Transcript
Okay, good morning, everyone. Hopefully you're having a meaningful and not difficult fast. We are of the privilege this morning of studying Parshas Pinchas together. We are in the Artscroll Stone Chumash page 876. And we'll dedicate our learning this morning for a רפואה שלמה refuah shlemah, a speedy, complete, and painless recovery for our beloved friend, ברוך צבי בן רבקה בתיה Baruch Tzvi ben Rifka Basya and all חולי ישראל cholei Yisrael, all those who are ill. As always, we'll give an overview of the parsha and then we'll delve into the specific פסוקים psukim.Our parsha begins where last week's last week's parsha leaves off. The curtain falls at the end of last week's parsha, there's a horrific scene. A Jewish man, a Midianite woman, they cohabited in public in a great disgrace and an affront to the Jewish people, to the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, to the Almighty himself. Pinchas, who is moved without hesitation, without pause, without consultation, grabs a spear and violently drives it through both of them. And so the curtain falls at the end of last week's parsha with two intertwined bodies, two corpses, two murdered individuals who are bound by one spear. The Jewish people are looking on. Pinchas stands by, having been the vehicle of this great act of zealotry.Curtain rises on this week's parsha, and what would you expect to find? I don't know, but I probably would not expect to find God saying to Pinchas, a גרויסע ישר כח groiseh yasher koach, well, good job, well done, amazing, fantastic. By the way, I'm awarding you a Nobel Peace Prize. A ברית שלום Bris Shalom. Here is the covenant of peace. We're not going to get into this now. It is, of course, the famous question at the beginning of the parsha. It's an unusual reward, a ברית שלום Bris Shalom. There's a whole series of questions one can ask at the beginning of the parsha. Namely, God rewards Pinchas an unusual reward for the violent act he had done, a peace prize. Number two, why did he have to be awarded being a kohen? Pinchas descends from Aaron, who is a kohen. You know the old joke about the person who comes to the rabbi and he wants to pay to be able to be the kohen. Everyone knows that old corny joke. So that's this week's parsha. Why is that the gift or the promise of the blessing to Pinchas? Number three, why is Pinchas rewarded not for the act of zealotry, but for השיב את חמתי מעל בני ישראל heishivas chamasi mei'al Bnei Yisrael? For the fact that his act withdrew God's wrath against the Jewish people. Why not reward him for the act of zealotry? How and what way did Pinchas's act remove the wrath of God from the Jewish people? A whole series of questions we're not going to get into, but I'll share with you the insight of Rav Soloveitchik at the beginning of the parsha where he says Pinchas is identified by his lineage: פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן הכהן Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aaron HaKohen. Why the lineage? Why does it provide his family? Says the Rav, his courageous action was a behavioral manifestation of the rich heritage in which he had been brought up at home. All great leaders have been at one time loyal followers. It's a great line. All great leaders have been at one time loyal followers. Pinchas harnessed the courage for his act of zeal by imitating his forebears. He was therefore prepared for the moment in history when the situation arose that required him to act and assume a role of leadership. Aaron is described as אוהב שלום ורודף שלום ohev shalom v'rodef shalom. Aaron is a lover of peace, he runs after peace. Some might mistakenly think Pinchas's actions were inconsistent with the tradition of his grandfather. Pinchas was off the דרך derech. You might think had Aaron been there at that moment, Aaron would react very differently. Comes the Torah and tells us, no, פנחס בן אלעזר בן אהרן Pinchas ben Elazar ben Aaron. Part of the tradition he had from Aaron, the pursuit of peace, demanded this act of zealotry right now. But says the Rav, lest we think Pinchas is born in a vacuum, lest we think Pinchas emerges as a leader out of nowhere, we should know that all great leaders all great leaders were at one time great followers, raised in the home of their great parents or had the influence of their great teachers and the influence of others. And the Torah is communicating that by telling us Pinchas didn't just enter the stage, he didn't come onto the scene out of nowhere, but he descends from Elazar and from Aaron. We have another great zealot in Tanach. Who's the other great zealot? Described as a קנאי kanai? אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi. Only אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi, rather than getting a ישר כח yasher koach from Hashem, אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi is criticized by the Almighty, he's replaced by Elisha HaNavi. Why is one act of zealotry rewarded? Why is it celebrated? The other act of zealotry is rejected? What was the difference between the קנאות kanaus of Pinchas and the קנאות kanaus of Eliyahu? Zealotry in general. You know, the Gemara says that the rabbis at the time wanted to put Pinchas in חרם cherem for his act. Had God not intervened and interceded on his behalf and said, great job, well done, Nobel Peace Prize, ברית שלום Bris Shalom, Sanhedrin at the time were going to put him in חרם cherem. Zealotry, zealousness is not an admirable quality in the Jewish people and in the Torah. Person who acts impulsively, instinctively, person who acts violently and with zealousness, it's not something that we believe in. אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi is the norm, Pinchas and God's response to him are the exception. When is zealotry warranted? When is zealotry rejected? These are all great questions that come from our parsha, but not for now. Torah continues that we have a new attitude towards Midyan. Because it was a Midianite woman who was the one who made us vulnerable by seducing a Jewish man. Therefore, צרור את המדינים והכיתם אותם tzaror es haMidyani v'hikeisem osam. We have a new kind of hostile attitude towards Midyan. We see Midyan as our adversaries because while Amalek was unsuccessful militarily, and while Bilam, Balak, Moav is unsuccessful trying to curse us spiritually, it's Midyan who are successful in exposing our weak part, weak point by the seduction of the Jewish man and the public display of promiscuity and licentiousness. And the Torah therefore tells us that we are to cultivate an adversarial relationship. A new census is taken. After the מגיפה mageifah, the plague that strikes the Jewish people, there's a new census taken in order to evaluate the damage. Who are we, how many are we, and so on. I'll just tell you an interesting aside from within the middle of the census. And that is a comment when we get up to Yissachar. בני יששכר למשפחותם לישוב משפחת הישבי Bnei Yissachar l'mishpechosam l'Yashuv mishpachas haYashuvi. How do you pronounce that name? Yud Shin Shin Chaf Reish. How do you pronounce it? How should the בעל קורא baal korei read it? Yissachar or Yisaschar? How many people here know someone named Yissachar? How many people here know someone named Yisaschar? I don't. So how do you read it? It's written with two shins. What's the correct reading? Rav Soloveitchik had a very interesting tradition. The pasuk says that the descendants of Yissachar according to their families, לישוב משפחת הישבי l'Yashuv mishpachas haYashuvi. And Rashi here writes, Rashi here comments that Yashuv is the same person as Yov, listed as one of Yissachar's sons all the way back in Bereishis. So a Da'as Zekeinim cites a Midrash that explains the name change. After naming his child, Yissachar learns that Yov was also the name of a pagan god. So he names his son Yov, and then he realizes that he's given his son the same name as a pagan god. That won't get him very far in yeshiva and on shidduch resumes. So he therefore took one of the shin characters from his own name and he gave it to his son. So if you go back to Bereishis, you'll see Yissachar names his son Yov, and here it's Yashuv. Where'd the shin for the name come from, that all of a sudden he has a new name? He gave it from his own name. For this reason, said the Rav, during the reading of the Torah in the Volozhin Yeshiva, the name would be pronounced Yisaschar until Parshas Pinchas, and after Parshas Pinchas it was pronounced Yissachar. So the מנהג minhag from Volozhin, and I believe it was the מנהג minhag of Rav Soloveitchik, was that Parshas Pinchas, important for בעלי קריאה baalei kria to know, that Parshas Pinchas represents a transition point from pronouncing it Yisaschar, then he lost one of the shins, he gave it to his son, to now pronouncing it Yissachar. Rav Schechter quotes this in Nefesh HaRav, it's brought down here in the new Rav Chumash. So the census concludes, the Leviim again are counted separately, we've talked about that in the past. We have now בנות צלפחד Bnos Tzelafchad step forward and the five daughters of Tzelafchad have a very compelling argument. Our father died, we don't know the circumstances, it's ambiguous the text, the circumstances of his death. The Gemara says he might have been the מקושש עצים mekoshesh eitzim, he was the one who gathered the wood, if you remember, this great act of selflessness, he, he became a martyr so to say, he died violating Shabbos in order to impress upon the Jewish people in the midbar that you can't violate Shabbos. They say, look, our father died, he had no sons, we're five daughters, בנות צלפחד Bnos Tzelafchad. Five daughters, they probably thought that was a lot, but five daughters, and we love ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. We want our חלק cheilek, we want a portion, we want to be able to inherit. And of course Moshe, it's one of the questions Moshe doesn't know the answer, he asks. Hashem says, you know, דכא takka, that's a good, it's a good argument. So just like פסח שני Pesach Sheini, those who felt that they were, it was unfair, they couldn't participate in the Pesach because they were carrying the bones of Yosef or dealing with a מת מצוה meis mitzvah, also a debate, but they were able to initiate a new law of פסח שני Pesach Sheini. Here the בנות צלפחד Bnos Tzelafchad have the great merit of initiating a new law. And once we're on the בנות צלפחד Bnos Tzelafchad, the Torah then gets into the laws of inheritance. Those learning the daf spent a lot of time on it recently in the last few weeks and months. What are the proper laws of Jewish inheritance, the hierarchy, the priorities, sons, daughters, and so on and so forth. I'll take a moment to tell you that many people have an emphasis on a הלכתי halachic living will, end of life issues. And they neglect to have a הלכתי halachic will. And the way that we establish our will, our estate planning also has to be according to הלכה halacha. Because the הלכה halacha has specific hierarchy and protocols, if one is deviating from those protocols, which I highly recommend you do, if you want peace in your family, and modern day פוסקים poskim, it's one of the interesting areas of Jewish law, where modern day פוסקים poskim suggest employing the legal loopholes in order to avoid the biblical vision of estate planning because we want to preserve peace within the family. You don't want to tell your daughters, sorry, daughters don't inherit, only the sons inherit, or tell your sons, the oldest son is inheriting the double portion, sorry, even though there's good reason, in antiquity, the way economically families were structured with the greatest responsibility falling to the eldest son who takes the place of the father and responsibility towards the sons, where the sons are the breadwinner of the family, and the daughter will be supported and sustained from her husband. Until she has a husband, the brothers have a responsibility to take care of her, but since her husband will be the breadwinner of her family and will inherit his father, her brothers inherit their father because she doesn't need to. In other words, in antiquity, in Talmudic times, in biblical times certainly, the infrastructure of the family was such that that hierarchy made sense. Today, where we function obviously very differently, and one would great run the great risk, right? That after 120 years when the family gathers in the lawyer's office around the table to reveal the estate plan, the will, and you say, your father and your mother was such a צדיק tzaddik, he he left his will exactly according to the Torah. I don't think that they would sponsor kiddush for the next week for the father, to celebrate what a צדיק tzaddik he was, it would create all kinds of problems. So we have, I'll put it, it's not so polite, but I'll call it legal loopholes in order to restructure a will. My point is you have to use it. It's one paragraph addendum at the end of your legal will. It's not complicated, but you need to have this one paragraph addendum at the end of your legal will in order to also make it הלכתי halachically legal, in order to employ the legal loopholes at our disposal so that it's legal as well. So we have the laws of inheritance in our parsha. Then, Hashem shows Moshe the land. This is heartbreaking. You could literally shed a tear. Top of page 888. ויאמר ה' אל משה עלה אל הר העברים הזה וראה את הארץ אשר נתתי לבני ישראל Vayomer Hashem el Moshe aleh el Har HaAvarim hazeh u're'eh es ha'aretz asher nasati l'Vnei Yisrael. Hey Moshe, climb the mountain, I want you to look over. You see that? That's where you're not going. וראית אותה ונאספת אל עמך גם אתה כאשר נאסף אהרן אחיך V'raisa oso v'neasfta el amecha gam ata ka'asher ne'esaf Aharon achicha. Yeah, you see over there? It's beautiful, it's magnificent. Jewish people are gonna conquer it. It's the whole reason that I, that I recruited you to lead them out. You've dedicated your life for the last 40 years. Yeah, you see that? Magnificent, beautiful, there's gonna be great rugelach and incredible vegetables, great omelet stations at the hotels over there. You see that country? Yeah, you're gonna die like your brother, you're not going in. Very painful. כאשר מריתם פי במדבר צין במריבת העדה להקדישני במים לעיניהם הם מי מריבת קדש מדבר צין Ka'asher merisem pi b'midbar Tzin b'mrivas ha'eidah l'hakdisheini b'mayim l'eineihem, heim Mei Merivas Kadesh midbar Tzin. Hey Moshe, let me just remind you, you blew it. Yes, you've been a faithful leader, faithful servant, the most humble of all men, but you blew it. When I told you to speak to the rock and you hit it, that was your chance, you blew it, you're not going in. The Midrash gives us a little bit more background about why he didn't go in, what the difference was. Rav Soloveitchik in the Chumash here puts the Midrash. Why he doesn't go in. Yeah. Immediately after the narrative of the regarding the daughters of Tzelafchad, God commands Moshe, go on the mountain. When God refused Moshe's request that he be allowed to pass over the Yarden to Israel, Moshe argued at the very least he should be buried there. Since he carried Yosef's casket in the desert for 40 long years to be buried in Israel, why should God not afford him the same privilege? God's answers comes from the דברים רבה Devarim Rabbah, the Midrash. Yosef acknowledged his land and you did not acknowledge the land. Yosef acknowledged the land and you did not. When did Yosef acknowledge Eretz Yisrael and Moshe fail? In captivity, Yosef's very identity was tied to the land of Israel. He proclaimed in Bereishis Perek Mem, \"I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews.\" Right? I used to live in Canaan, and Yosef says when asked to identify himself, I am an individual who was taken captive, I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews. His entire identity is intertwined, his identity is wrapped up in his connection with Israel. In contrast, when Yisro's daughters mistakenly identify Moshe as an Egyptian to their father, they introduced Moshe, this is a nice man, we met him by the well, he's an איש מצרי Ish Mitzri, Moshe did not correct them. As a result of this omission, he did not merit being buried in the land of Israel. Wow, ouch, yeah. So the Midrash says something enigmatically just that that Yosef identified with the land, Moshe did not, and Rav Soloveitchik is filling in based on these two, based on these two references. Very, very painful episode. Moshe then realizes he's not going in the land. What's the very next thing he does? He retires to Century Village in Florida. No, that's not the next thing he does. What is the very next thing he does? He says, I'm going to need a successor. If I'm not going in with them, if I can't continue to lead them, these are my children, this is my flock. There needs to be a successor. And that's the section we're going to study more intensely together momentarily. How Moshe and God interact with identifying a successor. It adds actually salt to Moshe's wounds because Moshe's told by God, look there, you see, you're not going in. Whom does Moshe think will take over for him? His own children, his own progeny, his son. God said, no. No. They're rabbi's kids. They're, they're they're not. You know, if you saw the latest Jewish action, rabbi's kids have their own problems. They're not, they can't take over. So instead, it's going to be Yehoshua, and we'll look into the pesukim momentarily to see why. Torah then concludes, our parsha then concludes with the, called the parsha of the מועדים moadim. We have the laws of the different Jewish holidays, the Jewish calendar. But first the תמיד tamid, which is very significant, particularly today. Today is שבעה עשר בתמוז Shiva Asar B'Tammuz. Today is the 17th of Tammuz. With it we begin the בין המצרים Bein HaMetzarim, the three weeks, culminating in our sitting on the floor, mourning, grieving, not only the loss of the two בתי מקדש batei mikdash, the two temples, but so many calamities, tragedies, suffering, all the result of סלוק השכינה siluk haShechinah. When God withdraws his countenance, when God withdraws his providence, when God withdraws his presence, there's a vacuum created in which calamity, tragedy ensue. And so the totality of Jewish history, the suffering from collectively to individually is all marked, it's all mourned during these three weeks, launched today, the observance of שבעה עשר בתמוז Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, the 17th of Tammuz. What happened on the 17th of Tammuz? The end of Gemara Taanis tells us there were five things that happened, and since the close of the Talmud, more things have happened concurrent with that date on the Jewish calendar, the 17th of Tammuz. What is the first one? Moshe came down from Har Sinai today on שבעה עשר בתמוז Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, he found the Jewish people worshiping an Egel and he smashed the לוחות luchos. First thing that happened, it's a Mishna in Taanis, Chaf Ches, is he broke the great tablets. There's a lot of lessons in the broken tablets, we've talked about that. The broken tablets and the whole tablets, לוחות ושברי לוחות מונחים בארון luchos v'shivrei luchos munachim b'aron. Both the whole tablets and the broken tablets, we preserve the brokenness, we learn from brokenness. The Kotsker Rebbe famously said, there is nothing as whole as a broken heart. Famous comment, I think of the Kotsker, there is nothing so whole as a broken heart. Which deserves elucidation, but we won't spend time now. So the notion of the broken tablets, the broken moments are also moments that we learn from. Sometimes it's from a place of being broken or shattered that one finds truth about themselves, about relationships, one finds a faith and a strength they didn't know. So rather than discard the broken, shattered pieces, we preserve them, we hold on to them, we remember them, because they were a catalyst for our learning. So, the first thing was Moshe broke the לוחות luchos. In the time of the first בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, in the year 586 BCE, this date, 586 BCE today, שבעה עשר בתמוז Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, the קרבן תמיד Korban Tamid stopped being offered. What was the קרבן תמיד Korban Tamid? That's our parsha, page 890. צו את בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם את קרבני לחמי לאשי ריח ניחוחי תשמרו וגו' Tzav es Bnei Yisrael v'amarta aleihem es korbani lachmi l'ishai reiach nichochi tishmeru etc. וזה האישה אשר תקריבו, את הכבש אחד תעשה בבוקר ואת הכבש השני תעשה בין הערביים V'zeh ha'isheh asher takrivu, es hakeves echad ta'aseh baboker v'es hakeves hasheini ta'aseh bein ha'arbaim. One lamb is brought in the morning, one lamb is brought in the afternoon. Our prayer is modeled after שחרית Shacharis in the morning, מנחה Mincha in the afternoon, but in the time of the בית המקדש Beis HaMikdash, every single day, 365 days a year, rain, sleet or snow, Shabbos, Yom Tov, Yom Kippur, weekday, it didn't matter what was happening, this sacrifice was offered, it was offered every morning, it was offered every afternoon. It was offered on behalf of the Jewish people, and it had such a great significance, it represented Har Sinai. It represented a reconnection back to our origins, to our beginnings, to our holy and our sacred Torah. What's so special about this korban? So what happened? In the year 586 BCE, today, שבעה עשר בתמוז Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, in the time of the first temple, there was a shortage of sheep because they didn't have access to be able to get more, and therefore the קרבן תמיד Korban Tamid stopped. קרבן תמיד Korban Tamid stopping is indeed a tremendous tragedy. When the Jewish people have a consistency every single day for years and years and years and decades and centuries of a קרבן תמיד Korban Tamid being offered, and then it has to be stopped. The consistency, the constancy, the presence of the atonement, of the, of the knowledge that one is receiving a certain level of elevation, and to know that that stopped, to know it's over, the record streak is broken, it's done, it's finished, is something which is devastating. The Ein Yaakov, a commentary on the Aggadic sections of the Gemara, Rav Yaakov ibn Chaviv quotes a Midrash in the introduction to Ein Yaakov. It's a famous Midrash, describes the rabbis in the second century who gathered to debate what is the most important pasuk in the Torah, what is the motto of the Jewish people. I'm not going to take the time to deliver this to you dramatically. Many of you have heard it before, but it ties back to our parsha and to שבעה עשר בתמוז Shiva Asar B'Tammuz. They gathered, they got together, it was probably at the Homowack, somewhere else, and they debated, what is the most important pasuk in the Torah? Ben Zoma said, שמע ישראל ה' אלקינו ה' אחד Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. This is the statement of monotheism, of ethical monotheism, our belief in God. Is there a greater bumper sticker for the Jewish people than Shema? Rabbi Akiva, who himself exemplified the significance of Shema by having it be the last words on his lips when he was murdered by the Romans, but he said, no, it's not Shema. Rabbi Akiva, after burying 24,000 students, after seeing the results of a lack of כבוד kavod, of שנאת חנם sinas chinam, Rabbi Akiva says, no, it's not Shema. What's the most significant pasuk in the Torah? What's the motto, the bumper sticker of the Jewish people? It is ואהבת לרעך כמוך v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. Interpersonal relationships, you have to love your neighbor as yourself. Those are two compelling arguments. We could probably have a great debate, Shema versus v'ahavta l'reiacha. Bein adam l'Makom, bein adam l'chaveiro, we could have a great debate. But the third opinion comes along, and we would not predict it. It's the pasuk from our parsha Pinchas this morning. את הכבש אחד תעשה בבוקר ואת הכבש השני תעשה בין הערביים Es hakeves echad ta'aseh baboker, v'es hakeves hasheini ta'aseh bein ha'arbaim. Offer a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the afternoon. And the rabbis all gathered and they took a vote, and which opinion won? Keves echad. Keves echad? Compared to Shema and v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, keves echad? So again, this communicates the significance of consistency. The Korban Tamid, matmid, tmidius, of consistency and constancy, to always be connected is something which is of utmost important in the Jewish people. You know, the, those who learn the daf can relate to this. Because the daf provides a consistency in your life, you never miss a day. That was the vision of Rav Meir Shapiro. I told the story last week, two weeks ago, in his yeshiva, in Lublin, Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, which was turned into a nursing school, but it's been restored as a beis medrash. The dorm of the yeshiva is now a hotel, one I don't think Rav Meir Shapiro would be particularly proud of or would want to stay at, but it's been turned into a hotel, and the beis medrash was a nursing school, was the major lecture hall, has been restored as a beis medrash, a beautiful aron kodesh, and so on and so forth. And there I told the story, which is told by Rabbi Friend, of what inspired Rav Meir Shapiro to introduce the daf. The daf is incredible. There's hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are all literally on the same page. It doesn't matter what section of the kotel they daven or can't daven in, it doesn't matter what kind of yarmulke they wear, it doesn't matter what kind of background they have, doesn't matter what language they're learning the daf in, they're on the same page around the world, all initiated by Rav Meir Shapiro in 1923. We're not talking about something which has existed for very long at all. And what was the inspiration? What precipitated this wonderful idea? He was seven or eight years old, came home one day. Did I say this last week? He was seven or eight years old. One day he sees his mother crying. He says, Mommy, why are you crying? She says, because your melamed didn't come today. Okay, melamed didn't come today. He came yesterday, he'll come tomorrow. Okay. Why are you crying? She takes her son and she says to him, because you don't understand. If you miss one day of Torah learning, you could never ever make it up. If you miss one day of Torah learning, you can never ever make it up. And when he sees his mother's passion for his Torah learning, he later described that at that young age, he began to have this dream of initiating a project. How long is that project? How long is Shas? 2,711 pages, seven and a half years. To learn the daf every day, seven and a half years and not miss a day, you beat Cal Ripken Jr., the Iron Man's record by over 400 days. Cal Ripken Jr. has the record of not missing a game. And he is known as the Iron Man. And if you learn the daf consistently, you beat his record by 400 days. That's what the daf provides. Imagine you have a daf that goes on not for weeks or months or years or decades, but longer. And then one day the daf ceases because you could no longer have the daf. Imagine the pain, the devastation. That's Shiva Asar B'Tammuz today, the end of that consistency of the opportunity to bring this korban tamid, what it represented. Jews knew that no matter the weather, they knew no matter the day, they knew no matter what was happening in the world, the korban tamid would be offered until 586 BCE when that when that began, when that ceased after the siege of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian forces and they no longer had access to bringing in more sheep. Just the other things that happened today, Shiva Asar B'Tammuz, the Ramam says, you know, these fast days are days of teshuvah, they're days of reflection, of introspection. We don't just refrain from food and drink to punish ourselves, we do so to elevate ourselves. We do so to interrupt the momentum of our lives and to stop and say, I have a soul, I am a soul and I have a body. I'm going to put the pleasures of the body on hold for a day and remind myself, I need to nourish my soul, I need to protect my soul. That is the purpose of of a fast day. In Sefer Melachim Beis, it tells us that King Menashe, one of the worst Jewish kings, put an idol in the holy sanctuary of the Beis HaMikdash on Shiva Asar B'Tammuz. The that same Gemara in Taanis tells us that in the time of the Roman persecution, the second Beis HaMikdash, Apostomus, the captain of the forces who were occupying Yerushalayim, put a, put a idol in the Beis HaMikdash and burned the Torah. It's great act of rebelliousness, of blasphemy, of desecration, it was on Shiva Asar B'Tammuz. Titus haRasha, Titus the Roman, the great Roman general breached the walls of Yerushalayim in the year 70 CE. Pope Gregory IX ordered the confiscation of all manuscripts of the Talmud. It was Shiva Asar B'Tammuz in the year 1239. In 1391, more than 4,000 Jews were killed in Toledo, Spain, on Shiva Asar B'Tammuz. In 1559, the Jewish quarter of Prague was burned and looted. The Kovno Ghetto was liquidated on שבעה עשר בתמוז Shivah Asar B'Tammuz 1944. And in 1970, Libya ordered the confiscation of Jewish property. These are just among the things, the same way that תשעה באב Tisha B'Av is designated a day of Jewish tragedy and calamity. So too שבעה עשר בתמוז Shivah Asar B'Tammuz corresponds with all of these things, and that's a pretty, if you haven't felt you had a reason to feel sad today yet, that'll that'll definitely do it. Okay. Let's go back and get into the specific פסוקים psukim I wanted to look at, which were about how משה Moshe chooses a successor. It's on page 888 in the ArtScroll חומש Chumash. פרק כ\"ז Perek Kaf Zayin, פסוק ט\"ו Pasuk Tet Vav, chapter 27, verse 15.וידבר משה אל ה' לאמר Vayedaber Moshe el Hashem leimor. משה Moshe speaks to God, לאמר leimor. Usually God speaks to משה Moshe לאמר leimor. Here משה Moshe speaks to God לאמר leimor, saying. It's unusual. We've interpreted in the past that לאמר leimor is licensed to repeat what was said. What's the default? If someone tells you something, do you have to presume it's in confidence unless they explicitly tell you you can repeat it? Or can you assume it's public unless they explicitly tell you it's in confidence? Which is the default assumption? The גמרא Gemara says the default is, it's in confidence. Unless they explicitly tell you that you can repeat it. And that's why when it says לאמר leimor, God spoke to משה Moshe, each time he tells him, and it's okay to repeat this. It's not in confidence. You're allowed to repeat it. Says רש\"י Rashi, וידבר משה אל ה' vayedaber Moshe el Hashem, להודיע שבחן של צדיקים lehodea shivchan shel tzadikim, שכשהן נפטרין מן העולם מניחין צרכן ועוסקין בצרכי ציבור shek'shehen niftarin min ha'olam manichin tzarchan v'oskin b'tzarchei tzibbur. Isn't it amazing? This is the righteous, says רש\"י Rashi. When משה Moshe is just told by God, your lifelong dream of entering the land, it's not happening. And just like your brother was gathered to his people, a euphemism for died, so too you're going to die. And what does משה Moshe go to do? He says, whoa, I got to retire. I got to find a new leader. I got to get my affairs in order. I got to take care of a million and one other things. It's not what משה Moshe does. What does משה Moshe do? He's עוסק בצרכי ציבור osek b'tzarchei tzibbur. He says, really? I have limited time left, then I better spend every moment making sure the people are taken care of, that there's a succession plan in place, that things won't fall apart with my demise. לאמר Leimor, says רש\"י Rashi, אמר לו השיבני אם אתה ממנה להם פרנס אם לאו amar lo hashiveini im ata memaneh lahem parnes im lav. לאמר Leimor is משה's Moshe's plea to God, I'm asking for a successor. Please respond to me, tell me, will you be appointing a successor or not?פסוק ט\"ז Pasuk Tet Zayin. יפקוד ה' אלקי הרוחות לכל בשר איש על העדה Yifkod Hashem Elokei haruchot l'chol basar ish al ha'eidah. So משה Moshe pleads with God, יפקוד yifkod, please appoint אלקי הרוחות Elokei haruchot, you who are the God of, what's רוחות ruchot? How does he translate it? The God of the spirits of all flesh. הרוחות haruchot, אלקי הרוחות לכל בשר Elokei haruchot l'chol basar. We haven't seen that name for God yet. It's an unusual name. You, God, who are the God of the spirit of all flesh, appoint an איש על העדה ish al ha'eidah. Appoint a man over this gathering. אשר יצא לפניהם ואשר יבא לפניהם Asher yeitzei lifneihem v'asher yavo lifneihem, who will go out before them and come in before them, ואשר יוציאם ואשר יביאם v'asher yotzi'em v'asher yevi'em, who will bring them out, who will bring them in, ולא תהיה עדת ה' כצאן אשר אין להם רועה v'lo sihiyeh adat Hashem katzon asher ein lahem ro'eh. And please, God, do not let them be like a flock that have no shepherd. They'll get lost, they'll wander, they'll be stolen. Please God. It's a beautiful image that even though משה Moshe just received this devastating news, he doesn't turn inward, but he remains committed to his children, to the Jewish people. God, please respond. Will you agree to a successor? You, God, who know the spirit of all flesh, please appoint, appoint someone. And what are the criteria, the qualifications for that someone? They go out, they come in, they bring them in, they bring them out. And don't leave them as a flock without a shepherd. It's very unusual. What's going on over here? So יפקוד ה' yifkod Hashem, look at רש\"י Rashi. כיוון ששמע משה שאמר לו המקום תן נחלת צלפחד לבנותיו Keivan she'shama Moshe she'amar lo ha'Makom ten nachalat Tzelafchad l'vnotav, once משה Moshe heard all the laws of inheritance and succession, the five daughters of צלפחד Tzelafchad come and say, where's our inheritance? משה Moshe says, okay, well if I'm not making it into the land of Israel and I'm going to die, and we just talked about inheritance, אמר הגיע שעה שאתבע צרכי שיורשו בניי את גדולתי Amar higia sha'ah she'etba tzorchai she'yirshu banai et gedulati. It's time for me to cash in that my sons will inherit my position of greatness. Big discussion in הלכה halacha, not for now. חתם סופר Chasam Sofer, נודע ביהודה Noda B'Yehuda, big discussions in הלכה halacha about whether there is Rabbinic succession, succession among חזנים chazanim, בעלי קריאה baalei keriah as inheritance. Does the rabbi's son have a right to get his שטעלע shteller? Does the חזן's chazan's son have a right to the חזן's chazan's position? Does the בעל קורא's baal koreh's son have a right to the בעל קורא's baal koreh's position? Not because of the כבוד kavod involved, maybe not only, but because it was a פרנסה parnassah, it was a paid position. It doesn't mean you have a חזקה chazakah for מפטיר maftir or for מוסף Musaf on the שבת Shabbos of פרשת Parshas whatever. It means you were the חזן chazan, you, that was your livelihood. So do these positions pass in inheritance? It's a big discussion, a fascinating discussion in הלכה halacha. So here, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu says, שיורשו בני את גדולתי she'yirshu banai et gedulati. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא לא כך עלתה במחשבה לפני Amar lo haKadosh Baruch Hu, lo kach altah b'machshavah l'fanai, כדאי הוא יהושע ליטול שכר שימושו kedai hu Yehoshua litol schar shim'usho. I didn't really, I wasn't really thinking about that משה Moshe. That was not my direction. I was more thinking that יהושע Yehoshua. Why? שלא מש מתוך האהל Shelo mash mitoch ha'ohel. Because יהושע Yehoshua never left the tent. ובזה הוא שאמר שלמה U'vezeh hu she'amar Shlomo, the פסוק pasuk in משלי Mishlei, נוצר תאנה יאכל פריה notzer te'einah yochal piryah. And here he quotes a פסוק pasuk from from משלי Mishlei, which חז\"ל Chazal interpret to be about about יהושע Yehoshua himself. So משה Moshe anticipates, משה Moshe thinks it's going to his sons, he just hears about inheritance. God delivers yet another piece of sad news. Sad that it's not going to his own family, but I'm sure satisfying for משה Moshe that it's going to יהושע Yehoshua.Why does משה Moshe call God אלקי הרוחות לכל בשר Elokei haruchot l'chol basar? You are the God who knows the spirit of all flesh. Look at רש\"י Rashi. למה נאמר אמר לפניו רבונו של עולם Lama ne'emar? Amar l'fanav Ribbono shel Olam, גלוי וידוע לפניך דעתם של כל אחד ואחד ואין דעותיהם דומות זו לזו galui v'yadua l'fanecha de'atam shel kol echad v'echad v'ein de'oteihem domot zo lazo. מנה עליהם מנהיג שיהא סובל כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו Maneh aleihem manhig she'yehei sovel kol echad v'echad l'fi da'ato. I love this רש\"י Rashi. It's quoting a מדרש תנחומא Midrash Tanchuma. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu says to God, look, you know God, this is a tough position. And what makes it a tough position? What makes it a tough position because whoever's going to lead this very diverse people, need to be able to relate and meet the needs of very diverse people. They're not the same. They're very different in every which way. They have different interests, they have different needs, they have different demands, they have different expectations. They have different backgrounds, different personalities, they have different everything. And whoever's going to take over has to be able to connect and to relate, has to be able to meet those diverse needs, has to be able to juggle all these balls and keep them in the air at the same time and not drop any. So God, you who are the אלקי הרוחות לכל בשר Elokei haruchot l'chol basar. You who are the most intimately aware and familiar with the diversity of your children. You know better than anyone how different they all are and how challenging it is to create a cohesive people, a unified people out of that diversity. You know how delicate it is, how easily it can split and diverge. So you God who are aware and familiar with the risks and the challenges, with the needs of the diversity of the Jewish people, I need you to find somebody. מנה עליהם מנהיג Maneh aleihem manhig, find a מנהיג manhig, שיהא סובל כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו she'yehei sovel kol echad v'echad l'fi da'ato, who can be סובל sovel each one according to who they are. What is that word סובל sovel? רש\"י Rashi is quoting the מדרש תנחומא Midrash Tanchuma. What does it mean that they can be סובל sovel each one according to who they are? What does the word סובל sovel mean? I'll give you a hint. סובל Sovel is the same שורש shoresh as סבלנות savlanut. סובל Sovel, סבלנות Savlanut. So that you will have the patience to deal with each one. But it's more than just that. And here I take you back to פרשת וארא Parshas Va'eira and ספר שמות Sefer Shmos. The פסוק pasuk says, וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן ויצום אל בני ישראל ואל פרעה מלך מצרים להוציא את בני ישראל מארץ מצרים Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe v'el Aharon vayetzavem el Bnei Yisrael v'el Paroh melech Mitzrayim l'hotzi et Bnei Yisrael mei'eretz Mitzrayim. When God recruits משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon, he says, I need you to go down to Egypt and I want you to communicate a message of deliverance, liberation, it's time to go. And to whom is that message delivered? To, פסוק pasuk says, ויצום vayetzavem commanded to, אל בני ישראל ואל פרעה מלך מצרים el Bnei Yisrael v'el Paroh melech Mitzrayim. I understand why פרעה מלך מצרים Paroh melech Mitzrayim needs the message. The Jewish people need ויצום vayetzavem? You have to command, you have to instruct? So the מפרשים meforshim explain it's not אל el, it's על בני ישראל al Bnei Yisrael. But רש\"י Rashi there in פרשת וארא Parshas Va'eira says, ציוה עליהם להנהיגם בנחת ולסבול אותם tzivah aleihem l'hanhigam b'nachas v'lisbol osam. משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon were commanded to lead the people בנחת b'nachas, with calmness, peacefully, with serenity, and ולסבול אותם v'lisbol osam. So part of the original recruitment of משה Moshe and אהרן Aharon as the leaders was that within them was the capacity לסבול אותם lisbol osam. And here now, fast forward, the end of משה's Moshe's life when he has shown tremendous patience, foreboding, he has been tremendous. And now he's looking for a successor and what does he say to God is the most important quality in that successor? They have to be able to שיהא סובל כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו she'yehei sovel kol echad v'echad l'fi da'ato. You have to be able to accept each and every one. And the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah haKadosh, רבי ישעיה הלוי הורוביץ Reb Yeshaya haLevi Horowitz, the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah haKadosh, שני לוחות הברית Shnei Luchos haBris says, you see from that רש\"י Rashi in פרשת וארא Parshas Va'eira and our רש\"י Rashi here in פרשת פנחס Parshas Pinchas says the של\"ה הקדוש Shlah haKadosh, that the key essential trait to be an effective leader in your family, among your children, in your business, among your employees, as the rabbi or the גבאי gabbai or the שול shul president, whatever position or capacity of leadership, the key quality or trait is סבלנות savlanut, סבלנות savlanut, לסבול אותם lisbol osam, the capacity to to have patience. But it's really more than patience, it's really tolerance. רב וולבה Rav Wolbe explains that when the Jewish people were suffering in Egypt, it's described, what is the nature of their suffering? משה's Moshe's commanded והוצאתי אתכם מתחת סבלות מצרים v'hotzeisi es'chem mitachas sivlos Mitzrayim. Take them out from under the סבלות sivlos. What does the word סבלות sivlos there mean? Burden, suffering. So how could that same word, מתחת סבלות mitachas sivlos means burden or suffering, it also means סבלנות savlanut and patience, לסבול lisbol to be patient. Why would the same word for patience and suffering? Why would it be the same? So רב וולבה Rav Wolbe זצ\"ל zatzal, the great משגיח mashgiach explains very simply. What is patience? It is the capacity to suffer. Patience is the ability to live with tension, the ability to live with discomfort, the ability to live with displeasure. Patience is that everything right now is not the way I want. Okay, I can deal with it. Okay. It's not a problem. Okay, stuck in traffic, I'm waiting at the doctor, waiting for my spouse to get ready, I'm waiting for the website to download, I'm waiting for the, okay. סבלנות Savlanut, patience is I can live with the סבלות sivlos. I can live with whatever is challenging me, whatever is the pain. So the more accurate translation of סבלנות savlanut is not patience, but it's sufferance. One who's patient can live with a little suffering or a little discomfort or a little inconvenience. That is the greatness of that quality. The אלתר מקלם Alter of Kelm said it's the most important quality a human being can have. If you lack the סבלנות savlanut, you won't have anything else. Anger, envy, jealousy, every other bad quality, if you lack the capacity of לסבול lisbol, if you lack the סבלנות savlanut, if you lack the capacity to be in the סבלות sivlos, then there's no way you could conquer all the other negative traits. So the most important trait to master, said the אלתר מקלם Alter of Kelm, upon which, upon the foundation you can build other character traits, is סבלנות savlanut. So משה Moshe who had experienced this firsthand, such beautiful imagery. Now at the end of his life and the end of his service, his term, משה Moshe turns to God and he says, look, I'm very nervous about the future. Nervous about the children. Nervous about this nation. You are the אלקי הרוחות לכל בשר Elokei haruchot l'chol basar. If there's anyone who knows how complicated and challenging and difficult these people are, it's you. If there's anyone who knows how diverse and different the different needs, the different special interest groups, the different demands, the different clicks and factions, it's you. So please appoint a leader, מנה עליהם מנהיג maneh aleihem manhig, שיהא סובל כל אחד ואחד לפי דעתו she'yehei sovel kol echad v'echad l'fi da'ato. And what is there, what are the criteria? Let's keep going weiter. What are the criteria? אשר יצא לפניהם ואשר יבא לפניהם Asher yeitzei lifneihem v'asher yavo lifneihem. Who will go out before them and come in before them. Says רש\"י Rashi, לא כדרך מלכי אומות שיושבים בבתיהם ומשלחים את חילוסיהם למלחמה lo k'derech malchei umos she'yoshvim b'vateihem u'meshachlim es cheilosayhem l'milchamah. אלא כמו שעשיתי אני Ela k'mo she'asiti ani. It's not like the other nations, where the higher a rank you have, the less of the battlefront you see. The higher your rank, the further in the back you get to go. No. In the Jewish people, says משה Moshe, you need to find a leader who's willing to do what I did. שנלחמתי בסיחון ועוג She'nilchamti b'Sichon v'Og. I was out front in the war in the battle with סיחון ועוג Sichon v'Og. As it says later with יהושע Yehoshua, איך יהושע ואיך יהושע אומר לו הלנו אתה eich Yehoshua, v'eich Yehoshua omer lo ha'lanu atah. And דוד המלך David haMelech, כי הוא יוצא ובא לפניהם ki hu yotze u'va lifneihem. יוצא בראש ונכנס בראש Yotze b'rosh v'nichnas b'rosh. The leader has to be the first one out and the first one in. And this remains true, fast forward thousands of years. What is the motto of the Israeli army today? אחרי Acharai. אחרי Acharai. In other armies, the higher your rank, the more you're in the back and you tell everyone else, you go in, you go there, you spread out this way. Not in the Israeli army. In the Israeli army, the higher your rank, אחרי Acharai. After me, follow me, by example. So the first thing משה Moshe says is this leader can't be sitting on the couch telling everyone else what to do. It has to be a spirit of אחרי Acharai. אשר יצא לפניהם ואשר יבא לפניהם Asher yeitzei lifneihem v'asher yavo lifneihem. He's got to be an example. He's got to put it out on the line. ואשר יוציאם בזכיותיו V'asher yotzi'em b'zechuyosav. And he will be able to advance them with his merits. ואשר יביאם בזכיותיו V'asher yevi'em b'zechuyosav. And so on. The ספורנו Sforno has a different interpretation. Says the ספורנו Sforno, אשר יצא לפניהם asher yeitzei lifneihem, בעניין המלחמה b'inyan ha'milchamah, militarily he will go out first. ואשר יוציאם בענייני הנהגת המדינה V'asher yotzi'em b'inyanei hanhagas ha'medinah, diplomacy. He has to have diplomacy and military experience. He has to have both. He has to know how to operate a government and he has to know how to operate in the battlefield. These are both things. Both things. Look at the בעל הטורים Baal haTurim. Says the בעל הטורים Baal haTurim, יפקוד ה' אשר יצא באלו ב' פסוקים יש כ\"ח תיבות Yifkod Hashem asher yeitzei, b'eilu beis psukim yesh kaf-ches teivos. In these two פסוקים psukim there are 28 letters. ולכך פרנס יהושע את ישראל כ\"ח שנים Ul'kach parnes Yehoshua es Yisrael kaf-ches shanim. And that's why יהושע Yehoshua merited to lead the people for 28 years. וזהו שאמר וזכרת את ה' אלקיך כי הוא נותן לך כח לעשות חיל V'zehu she'amar v'zacharta es Hashem Elokecha ki hu ha'nosein l'cha koach la'asos chayil. The כ\"ח kaf-ches of כח koach are the 28 words in these פסוקים psukim that describe leadership. And don't forget ה' Hashem gives us the כח koach, he gives us this capacity to אחרי Acharai and לעשות חיל la'asos chayil. A beautiful בעל הטורים Baal haTurim. וייטר Weiter. פסוק י\"ח Pasuk Yud Ches. ויאמר ה' אל משה קח לך את יהושע בן נון איש אשר רוח בו Vayomer Hashem el Moshe kach l'cha es Yehoshua bin Nun ish asher ruach bo. You know, you told me I was the אלקי הרוחות Elokei haruchot. I know the spirit of man. Well, I know the spirit of יהושע Yehoshua, and he's our man. Go, take יהושע בן נון Yehoshua bin Nun. He is a man who has רוח בו ruach bo. וסמכת את ידך עליו U'smachta es yadcha alav, and place your hand on him. Says רש\"י Rashi, קח לך kach l'cha, קחנו בדברים kachenu b'dvarim. אשריך שזכית להנהיג בניו של מקום Ashrecha she'zachisa l'hanhig banav shel Makom. Go, win him over with words. קח Kach doesn't mean go handcuff יהושע Yehoshua and drag him kicking and screaming to take over. קח Kach says רש\"י Rashi means בדברים b'dvarim. Go with words, recruit him. And what is your recruiting statement? אשריך Ashrecha, how blessed, how fortunate, how wonderful you are, how lucky you are, שזכית she'zachisa, that you've merited להנהיג בניו של מקום l'hanhig banav shel Makom, to be a מנהיג manhig in כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, to be a leader in the Jewish people, oh, it doesn't get better than that, it's the greatest merit. It is the greatest merit there is. אני ספרי ובבא בתרא Ani Sifri u'Vava Basra, look at the מדרש ספרי Midrash Sifri in פרשת בהעלותך Parshas Beha'aloscha. So משה Moshe, tell יהושע Yehoshua, קח בדברים kach b'dvarim, go take him with your words and tell him, יהושע Yehoshua, maybe you saw that I had to deal with the rebellion and the complaints and the misery and the difficulty and the, no. Wow. אשריך שזכית להנהיג בניו של מקום Ashrecha she'zachisa l'hanhig banav shel Makom. יהושע Yehoshua, you've won the lottery. You won the lottery. How lucky you are that your days and nights will be filled with leading the Jewish people. God tells משה Moshe, יהושע Yehoshua is an איש אשר רוח בו ish asher ruach bo, says רש\"י Rashi, כאשר שאלת שיוכל להלוך כנגד רוחו של כל אחד ואחד ka'asher sha'alta she'yuchal l'haloch k'neged rucho shel kol echad v'echad. Just as you asked, יהושע Yehoshua is the one like you who can relate to the diversity of people. He can keep all the balls in the air simultaneously without dropping any. And therefore, וסמכת את ידך עליו u'smachta es yadcha alav, תן לו מתורגמן שידרוש בחייך ten lo meturgeman she'yidrosh b'chayecha, שלא יאמרו על רבו לא היה מרהיב פנים בימי משה she'lo yomru al rabo lo hayah marhiv panim b'mei Moshe. So משה Moshe, I want you to demonstrate יהושע's Yehoshua's leadership even in your life. This is what's called succession planning. What doesn't happen in most Jewish organizations. But this is what's called succession planning. Where משה Moshe, I want you to identify and tap the next leader while you're still active, and while you're still the leader, I want you to demonstrate his leadership. So how did he do that? By appointing him a מתורגמן meturgeman. I want you to give him a translator for his classes, I want him to start to teach just like you. And the fact that יהושע Yehoshua will be teaching in your lifetime, and you will sit and listen to him, will demonstrate to everyone unequivocally that he is the next leader. We don't wait for you, משה Moshe to die, then יהושע Yehoshua will take over, and there'll be the part of the שול shul, I mean the part of the people who will say, יהושע Yehoshua is the man, that's what משה Moshe wanted, the other group will say, we need to do a search, who says יהושע Yehoshua is the guy? We got to do a massive search. No. In your lifetime משה Moshe, have יהושע Yehoshua begin to function already as the co-leader, the assistant leader, and the people will understand that he is your designee, that he is the man. There's a long כלי יקר Kli Yakar here, we'll see in a moment if we have time. The כלי יקר Kli Yakar is bothered by a question. God tells him וסמכת את ידך עליו u'smachta es yadcha alav, place your hand on him. But what does משה Moshe do? He uses both hands. We'll see in a moment. Let's keep reading the פסוקים psukim. There's a long כלי יקר Kli Yakar to answer that. פסוק י\"ט Pasuk Yud Tes, והעמדת אותו לפני אלעזר הכהן ולפני כל העדה V'ha'amadta oso lifnei Elazar haKohen v'lifnei kol ha'eidah. Put יהושע Yehoshua in front of אלעזר הכהן Elazar haKohen, who was the successor of your brother אהרן Aharon, and in front of all the people, וציוית אותו לעיניהם v'tzivisa oso l'eineihem. And give him the charge, install him as the next leader while you are alive and before their very eyes. ונתת מהודך עליו V'nasata mei'hodcha alav, למען ישמעו כל עדת בני ישראל l'maan yishme'u kol adas Bnei Yisrael. And place your הוד hod on him. What is משה's Moshe's הוד hod that he could place on יהושע Yehoshua? There's no crown, it's not a scepter, there's no uniform, it's not a שטריימל shtreimel. What is his הוד hod? Says רש\"י Rashi, ונתת מהודך עליו V'nasata mei'hodcha alav, זה קרון אור פנים zeh k'ron or panim. We know משה's Moshe's described when he descends from הר סיני Har Sinai, it's got the two rays of light coming out from his head. It's the origin of when you go to the Midwest and they haven't met a Jew and they ask you to take your יראמעקע yamaka off so they could see your horns. Why are they looking for your horns? Because medieval art and others depict משה Moshe with these horns, these horns of light coming from his head, because that's what the תורה Torah itself says that he descended from הר סיני Har Sinai with these rays of light. So now משה's Moshe's instructed, take these horns of light and give them to יהושע Yehoshua. מהודך Mei'hodcha, רש\"י Rashi says ולא כל הודך v'lo kol hodcha. חכמים למדים מפני משה כחמה, פני יהושע כלבנה Chachamim lomdim, pnei Moshe k'chamah, pnei Yehoshua k'levanah. You can't give him everything. משה Moshe is likened to the sun and יהושע Yehoshua is likened to the moon. המאור הגדול והמאור הקטן Ha'ma'or ha'gadol v'ha'ma'or ha'katan. What's the difference between the sun and the moon? The sun is its own source of light, whereas the moon simply reflects the light of the sun. משה Moshe, he won't achieve your level of greatness, you are a source of light, but he can reflect your greatness. Rav Soloveitchik famously said, has been repeated at countless בריתן brissim since, that we say at a ברית bris, זה הקטן גדול יהיה zeh ha'katan gadol yihiyeh. May this קטן katan grow to be a גדול gadol. What are we hoping, you know, he's Jewish, may he hit six feet, make the basketball team, we hope he's going to grow and not need growth hormone. What exactly is the ברכה bracha, זה הקטן גדול יהיה zeh ha'katan gadol yihiyeh? Said the Rav, no, if you look in פרשת parshas, if you look in בראשית Bereishis it says המאור הגדול והמאור הקטן ha'ma'or ha'gadol v'ha'ma'or ha'katan. The sun and the moon are known as the big luminary and the small luminary. What does it mean to be a גדול gadol? It's to be a source, to produce yourself. What does it mean to be a קטן katan? Simply to be a reflection of someone else. What we're wishing for that child is זה הקטן zeh ha'katan, this המאור הקטן ma'or ha'katan, this little light who's only a reflection right now, may he grow to be a גדול יהיה gadol yihiyeh, be a great light who is a source in his own right. So יהושע Yehoshua even as a גדול gadol is considered like the like the לבנה levanah and משה Moshe is like the חמה chamah. ונתת מהודך עליו V'nasata mei'hodcha alav, what was the מהודך mei'hodcha? I'll tell you the פשט pshat of the ספורנו Sforno. Says the ספורנו Sforno, ונתת מהודך עליו הוד מלכות V'nasata mei'hodcha alav hod malchus. This is the glory of monarchy. תן לו איזה שררה בחייך שיסכימו לנהוג בו כבוד Ten lo eizeh s'rarah b'chayecha she'yaskimu l'hanhig bo kavod. The ספורנו Sforno takes הוד hod literally. Give him an official position. Give him a title. Let him sit up on the מזרח ונט mizrach vant. Let them wait for him for the עמידה Amidah. Do something that makes the people realize in your lifetime that he is the successor. Give your הוד hod. Why? למען ישמעו L'maan yishme'u. בתם אומר להם ונסע מהוד בחייכו למען ישמעו בכל כל עדה שהם הסנהדרין וזקני העם b'tam omer lahem v'nasan mei'hod b'chayeihu l'maan yishme'u b'chol kol ha'eidah she'hem ha'Sanhedrin v'ziknei ha'am. Not worried about the average person, but the סנהדרין Sanhedrin, the זקני העם ziknei ha'am. You know, the board members, the executive board members, the סנהדרין Sanhedrin, the זקני העם ziknei ha'am, make it clear to everyone who your successor is so that it is not, so that it's not debatable. וייטר Weiter. ולפני אלעזר הכהן יעמוד ושאל לו במשפט האורים לפני ה' V'lifnei Elazar haKohen ya'amod v'sha'al lo b'mishpat ha'Urim lifnei Hashem, על פיו יצאו ועל פיו יבאו הוא וכל בני ישראל איתו וכל העדה al piv yeitze'u v'al piv yavo'u hu v'chol Bnei Yisrael ito v'chol ha'eidah, because we know we consult the אורים ותומים Urim v'Tumim, it lights up in order to communicate a message, God's message. ויעש משה כאשר צוה ה' אותו Vaya'as Moshe ka'asher tzivah Hashem oso. משה Moshe did what God asked. ויקח את יהושע ויעמידהו לפני אלעזר הכהן ולפני כל העדה Vayikach es Yehoshua vaya'amideihu lifnei Elazar haKohen v'lifnei kol ha'eidah. He takes יהושע Yehoshua. How did he take him? Look at רש\"י Rashi, לקחו בדברים lak'chu b'dvarim. הודיע מתן שכרו, פרנסת ישראל לעולם הבא Hodi'a matan s'charo, parnesas Yisrael l'Olam haBa. And he told יהושע Yehoshua, interesting. What did he tell him? This is so rewarding in this world. You're going to have the most rewarding life in this world. No. That's not what he told him. What did he tell him? ויקח את יהושע Vayikach es Yehoshua, says רש\"י Rashi, לקחו בדברים lak'chu b'dvarim, he won him over with, he recruited him with words. And what was the word, what were the words? מתן שכר פרנסת ישראל לעולם הבא Matan s'char parnasas Yisrael l'Olam haBa. Your world to come, your eternity for what you will be סובל sovel, for the סבלות sivlos you will suffer and the סבלנות savlanut that you will show, your שכר schar is לעולם הבא l'Olam haBa. Your שכר schar is לעולם הבא l'Olam haBa. You might have a lot of misery and challenges in this world from them, but your שכר schar in עולם הבא Olam haBa. אשריך Ashrecha, how fortunate, how blessed, how lucky you are, and משה Moshe wins him over with that. ויסמוך את ידיו עליו Vayismoch es yadav alav, and now משה Moshe puts his hands in the plural. Not ידך yadcha, not the single hand, but both his hands. ויצווהו כאשר דיבר ה' ביד משה Vayetzaveihu ka'asher diber Hashem b'yad Moshe. And he did everything as God had said. Look at רש\"י Rashi, את ידיו בעין יפה es yadav b'ayin yafah. He went even more than God. יתר ויותר מה שנצטווה Yoser v'yoser mi'mah she'niztvah. הקדוש ברוך הוא אמר לו וסמכת את ידך haKadosh Baruch Hu amar lo u'smachta es yadcha. והוא עשה בשתי ידיו v'hu asah b'shtei yadav. ככלי מלא וגדוש שמעלה על גדותיו ומעביר מחכמתו בעין יפה k'chli malei v'gadush she'ma'aleh al g'dosav u'ma'avir mei'chochmaso b'ayin yafah. כאשר דיבר ה' אף על עניין ההוד נתן מהודו Ka'asher diber Hashem af al inyan ha'hod nasan mei'hodo alav. Okay, good. Two more minutes. Give me two more minutes. I want to share with you what Rabbi what Rabbi Soloveitchik says. This is a lot more to talk about this, but I want to share with you what Rabbi Soloveitchik says on this. The first משנה mishnah in פרקי אבות Pirkei Avos tells us that משה קיבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע Moshe kibel Torah miSinai u'msarah l'Yehoshua. Right, this is the whole concept of the מסורה mesorah. We spoke about on the second day of שבועות Shavuos. What are the boundaries of the מסורה mesorah? In terms of some of the innovations within segments of Orthodoxy today. What is the מסורה mesorah? What are the boundaries of מסורה mesorah? Who are the בעלי המסורה baalei ha'mesorah? So where does it all come from? The משנה in אבות Mishnah in Avos. That משה קיבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע Moshe kibel Torah miSinai u'msarah l'Yehoshua. יהושע לזקנים, זקנים לאנשי כנסת הגדולה Yehoshua l'zkeinim, zkeinim l'anshei Knesses haGedolah, and so on. The מדרש Midrash asks why the תורה Torah was given to יהושע Yehoshua when others, like פנחס Pinchas and אלעזר Elazar, were even smarter. They had greater intellectual gifts than פנחס Pinchas. They did better on the SATs than פנחס Pinchas, than than יהושע Yehoshua. So why did יהושע Yehoshua get the תורה Torah? So in reply, the מדרש Midrash quotes the פסוק in משלי pasuk in Mishlei we saw רש\"י Rashi quoted it, the one who guards the fig tree will eat its fruit. The one who guards the fruit tree eats its fruit. So the מדרש Midrash is telling us that יהושע Yehoshua was chosen because he used to arrange the chairs and spread the mats in the tent before משה's Moshe's שיעור shiur. And because of his devoted service, he was the candidate to replace משה Moshe. In other words, successor is not always the smartest. It's not always that they have the best IQ, they have the biggest heart, they're the most devoted, they're the most selfless. Often a leader's successor was chosen not only because of his intellectual prowess, because of his devoted service to his teacher. When the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov passed away, the mantle of leadership was not given to רבי יעקב יוסף Reb Yaakov Yosef, a תורה Torah giant, author of the תולדות יעקב יוסף Toldos Yaakov Yosef. Rather, it passed to the מגיד ממזריטש Maggid of Mezritch who had served the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov with great devotion and loyalty. When ר' חיים מוולוז'ין Rav Chaim Volozhin became the successor of his teacher, the וילנא גאון Vilna Gaon, not only because he was his student, but his confidant. The model for transmission of leadership can be derived from the רמב\"ם's Rambam's prologue to the משנה תורה Mishnah Torah. And here the Rav goes on and on, but it's an interesting insight. יהושע Yehoshua wasn't necessarily the smartest, but he was the most devoted. And the choice of a leader is not only based on IQ, but it's based on the level of devotion. But what I want to really end with is... Oh, there's so much here. ויסמוך את ידיו Vayismoch es yadav. If you don't have the Rav חומש Chumash, you got to get it. Fantastic. Every comment is fantastic. Here... We know that in the 15th century, 16th century, there was an effort to reinstate סמיכה semicha. רב יעקב בירב Rav Yaakov Beirav, the מהרי בירב Mahari Beirav, in צפת Tzfat, there was a big movement and a big debate whether you could reinstate because this is סמיכה semicha. This is the origin of סמיכה semicha. ויסמוך ידיו Vayismoch yadav. משה Moshe puts his hand, his hands on יהושע Yehoshua, and we have a concept of סמיכה semicha איש מפי איש ish mi'pi ish, that יהושע Yehoshua, it went directly from משה Moshe person to person all the way, איש מפי איש ish mi'pi ish, until that process ceased during the time of the משנה Mishna, until that process ended. We no longer have סמיכה semicha. We call it סמיכה semicha today. סמיכה Semicha today is a certificate of having passed certain tests that you have a skill set, that you are qualified to serve in a certain role. That's what סמיכה semicha is today. But it's not the same סמיכה semicha that we once had.We have the same concept of סמיכה semicha, by the way, when it comes to a קרבן korban. The owner of the קרבן korban on whose behalf the קרבן korban is offered does סמיכה semicha. They lean on the קרבן korban. What's the idea? When you lean on something and it bears your weight, it's holding you up. It takes your place. It's true with a קרבן korban, and it's true with the idea of סמיכה semicha. When we appoint, when we have a סמיכה semicha, חג הסמיכה Chag HaSemicha, we appoint leaders, we're leaning on them, we're relying on them. They bear the weight of those who are leaning on them.But anyway, the last comment I'll tell you from from the רב rav, is that God commanded משה Moshe to lay one hand, יהושע Yehoshua, yet משה Moshe put both hands. God commanded משה Moshe not only to do סמיכה semicha, but to bestow some of your הוד hode on him. There are two מסורות mesoros that משה Moshe transferred to יהושע Yehoshua. One is the tradition of Torah learning of למדנות lamdus. The second מסורה mesora, the הוד hode, was experiential. One can know the entire מסכת שבת Maseches Shabbos and still not yet know what שבת Shabbos is. To truly know what שבת Shabbos is, one has to spend time in a יידישע Yiddishe home. Even in those neighborhoods made up predominantly of religious Jews, today one can no longer talk of the sanctity of שבת Shabbos. True, there are Jews in America who observe שבת Shabbos, but there are no ערב שבת Erev Shabbos Jews, who go out to greet שבת Shabbos with beating hearts and pulsating souls. There are many who observe the precepts with their hands, with their feet, with their mouths, but there are few indeed who truly know the meaning of the service of the heart.Said the רב rav, I was raised in a חב\"ד Chabad town. Population of that town consisted almost exclusively of poor people. Workers, tradesmen, particularly peddlers who used to travel to visit the villages within a 15-mile radius of the town. You cannot imagine the primitive conditions in which the Russian peasants lived. People used to come home every Friday afternoon after spending the week in those primitive villages. I watched them come into the שול shul one by one, water glistening from their פאות pe'os and beards because they had immersed in the מקווה mikvah. I still remember the tune with which they started to recite upon entering שול shul the 107th Psalm. Give thanks to השם Hashem because he is good. They sang a hymn of gratitude to God. For what? For delivery from captivity, for freeing them from prison? They would cling to God coming home for שבת Shabbos, though they knew very well that the next day after nightfall they would return to the primitive villages surrounding the town.To truly understand what שבת Shabbos is, it's insufficient to merely know the הלכות halachos of שבת Shabbos. One should experience a חסידישע שטיבל אויף שלש סעודות chassidishe shtiebel af shalosh shudes. Not far from where our family lived in Warsaw, I read this to our group in Warsaw a couple of weeks ago, there was a מאָדזשיצער שטיבל Modzitzer shtiebel where I would occasionally go for שלש סעודות shalosh seudos. The חסידים Chasidim would sing בני היכלא Bnei Heichala, אשר לא אחסר asher lo echsar, then again בני היכלא Bnei Heichala, again אשר לא אחסר asher lo echsar. It occurred to me they weren't singing because they wanted to sing, they were singing because they did not want to allow שבת Shabbos to leave. I remember an encounter in the שטיבל shtiebel as a small child. One of the men who had been singing most enthusiastically, wearing a קאפאטע kapoteh consisting of more holes than material, approached me and asked if I recognized him. I told him I did not. He introduced himself as יענקל Yankel the porter. Now during the week I knew יענקל Yankel as someone very ordinary, wearing shabby clothing, walking around with a rope. I could not imagine an individual of such regal bearing could be the same person. Yet, on שבת Shabbos, he wore a קאפאטע kapoteh and a שטריימל shtreimel. That's because his soul wasn't יענקל Yankel the porter, but יענקל Yankel the prince.Well after nightfall I naively asked him, נו nu, when do we דאווען מעריב daven Maariv? He replied, \"Do you miss the weekday so much that you can't wait to דאווען מעריב daven Maariv? Do you miss the וואך vacht so much that you can't wait for שבת Shabbos to end?\" This is an educational philosophical problem that has weighed heavily upon me, said the רב rav. To contemporary Orthodox Jews, the Torah is revealed in intellectual categories, in cold thought and logic. However, it has not merited being revealed in a living sensory mode which causes both tremendous trembling and gladdening of the heart. They recognize the Torah as an idea, but they do not encounter it as an unmediated reality that one can taste, see, and feel.I can explain יום כיפור Yom Kippur to my students. From an intellectual standpoint, there's much I can transmit. What I cannot pass on are the experiences that I myself underwent on those days. The American Jew has no awareness of the sublime experience of the sanctity of יום כיפור Yom Kippur. I want to describe to them the טעם ta'am of ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, יום כיפור Yom Kippur that once existed in Europe and I can't. I would have to bring them to the house where I was raised, show them my ר' חיים Reb Chaim said וידוי vido on יום כיפור Yom Kippur. ואתה צדיק Ve'ata tzaddik gasping for breath, ואנחנו הרשענו va'anachnu hershanu gasping for breath. In the synagogue, the echo of the אמן Amen that followed שהחיינו Shehecheyanu after כל נדרי Kol Nidrei. I cannot impart this. It has to be lived.יהושע Yehoshua not only received the Torah from משה Moshe, but also how to live יידישקייט Yiddishkeit. His attendant, יהושע Yehoshua son of Nun, would not depart from the tent. יהושע Yehoshua never left משה's Moshe's side. He saw how משה Moshe davened מנחה Mincha, how he ate, how he bentsched, how he accepted שבת Shabbos, how he said וידוי vido on ערב יום כיפור Erev Yom Kippur. He therefore merited both מסורות mesoros, the מסורה mesora of the mind and the מסורה mesora of the heart. And although אלעזר Elazar was a great למדן lamdan, only יהושע Yehoshua could transmit Torah to the next generation.Very, very beautiful idea of the two מסורות mesoros. Elsewhere the רב rav describes this more in terms of the Torah of the mother versus the Torah of the father in his eulogy for the טאלנער רביצין Talner Rebetzin. But here he describes it with יהושע Yehoshua as having been the the bearer of the two legacies of משה Moshe. That's the הוד hode. That's what the two descriptions are and that's why משה Moshe puts both hands. One hand is the למדנות lamdus, the intellect, and the other hand is I'm giving you the heart. And in order to be a leader, you have to be able to have both. Have a meaningful fast. We should be זוכה zocheh to have no תשעה באב Tisha B'Av this year. All of our minor fast days should be transformed into days of celebration and joy.
