קדישא Chevra Kadisha comes and says, Judge, you can't put this person in jail because he does the best טהרות taharas. He gives them a... He gives the most צדקה tzedakah, he's the גבאי gabbai of the מנין minyan. He's the one who cleans up the סידורים siddurim and the חומשים chumashim. He's the one who puts out the food for שלוש סעודות shalosh seudos. If you punish him, you're punishing all of us. One by one, the way you appeal to the judge is by saying you're not just going to punish the person, you're going to punish all of us. So what happens? What happens? It would turn out that punishing the person is in fact punishing others who are undeserving of punishment. Undeserving of punishment. That's a complicating factor for a judge who has to determine what the right thing is to do. אבל משפטו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אינו כן Aval mishpato shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu eino kein. הצור תמים פעלו Hatzur tamim pa'alo, אם השם יתברך מייסר את מי שביסורים, אז תמים פעלו im Hashem Yisbarach mi'ayes es mishubav v'issurim, azai tamim pa'alo. השם Hashem is different. השם Hashem is able to punish the person who deserves to be punished. תמים פעלו Tamim pa'alo. His justice and his punishment, his punitive system are pure. לא יגרם חלילה שום צער ונזק אף לקרובים ולאלו שלא חטאו Lo yigram chalila shum tza'ar v'nezek af l'kumlonim v'l'eilu she'lo chatu. He's able to hone in and punish just the person who deserves it, without a residual or without any other collateral damage to anyone who's undeserving. And that's what we say, that's the פשט pshat says the הגר\"א Gra, הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט Hatzur tamim pa'alo, ki chol derachav mishpat. All of השם'ס Hashem's ways are משפט mishpat. קל אמונה ואין עול Kel emunah v'ein avel. There's no injustice. It's not that to do justice for A becomes an injustice for B. השם Hashem is able to work it all out and coordinate it all. For him there is pure justice and there is no injustice when it comes to anybody else. Says רב דרוק Rav Druck based on this, maybe we understand the משנה Mishna, קנה לך חבר k'nei l'cha chaver. Acquire for yourself a friend. ולהרבות לו אוהבים וידידים, אם חלילה יחטא ונגזר דינו למיתה, יצטרכו לחשוש בעונשו שרבים יגרם להם צער במותו V'l'harbos lo ohavim v'yedidim, im chalila yechta v'nigzar din l'misa, yitztrachu l'chashosh v'onsho sha'rabim sheyigrom lahem tza'ar v'mivso. Says רב דרוק Rav Druck, if you have a lot of good friends, if you have a lot of people who rely on you, if you become essential personnel, not non-essential personnel. The whole world today is talking about essential versus non-essential. We've been talking about it forever as the Jewish people. The world is catching up. Essential versus non-essential. If you make and position yourself to be essential, you matter, you make a difference to others, then the judge of judges will have to rule in your favor. Because if he would eliminate you, he would be punishing not only you but other people. קנה לך חבר K'nei l'cha chaver. The more חברים chaverim you have, therefore the more you matter in this world, therefore the more השם Hashem will have to rule favorably. רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter said, he doesn't quote this here, רב וולבה Rav Wolbe quotes it in another שיעור shiur, that we should position ourselves to be somebody, איש שהרבים צריכים לו ish sheharabim tzrichin lo. That the answer, the secret to persevering, to succeeding on יום הדין Yom Hadin, ימי הדין Yemei Hadin, on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah and יום כיפור Yom Kippur, to walk out on יום כיפור Yom Kippur and to be sealed for a year of goodness is to be a person שהרבים צריכים לו sheharabim tzrichin lo. Don't be egotistical, narcissistic, self-centered, don't be in it for yourself. Be a person שהרבים צריכים לו sheharabim tzrichin lo. Don't just be a person who makes שבת Shabbos for yourself. Don't make יום כיפור Yom Kippur for yourself. 'Well, my backyard, my מנין minyan, my קידוש kiddush, my, I don't want to wear a mask, I, this.' Be a community member, be a community player. Care about the people, volunteer and show up, be a גבאי gabbai, be a בעל תפילה baal tefilah. Give a little extra צדקה tzedakah to help the people who can't afford. All again in a safe way, not talking about asking anyone to do anything that's unsafe. All in a safe way. But be a person שהרבים צריכים לו sheharabim tzrichin lo because רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter says when יום הדין Yom Hadin comes, when יום כיפור Yom Kippur comes, if you're in it for yourself, your comfort, your convenience, yourself, השם Hashem says bring me his file, bring me her file. Let me look at them as themselves. Are they worthy? But if you're a person שהרבים צריכים לו sheharabim tzrichin lo, הצור תמים פעלו Hatzur tamim pa'alo, if you're קנה לך חבר k'nei l'cha chaver, if you're a person who positioned yourself that others rely on you, you're essential, השם Hashem doesn't just look at your file, he looks at all the letters that came in from all over that say 'Don't punish this person. We need them. We rely on them. Don't ever, don't compromise them. Don't limit them. We need them. We need them, don't hold them back whatsoever. We need them.' And he goes on, he has a much more beautiful insight into this רב דרוק Rav Druck.Okay, next פסוק pasuk says, זכר ימות עולם בינו שנות דור ודור Zechor yemos olam, binu shnos dor vador. פסוק ז Pasuk zayin. פרק ל\"ב פסוק ז Perek lamed beis pasuk zayin. זכר ימות עולם בינו שנות דור ודור שאל אביך ויגדך זקניך ויאמרו לך Zechor yemos olam, binu shnos dor vador, she'al avicha v'yagedcha, zekeinecha v'yomru lach. Remember the days of old, reflect upon the years of other generations, ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will inform you. This is the source of the value of Jewish history. We have, I once gave a whole שיעור shiur about studying Jewish history. We don't make a ברכת התורה birchas haTorah on studying Jewish history. It's not that studying Jewish history has the value of תורה Torah, but there is a significant Jewish value to studying history, to knowing where we come from. זכר ימות עולם Zechor yemos olam. To remember our history, to know where we come from, so we're not doomed to repeat it, so we can learn the lessons of it, and so on. רב סולובייצ'יק Rav Soloveitchik writes here on this פסוק pasuk, recognition of השם'ס Hashem's presence and absence at certain moments leads to a proper interpretation of events, both in the lives of individuals and in the life of community. To read history properly and to interpret it in the light of השם'ס Hashem's absence or presence is a prime duty of the Jew. It's implied by the רמב\"ן'ס Ramban's doctrine of מעשה אבות סימן לבנים ma'aseh avos siman l'banim, the events involving the fathers are signs for the descendants. When we study חומש Chumash, what is it, what is תנ\"ך Tanach if not the study of history. זכר ימות עולם Zechor yemos olam. So our our reflections on the past don't end when תנ\"ך Tanach closes. זכר ימות עולם Zechor yemos olam, we become collective students of history. Because there is no history. You know Rabbi Sacks, Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, on his הגדה Hagaddah has an essay where he talks about, other study history. History is his story. We have memory. Memory starts with me. We're not studying someone else's story, history, his story. For us, it's all part of our active memory. מעשה אבות סימן לבנים Ma'aseh avos siman l'banim is my memory, me, my ancestors, we went through it. Man must have an excellent ear in order to hear the footsteps of השם Hashem who walks in the garden of human history. We must beware of the danger that like אדם וחווה Adam and Chava, mankind will purposefully try to escape reality and hide upon hearing the footsteps of השם Hashem. Otherwise, man will descend to the level of Adam's contemporaries who could not hear the call, who could not even recognize, could not even recognize השם Hashem. In this פסוק pasuk is the value of studying history as a religious experience. Not memorizing a bunch of facts, names, places, and dates. We study history as a religious experience. On the mission to uncover and discover השם'ס Hashem's guiding hand through that history because then it transforms it from history to memory, his to me. It informs my present and it guides my very future.פרק ל\"ב פסוק י\"ב Perek lamed beis, pasuk yud beis. Moving right along, flying. Up to שלישי shlishi. Almost up to שלישי shlishi. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu says, ה' בדד ינחנו ואין עמו אל נכר Hashem badad yanchenu v'ein imo el nechar. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu says השם Hashem who guided them alone and there was no alien deity with him. אין עמו אל נכר Ein imo el nechar. No foreign god. השם בדד Hashem badad. You can imagine this word jumped off the page to me this year particularly. What's it called in Israel if you are in quarantine, you are in בידוד bidud. בדד Badad. We spoke about this on תשעה באב Tisha B'Av night where we said it's not normal. This isn't normal. It's not normal. איכה ישבה בדד Eicha yashva badad. That is exactly what the נביא Navi was bemoning. This isn't normal. And what we're still going through is not normal. And we should never become adjusted. We have to remain mal-adjusted. This can never become normal. So that word בדד badad, which means quarantine, alone, loneliness. איכה ישבה בדד Eicha yashva badad was was the lamenting history, lamentation. And here השם בדד ינחנו Hashem badad yanchenu. השם Hashem guided them alone. השם Hashem guided them alone. So here the אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, you didn't think we weren't going to have an אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. The אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim. The אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim, the great ויז'ניצער רבי Vizhnitzer Rebbe says the following. השם בדד ינחנו Hashem badad yanchenu. ידוע שאדם שעובד את השם יתברך בהתבודדות, בלא דיבוק חברים Yaduah she'adam she'oved es Hashem Yisborach b'hisbodedus, b'lo dibuk chaverim, if you try to worship השם Hashem alone, by yourself, you're not going to connect with friends, you are not part of community, you are בדד badad, my backyard, my מנין minyan, my self, my קידוש kiddush, I make שבת Shabbos for myself, I don't care about the greater world, אינו יכול להגיע למידת אהבה eino yachol l'hagia l'midas ahava. You cannot come to the level of אהבת השם ahavas Hashem. If you're trying to serve and worship השם Hashem and experience your Judaism at בדד badad, by yourself, alone, isolated from others, withdrawn, distracted, בלא דיבוק חברים b'lo dibuk chaverim, you can't achieve it. אבל ירכיבהו על במתי ארץ ויאכל תנובות שדי Avval yarkiveihu al bamosei aretz v'yochal t'nuvos sadai which are ראשי תיבות rashei teivos ידידים yedidim, it's an acronym for ידידים yedidim, with friends, not בדד badad but with ידידים yedidim, and מתחבר בצבתא עם אוהבים נאמנים לעבדי השם mis'chaber b'tzavsa im ohavim ne'emanim l'Avdei Hashem, then ויאכל תנובות שדי v'yochal t'nuvos sadai, then you'll eat from the good, from the pleasant, from the fruit, from the succulent and delicious fruit of this world. So the אמרי חיים Imrei Chaim says in this פסוק pasuk is the contrast. השם בדד Hashem badad, are you going to serve השם Hashem בדד badad? You'll only get to the level of אל נכר el nechar, that you're not going to have a false God. But if you want to be able to achieve the level of eating from the delicious fruit of this world, then ידידות yedidus, you have to serve השם Hashem ידידים yedidim, you have to serve השם Hashem with others, connected, community, caring, being part of something so much bigger, so much bigger than ourselves.Okay, last thought. Last thought. פרק ל\"ב פסוק מ\"ט Perek lamed beis, pasuk mem tes. Let's get to the end of the שיעור shiur. ל\"ב מ\"ט Lamed beis, mem tes. It's in the Artscroll Stone Chumash, page 1,110. וידבר ה' אל משה בעצם היום הזה לאמר, עלה אל הר העברים הזה הר נבו, וראה את ארץ כנען אשר אני נותן לבני ישראל אחוזה, ומת בהר אשר אתה עולה שמה והאסף אל עמך Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe b'etzem hayom hazeh leimor, aleh el har ha'avarim hazeh, har nevo, v'rei es eretz canaan asher ani nosein l'vnei yisrael achuza, umus bahar asher atah oleh shama, v'he'asef el amecha, just like Aharon died and he was gathered to his people. First of all, this is so cruel. So cruel. There's one question, why would God, why would God do this cruelty? Moshe, go climb the mountain and give a kick, give a look. You're not going in. Instead you see that mountain over there, I want you to go up there and drop dead. השם Hashem tells Moshe, literally, go drop dead. Since when can you command someone to drop dead? That's the question of the אש תמיד eish tamid of רב דרוק Rav Druck. ומת בהר Umus bahar, go die on that mountain? How could you command someone to die? Suicide is prohibited. הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadish Baruch Hu is of course not, God forbid, telling Moshe go commit suicide. What does he mean go die? So the Ibn Ezra says it doesn't mean go die. It means, הציבו רואה המיסה עצמה, קייקום על תגור עצמו כי יקבור עצמו, שהוא קבר עצמו, שנכנס במערה בגד ועל זה בא הציווי ומת בהר Hitzivhu roi'ah ha'misa atzma, keyeikum al tigur atzmo k'yikbor atzmo, she'hu kever atzmo, she'nichnas b'me'ara b'gad v'al zeh ba ha'tzivui umus bahar. Go prepare yourself for death. Go prepare to meet your maker. Go and say וידוי vidui. Go and do all that is necessary to prepare for the Jewish way to die. רבינו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says, אם יתכן בפירוש ענין ומת, שנגזר עליו החש שתמות מיד, המיסה איננה ביד האדם, ולכך לא תנסה בסורה בפשוט, והקודש מצווה בדבר שיכול בידו לעשות מיד, כי אם מדבר עם חברו אינו אומר לו יושן עולם ומת, ישר ושלא ימות, וכשגוזר ימות דבר השם הוא, והוא יצווה הגוזר ולא אשר תניחולת if he takan b'perush inyan umus, she'nigzar alav ha'cheshe'tomas miyad. Ha'misa einena b'yad ha'adam. V'lachach lo tensiv basora b'pashut, v'ha'kodesh mitzvah l'davar she'yachol b'yado la'asos miyad. Ki'im medaber im chavero, eino omer lo yoshein olam umus, e'yashar v'shelo yimus, v'kshe'gazar yimus, davar Hashem hu, v'hu yesaveh ha'gozer v'lo asherto nicholos. In fact, because you cannot instruct somebody to do it, this is an allusion to know this is not in your power. You can't delay it, you're not in charge of it, you can't make it happen. It is something that exclusively belongs in the realm of השם Hashem. השם Hashem alone is the one who who controls it, is the one who controls it. The ספורנו Sforno says, ומת בהר umus bahar, קיבל עליו המיסה לכפרה kibel alav ha'misa l'kapara. He says, ומת umus means know that this is going to be your final כפרה kapara, this is what's going to be what transforms you. This is going to be what elevates you.But I want to leave it with a question for you. In these very פרשיות parshios in which Moshe is describing the process and the power of תשובה teshuva, why does he not have תשובה teshuva? Why does השם Hashem tell us in the very פרשיות parshios in which Moshe is describing our ability to repair, to come back, to correct, to fix, everyone has a second chance except Moshe? Instead השם Hashem says, go on that mountain and die, and go on that mountain and die. Is תשובה teshuva possible for everyone? Is תשובה teshuva denied to Moshe? What is going on? I leave that with you as a question, a cliffhanger for you to think about. And I invite you and encourage you to join us tomorrow morning for מסילת ישרים Mesilas Yesharim at 8:15, Living with אמונה Emunah 8:45, מאחורי הבימה Behind the Bima tomorrow evening at 9 p.m. Special guest Judge Al Hellerstein, Alvin Hellerstein, and look forward, wishing everyone a גמר חתימה טובה gmar chasima tova. Should be a good געבענטשט g'bentched year, good health, happiness. Look forward to continuing with the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur following סוכות Sukkos. So stay tuned for when the next פרשה שיעור parsha shiur will begin again following סוכות Sukkos. גמר חתימה טובה Gmar chasima tova, a גוט יום טוב gut yontif, and take care.
