Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker Tov, and a פרייליכן פורים קטן freilichen Purim Katan to everyone. Literally, שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch says, we don't need a good excuse to party. טוב לב משתה תמיד Tov lev mishteh tamid. We spoke about last week, the קרבן תמיד korban tamid, and the רמ\"א Rama who begins and ends his commentary on אורח חיים Orach Chaim with תמיד tamid. שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד Shivisi Hashem l'negdi tamid, and ends with פורים קטן Purim Katan. So I hope everyone's having a סעודה seuda today.Last night, my daughter in New York sent me a picture of her self having קרעפלאך kreplach like 11:00 at night. I said, I never had more נחת nachas from any of my kids in my life. קרעפלאך Kreplach, פורים קטן Purim Katan, I didn't even have to remind her. ממש Mamash, that's a נחת nachas. יידישע נחת Yiddishe nachas, פורים נחת Purim nachas. So a פרייליכן פורים קטן freilichen Purim Katan to all. Few housekeeping notes and then we'll thank our sponsors and get started. First of all, next week there is no שיעור shiur because we have our annual BRS בית מדרש Beis Medrash fly-in to New York. We're going with 25 guys to New York, packing in two days, ראשי ישיבה Roshei Yeshiva, רבנים Rabbonim, making our way around all of New York. We're going to exhaust them until they wave the white flag and beg for mercy. We fly up early Monday morning, back late Tuesday night, and we're going to see countless incredible people. I can't wait to share their inspiration and insight with you. So there is no שיעור shiur next Tuesday morning. Also, please note that our BRS Global campaign is going to kick off again February 24th. So we haven't started yet, but this is the precursor, the announcement, get your wallets, your checkbooks, your Venmo, your Zelle, your wiring instructions ready. February 24th. Those who are not BRS members, you're a BRS member, you do your part to keep the lights on, have to pay my salary, to teach the פרשה parsha class. If you're not a BRS member, but you enjoy our שיעורים shiurim and our classes and our articles and our programs and our panels, then it's appropriate to do your part to enable us to continue to share and spread our Torah. So, as we spoke about פרשת תרומה parshas Terumah, נעשה ונשמע na'aseh v'nishma is nice, but ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah. All the compliments. Rabbi, I love the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. Rabbi, thank you for the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. I can't make my way through the grove or out to dinner with my family. Rabbi, I love the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. Imagine if every time you came over to thank me, I said, here's what it costs. I'd have a lot more peace and quiet. Just joking. I love it that you come over. Thank you for coming over. Thank you even more for your support. Please look for February 24th when we kick it off. Okay. Our פרשה parsha series is sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש l'ilui nishmas David Ben Menachem Manash. Also, I want to wish, Talia, you should video this. I want to wish a very happy birthday, 50th birthday, I'm in trouble for announcing that maybe, but Becky Katz, our sponsor for the year. Very, very happy birthday on her 50th birthday. She continue to have strength and a lot of נחת nachas from her family and a lot of שמחה simcha and a lot of joy. If you'd like to know what Becky Katz wanted for her birthday, I don't know if it's what she wanted, but what her husband got her was דברי תורה divrei Torah on every פרשה parsha, put together a book for her for her birthday. Her favorite rabbis, speakers, people she learns with and gave her a book of her favorite דברי תורה divrei Torah for her birthday. What a great testament to who she is. This morning's שיעור shiur is also sponsored anonymously, הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov for BRS taking someone to uncomfortable positive active steps in their עבודת השם avodas Hashem. By Elan Fagbaum and Jay in loving memory of her mother, פייגא בת אברהם Faiga bas Avraham, Florence Faginbaum, on her 13th יארצייט yahrzeit. By the Rosenbaum and Schreier families, לנשמת גיטל מינדל בת אברהם l'nishmas Gittel Mindel bas Avraham, Maxine Sullivan, whose יארצייט yahrzeit is today, the 14th of אדר Adar. לנשמת משה אהרן בן שלמה יחיאל L'nishmas Moshe Aharon ben Shlomo Yechiel, whose יארצייט yahrzeit is on the 19th of אדר Adar. And a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah for דוד בער בן אידל Dovid Beir ben Idel and אסתר טילא בת אריה צפורה Esther Tila bas Aryeh Tzipora. Judy Palman, it's an honor of Charles' upcoming 51st anniversary of his בר מצוה פרשה bar mitzvah parsha, כי תשא Ki Sisa. And a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah for יוסף שמחה חיים בן שרה חנה Yosef Simcha Chaim ben Sarah Chana, חנה קיילא בת שרה לאה Chana Kayla bas Sarah Leah, אסתר טילא בת אריה צפורה Esther Tila bas Aryeh Tzipora, בתוך שאר חולי ישראל b'soch sha'ar cholei Yisrael, and as well כרמיאל שי בן רייזא Karmiel Shai ben Reyza. That's what happens when you don't have שיעור shiur next week. You got a lot of sponsors for this week. Okay, we're ready.פרשת כי תשא Parshas Ki Sisa, page 484 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. That's our signal. Let's go. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor. God spoke to Moshe saying, כי תשא את ראש בני ישראל לפקדיהם, ונתנו איש כפר נפשו לה' בפקד אתם ולא יהיה בהם נגף בפקד אתם Ki sisa es rosh Bnei Yisrael lifkudeihem, v'nasnu ish kofer nafsho l'Hashem bifkod osam v'lo yihyeh bahem negef bifkod osam. When you take a census of the Jewish people according to their numbers, how do you take a census of the Jewish people? Well, in America, they knock on doors, they send a link, and you fill out a survey. You take a census, the most efficient, productive way by counting people. But that is not a Jewish census. The Jewish census is, make a contribution. Now, interestingly, unlike my little appeal just now for the global campaign, or my big appeal for our Capital Campus campaign, this was a small appeal, a half שקל shekel. And not only was it a small appeal, but זה יתנו כל העבר על הפקדים מחצית השקל בשקל הקדש Zeh yitnu kol ha'over al hapkudim machatzis hashekel b'shekel hakodesh. Everyone has to give a half שקל shekel, עשרים גרה השקל מחצית השקל תרומה לה' esrim geira hashekel, machatzis hashekel trumah l'Hashem. And העשיר לא ירבה he'ashir lo yarbeh, can't give more. והדל לא ימעיט v'hadal lo yam'it, don't give less. Everyone gave the exact same thing. It's a funny appeal. We don't run appeals like that. We have levels and layers and names, אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov, Gold, Silver, Platinum, the שבטים Shvatim, different holy cities in Israel. Committees sit deep into the night debating what name should we call the different levels so we get people to up their level and wear the lanyard and get private access to the VIP event. But not the מחצית השקל machatzis hashekel. There are no levels, there are no names, there are no layers, there are no lanyards, there is no VIP event. העשיר לא ירבה והדל לא ימעיט He'ashir lo yarbeh, v'hadal lo yam'it. You're poor, you're impoverished, you're indigent, too bad. You can't give less than a half שקל shekel. You're rich, you're wealthy, you want the world to know, you want your name all over, too bad. You can't give more. Everybody gave the exact same thing for this, for this census. ולקחת את כסף הכפרים V'lakachta es kesef hakipurim, you collect it and it goes to עבודת אהל מועד avodas ohel moed. It all goes to the קרבנות ציבור korbanos tzibbur, the public sacrifices, the funds necessary to provide to support the public sacrifices, the sacrifices on behalf of the community. All came, and that's why everybody was equal when it came to them. So it's interesting that we count people, we don't count people. We don't count people. How do we count people? By their contribution. Isn't that an interesting insight? The Jewish people, we number, Rav Weinfeld, who I like to quote, Rav Weinfeld says, you know, the total Jewish population on the globe is a rounding error in the population of China. The total population of the Jewish people across the globe are a rounding error of the population of China. And yet, we're counted by what we contribute to the world, not by our number. We're counted by our contribution, not by our number. And look around the world at our contribution to technology and medicine and to the difference we make in the world. Look at how many Nobel Prizes, look how many breakthroughs, look how much advancement, look how much progress. Look how much ethics and morality we are meant to and we succeeded in contributing to the world. We introduced the world to the greatest truth of monotheism, of ethical monotheism. So the beginning of our Parsha is a reminder that we're counted not by our number, but we're counted by the contribution that we make, by the contribution that we make. It's a very, very important lesson, a very, very important message. But I want to take a look at Rav Soloveitchik to get us started. Rav Soloveitchik says the following, let each one give to Hashem an atonement for his soul. What we were meant to give, *ki sisa*, when you lift, when you count somebody, by the way, when you acknowledge they exist, you lift their spirits. A person feels invisible, a person feels they don't count, a person feels they don't matter, כי תשא את ראש ki sisa es rosh, when you acknowledge someone exists, you lift their spirits, you lift their head. ונתנו v'nasnu, a person has to give, איש כפר נפשו ish kofer nafsho. What did you contribute? The מחצית השקל machatzis hashekel represented a כפר נפשו kofer nafsho, an atonement for your soul. It's a funny kind of a census. Can you imagine someone knocks on the door and they say, would you like to, would you like to participate in the 2022 American census, the Florida census, the Boca Raton census? And you say, well, I don't really have time, and I can't really get involved right now, and I'm not really interested. They say, whoa, whoa, you have to do it for a כפר נפשו kofer nafsho. It's an atonement for your soul. You'd slam that door as quickly as it would shut. Atonement for your soul? What are you talking about? Trying to count how many people there are. So Rav Soloveitchik explains the following. He says, Hashem requires that each person redeems himself, to buy himself back from God. What is the redemption? What is a כפר נפשו kofer nafsho? To redeem your soul is to buy yourself back from God. The entire world is consecrated, it's הקדש hekdesh. The only legal means by which we're allowed to use הקדש hekdesh is through redemption. The הלכתית halachic means to redeem an object is a trade. You can exchange the הקדש hekdesh item with a non-הקדש hekdesh item. The non-consecrated item takes on the consecrated status of the item, while the הקדש hekdesh item takes on the secular nature of the non-consecrated item. So מעשר שני ma'aser sheini, the farmer, the farmer, we have an amazing farmer, spoke here a few weeks ago and she's our guest on Behind the Bima tomorrow night. If you weren't in Boca Raton Synagogue to hear her, a farmer observing שמיטה shmita, you you'll want to tune into this episode. She's incredible. So the farmer, wherever they lived in Israel, separated their מעשר שני ma'aser sheini, and it had to be brought to ירושלים Yerushalayim, but it wouldn't necessarily make it there. So you'd be פודה podeh it, you would redeem it onto something else, and you'd bring the coin and you'd purchase something there. So you were able to remove the sanctity, the consecrated status from the food and put it on the coin. The coin became consecrated and the food stuff became more mundane. So a person can redeem the sacred or consecrated status from something, so to say, liberate it, allow it to simply be mundane. One's body, one's clothes, one's children, the entire universe requires redemption to allow us to make use of them. Yet what can man possibly offer in trade that could affect such a redemption? The entire world belongs to God. So Rav Soloveitchik says, you know, we live in a world, it's all הקדש hekdesh. It's all sanctified, it's all consecrated, it all belongs to him. If we're lucky, it's on loan to us. If we're lucky, we borrow it. But really it's his, it's not ours. So what right do we have to use it? What right do we have to enjoy it? What right do we have to collect it? Upon reflection on this paradox, דוד המלך Dovid Hamelech, in a moment of resignation, proclaimed, \"A man cannot redeem himself, he cannot give unto Hashem his redemption payment.\" פסוק Pasuk in תהלים פרק מ\"ט Tehillim, Perek Mem Tes. Yet many Jews have a tradition of reciting כפרות kaparos on ערב יום כיפור Erev Yom Kippur, where we quote a different פסוק pasuk in which Hashem says, \"Redeem him from descending to the pit. I have found ransom.\" פסוק Pasuk in איוב Iyov. When Hashem's attribute of judgment is evident, Dovid Hamelech's verse is operative, while when his attribute of mercy prevails, the פסוק pasuk from איוב Iyov pertains. Redemption is indeed possible. One makes this payment, says the רב Rav, in three ways. You ready? So these innocuous words at the beginning of our Parsha, איש כפר נפשו ish kofer nafsho, that when you give that contribution, when we count and make ourselves counted, we are redeeming our soul. How do we redeem our soul? In other words, how do we have license to live and operate and derive pleasure in this world? Maybe every single moment of every single day should exclusively be dedicated to sacred and holy activity. What right do we have to do mundane things like eat and enjoy and interact with the physical world around us? How do we redeem it? How do we redeem ourselves? He says three ways. Number one, Hashem the infinite, the אין סוף ein sof, contracted himself to allow the existence of the world to make it possible for a finite world to coexist with the infinite. In keeping with the imperative of והלכת בדרכיו v'halachta b'drachav, man must also engage in צמצום tzimtzum. Hashem is infinite, he's omnipotent, Hashem is everything. He existed before us, he will exist after us. He doesn't take up the whole universe. He is outside the universe. We can't even describe what he is because it's outside our experience. So how does Hashem create a world and allow us to have a relationship with him in it? So the קבליסטים kabbalists, the מקובלים mekubalim explain it's through a process called צמצום tzimtzum. Hashem contracts himself. He contracts in order to be able to fit into this world. Though he's infinite and has no boundaries, he contracts himself so that he could operate in this world. Many harbor illusions of greatness, thinking his abilities are limitless, that he can attain infinity. The first redemption coin that God exacts from us is our own contraction. Just as Hashem himself engages in צמצום tzimtzum, so must we. Man expresses צמצום tzimtzum first and foremost by observing the precepts of הלכה halacha. Fealty to the Jewish laws unenforceable, no police, no executive branch of government, no jails, no punishment. By following הלכה halacha despite the lack of external enforcement, we engage in צמצום tzimtzum. So the first way we do צמצום tzimtzum is, I want to eat anywhere, anything, but I don't. When I electively, voluntarily live a restrictive life, I'm being מצמצם metzamtzem myself. I want to look and I want to say, I want to eat, I want to go, I want to do, but I create a set of boundaries and I live within those boundaries. I'm emulating God, I'm imitating God, I'm practicing צמצום tzimtzum. I'm living within the boundaries that are set forth. We don't have הלכתי halachic police and הלכתי halachic jails. So why? And in fact, without that, you see the world today. The levels of assimilation, the levels of intermarriage, the levels of walking away, the levels of people who have a casual attitude towards הלכה halacha, to Jewish life and living, because there is no enforcement system. There is no law enforcement. So when we voluntarily, electively do it, we are imitating God. צמצום Tzimtzum. Hashem, you contracted, you constricted yourself, and so do we. Even though the world is out there. Now, there were many periods of Jewish history, centuries and millennia, where others created צמצום tzimtzum for us. They stuffed us in a ghetto, and they said, you can't go to this university, you can't go to that graduate school, you can't hold this job, you can't enter our restaurant. And whether the Jew wanted to be מצמצם metzamtzem or not, they had no choice. This גאלדענע מדינה goldene medina, this great country in which we live, that gives us such freedom and democracy and liberty for which we must be incredibly grateful and proud, also creates challenge and has spun us into a crisis because it says, come, there is no צמצום tzimtzum. There are no boundaries. Come, join, erase whatever differences, be who you want, who you feel you are. Participate and partake of whatever you want to be in. So when we have to nevertheless be מצמצם metzamtzem ourselves, this is a challenge of our generation. We have kids, not only kids, adults. They say, but wait, but I want to live like everybody else. But I want to live that lifestyle. But I want to partake, but I want to go, but I want to wear, but I want to say, but I want to eat, but I want to do. What do you mean I can't? What do you mean I have boundaries? What do you mean I'm different? We imitate Hashem through צמצום tzimtzum, through צמצום tzimtzum. The next attribute of Hashem that we must imitate, the second redemption coin to redeem our worldly life, is הסתר hester or נעלם ne'elam, the attribute of obscurity. The Rebono Shel Olam not only contracts himself, he obscures himself. He does not act demonstrably nor does he seek recognition. Hashem is a קל מסתתר Kel mistater. He's a hidden God. He's hidden. He controls the universe but from behind the curtain. He doesn't need to be front and center, he doesn't need the spotlight. He doesn't reveal himself to us. He's comfortable and he prefers to be in the shadows. And that's what he wants from us. Man is naturally inclined to strive for recognition, for honor. He wishes his efforts and actions to be appreciated by as many of his peers with as much fanfare as possible. Not everybody, but there is a natural inclination and instinct as part of the human psyche to love honor, to love attention. Yet the greatest individuals in Jewish history reflect precisely the opposite tendency, a predisposition towards obscurity. Take for an example, an august institution from thousands of years ago, the אנשי כנסת הגדולה Anshei Knesses Hagedola, the men of the great assembly. This group of rabbis preserved the remnant of Israel through the first גלות Galus. אנשי כנסת הגדולה Anshei Knesses Hagedola instituted the form of contemporary prayer as well as the standard formula for ברכות brachos, the laws of מוקצה muktza and the רבנן rabbonons of שבת Shabbos. Their impact on everyday life is immeasurable. Who were the representatives of this noble body? How many of its names do we know? We don't have time now, but if I ask everybody, shout out, how many members of the אנשי כנסת הגדולה Anshei Knesses Hagedola can we name? עזרא Ezra, נחמיה Nechemia, מרדכי Mordechai. Everybody knows מרדכי Mordechai, that's why he knows all those languages. זרובבל Zerubavel, שמעון הצדיק Shimon Hatzadik. That's what we know. The גמרא Gemara states there were prophets among this group. Who were they? We don't know. Why do they not include their names? Why in the transmission of our תורה שבעל פה Torah She'be'al Peh do we not know their names? Because they walked in the way of Hashem. The members of the חברה קדישא Chevra Kadisha, there's no plaque. We don't list their names next to the pillar society. The people who participate in this holiest, most sacred mitzvah, the חסד של אמת chesed shel emes that can't be repaid, it's an obscurity, it's in the shadows, it's quiet, it's humble, it's modest. So the second redemption that we pay, so to say, of our souls, is to do what's right without recognition or attention. Unless you're giving a large donation, then we are happy to put your name up in lights. The Rashba has a chuvah, it's an exception, it motivates other people to do it, but generally speaking, we operate in the shadows and the background. And finally, the third redemption coin in order to make use of this world is אלם ilem, voiceless, mute, passive acceptance. קדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu reveals himself in a dramatic fashion. Hashem of glory thunders, more often he is mutant and passive. This tendency towards silence is also included in his slowness to anger. A Jew regularly recites a ברכה bracha upon eating and satisfying his hunger. All is well, he's healthy in the possession of his faculties. One can readily sense the presence of Hashem. In cruel contrast, upon the tragic death of a mother, father, son, daughter, spouse, we tear clothing, we say ברוך דיין האמת Baruch Dayan Ha'emes. A person prepares the body for burial, places in the ground, shovels earth on top of the casket. Everything that means anything to him lies lifeless before him in the grave. He recites the ברכה bracha. Where's the אתה ata? Where's God's presence? At that moment, he's most tormented by the question. He responds with קדיש Kaddish, affirming that the world is God's, everything that takes place in it is a reflection of his will. Unanswerable, unexplained tragedies have accompanied the Jew in his long history. When faced with death, when a Jew is confronted with the ultimate תיקו teiku, an unanswerable question, he recites the ברכה דיין האמת bracha Dayan Ha'emes. Emotional sublimation is the greatest act of redemption a Jew can pay the holy one. So the Rav, I think very beautifully, and there's a lot more to say, but not right now, really beautifully describes these three coins. The coin doesn't mean a physical, material, monetary payment of redemption. The coin is the symbol of making a payment. We pay God, we redeem ourselves through three experiences of Tzimtzum. I want to eat everywhere. I want Saturdays at the beach. I want to dress like, look like, act like everybody else. Metzamtzem ourselves. There are barriers, there are boundaries. I want the spotlight, I want the fanfare, I want the, I want the ego, the honor. Metzamtzem yourself. Do what's right, promote what's right, be the catalyst for what's right, but like Hashem, in the background. And lastly, I want to understand. That we see later in our Parsha. Moshe Rabbeinu says, הראני נא את כבודך Horeini na es kevodecha, show me your face. Why do bad things happen to good people? The question of theodicy that's never been answered before. A horrible, horrible question. It's not a horrible question, it's a horrible question because there is no answer. Why do bad things happen to good people? Whether it's one good person, a child, whether it's 6 million. Why do bad things happen to good people? If we protest Hashem, if we object Hashem, if we want to and crave to understand, to comprehend, then don't feel bad or guilty because none other than משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, the one who was closest with Hashem than anyone ever was bothered by this very same question. הראני נא את כבודך Horeini na es kevodecha, Hashem, show me your face. Let me understand. And Hashem says, you can only see the back of my head. Nobody can see my face. Back of my head means only in retrospect, only after the fact can you sometimes put the pieces of the puzzle together. But as it's happening in real time, you will never understand, because with the admission, with the concession that there's a God, is the admission and concession that we are not God, and therefore, by definition, there's so much that we can't and won't understand. We don't. And that is the third act of Tzimtzum. That is the third פדיון נפש pidyon nefesh, the third coin that we pay is Hashem to live in your world. The cost of living in your world, the cost of the privilege of living in your world is to surrender that we will not understand everything. We won't understand. So what do we do? Rav Hirsch famously said, don't ask למה lama, but למה l'mah. Don't ask why. Why do bad things happen to good people? You could get stuck. And there are, I think, heretics who will try to give you the answer. They make lots of videos and they try to get lots of followers, and they're very sensationalistic so they get a big audience. This is why Hashem did this. This is why the Holocaust happened. Insane people make videos today telling us exactly why the Holocaust happened. And this is why women get this type of cancer, and this is why men suffer this illness, and this is why this is happening. There are people and they have followers who say and pretend that they're God and they could tell us why things happen. So Moshe Rabbeinu didn't get to know, but Hashem gave a direct message to them. It's heresy. It's absolute heresy. It's a failure to pay this third and final פדיון נפש pidyon nefesh. Say, Hashem, I don't know why. And I'm not going to get stuck on למה lama. I'm not going to get stuck on why, because that is a question that has no answer. Instead, I will ask, למה l'mah. For what? How can I be better? How can I grow? How can I improve? How can I change? Because this is the reason it happened, so that's what I need to change. Who knows? When we get upstairs, we'll find out. But it's a good idea to change nonetheless, whether that was the reason or not. So don't listen to anyone who tells you they know because they're competing with Hashem, and Hashem is not interested. He doesn't need to compete back with them. העשיר לא ירבה He'ashir lo yarbeh, we said. Let's move right along. The rich person cannot add more. The rich person cannot add more. Why is it specifically half a שקל shekel, wonders Rav Nachman. The heilige Rav Nachman of Breslov, the Breslover. Why a half שקל shekel? And why is everyone equal? What is this communism, socialism? Everybody gives the exact same thing. I went to Russia twice. I went to Moldovia, Kishinev. My cousin was running a yeshiva there. I went once to help on Sukkos, I went once to help on Purim. I went from Israel, I was in my second year of Israel, flew on Moldovia Airlines. So when they went around up and down the aisle with the cart for drinks, put down the tray which barely stayed. So they were handing out cups of seltzer to everybody. I said, you have coke? And I'll never forget in her Russian accent, the woman said, everybody gets the same thing. And I thought to myself, wow, communism is not quite yet fully over. So everybody gives the same thing. Half a shekel. Why is everybody giving the same thing? Wouldn't we want to encourage the person who can give a million shekel? Give a billion shekel, a trillion shekel. Half a shekel. Same, nope, can't take more. I understand the uny, you know, you have a minimum threshold, trying to tell everybody there's a minimum. Beg, borrow, steal, do what you got to do, everybody's got to give the minimum. But a maximum threshold? Why would we tell the poor, the rich person, stop, can't give more? Says Rav Nachman, the sin of giving מחצית השקל למקדש נראה כמו דבר קטן machatzis hashekel l'mikdash nireh k'mo davar katan. This is today, Purim Katan. Rav Nachman says, you give a half shekel, you think, העף שקל איז אַ גאָרנישט have shekel iz a gornisht. This is a nothing. I'm contributing next to nothing, inconsequential, invisible, makes no difference, negligible. What's a half shekel? What's a half dollar? It's nothing. וזה בדיוק מה שבאה התורה ללמדנו V'zeh b'diyuk mah she'ba'ah haTorah l'lamdeinu. And this is exactly the point that the Torah wanted to communicate. לא להתבייש לעשות לקדוש ברוך הוא גם דברים קטנים Lo l'hisbayes la'asos l'Kadosh Baruch Hu gam dviraim ktanim. Don't hesitate, don't balk, don't pause, don't be ashamed or feel guilty for giving small things to Hashem. This world is built on small things. What seems negligible, what looks inconsequential, what seems invisible, is what changes the world. It's what means everything to Hashem. It is the backbone and the foundation of relationships. Marriages aren't made or broken by flowers and chocolates. They're made and broken by whether the socks made it in the hamper and whether the toilet seat was put down or not. You're laughing, I'm not joking. I'm not joking. Come to a Mesiras Aget and ask, where did this marriage fall apart? And it didn't fall apart by major ideological differences. It fell apart because the small, seemingly negligible things. You don't meet my needs, you don't respond, you don't communicate, you don't acknowledge my bid for connection. And the relationship with Hashem is no different. Of course it's the big moments. Of course it's rise to the occasion, but it's the seemingly small. Did you make the little bracha? Did you say thank you? The bid for connection, did we acknowledge its existence? Did we connect? Did we answer the call? They need a tenth for the shiva minyan. It's inconvenient. You already started to take out your tefillin, you got to put it back in and get in your car and find the address and get there. Small, insignificant, inconsequential, negligible, who cares that you make the tenth for the, to the person sitting shiva, it's not small. To the Rebono Shel Olam, it's not small. The world is built on these seemingly small things. גם מעשיו שנראה בעינינו חסר חשיבות Gam massam shenireh b'eineinu choser chashivus, the things that look unimportant, the things that look inconsequential. לפעמים האדם מייאש את עצמו שהוא שקוע בעוונותיו וחטאותיו L'fameem ha'adam m'ya'esh es atzmo she'hu shakua b'avonosav v'chatosav. Sometimes what seems small and inconsequential is us. We think, what difference do we make? We're small. We're inconsequential. We're fallible, we're frail, we make mistakes. Does Hashem really care about us? Little, small me, who even notices if I don't make it to shul? Who even would notice if I disappeared tomorrow? What difference do I make? חושב שאין ערך למצוות, לתורה, לתפילה שלו Choshev she'ein erech l'mitzvos, l'Torah, l'tfila shelo. So we think, you know, my little שמונה עשרה shmoneh esrei, my little bracha, my little dollar. There's somebody in our community, a very, very holy person, a very precious holy person who moved in recently. And the tzedakah box sadly only passes the men's section every day. She comes to דאווען daven שחרית מנחה מעריב Shacharis Mincha Maariv with the מניין minyan. She's not saying קדיש Kaddish. Very holy, I'm embarrassing that person right now, I apologize. Comes to דאווען daven every day, but the צדקה tzedakah box doesn't make it around the עזרת נשים ezras nashim. So she puts a dollar every day in the little slot in my door where other שאלות shaylos are left and checks are deposited. And there's a dollar, just a dollar bill every day I take it in and every dollar I, I think, wow, she thinks it's so small, it's a little dollar. You know what that dollar is? She could say the צדקה tzedakah box, they don't care enough to pass the צדקה tzedakah box around the עזרת נשים ezras nashim, they don't get my צדקה tzedakah. A little dollar every day in that box, when it does for my day, every day to start my day. A dollar, a little dollar, a מחצית השקל machatzis hashekel. Says Rav Nachman, it's the Torah says every Yid, every Jew, I don't care if you're a billionaire, trillionaire, you're on תומכי שבת Tomchei Shabbos, everyone has a half a dollar, and everyone gives the same, and everyone needs to know the little small things, they seem insignificant, inconsequential, they mean the world to me, says Hashem. They make all the difference in the world. Who חושב ששם רוצה רק את עבודתם של צדיקים גדולים choshev sheHashem rotzeh rak es avodasam shel tzaddikim gedolim. A person thinks Hashem only cares about the שמונה עשרה shmoneh esrei and the ברכה bracha, Hashem only cares about the דף יומי daf yomi or the קפיטל תהלים kapitel Tehillim of the צדיק tzaddik, of the צדקת tzaddekes. I was asking my, we're doing this global campaign in a few weeks, so I said to my kids at dinner last night, who should we have on Behind the Bima that week? We have to get a large audience so the global campaign to help us this shul. So my nine-year-old son says, I have an idea. I said, who? He said, you should get Rav Chaim Kanievsky. I don't think he's doing podcasts these days. He's like, he's the biggest. He's the biggest גדול gadol. I love that he knows that and thinks that. It's incredible. It's incredible. I love that he is so cute that he thinks that we could get Rav Chaim Kanievsky on Behind the Bima. But we think that צדיקים גדולים tzaddikim gedolim, ah, his learning, his ברכה bracha, his תהלים Tehillim, his holding the door for someone, his dollar in the פושקא pushka, that's what matters. But me, I'm a קטן katan, I'm a nothing, איך בין אַ גאָרנישט Ich bin a gornisht. אם כן, מה שעובר ומדבר ומעטם שאני מצליח ללמוד Im kein, mah she'over u'madaber u'm'atem she'ani matzliach lilmod? What's the point of the few pages I learn, of the few Tehillim I read I don't even understand that I say, the fact that I made it to shul, the dollar I put in the rabbi's... Farher, limid oson Rav Nachman, Rav Nachman teaches in ליקוטי מוהר\"ן Likkutei Moharan. Ay ay ay, we're already halfway done and we haven't even started yet. שצריך כל אדם לדון את עצמו לכף זכות She'tzarich kol adam ladun es atzmo l'chaf zchus, that a person has to give themselves the benefit of the doubt. You know, we always find ourselves the mistakes that we make, and we beat ourselves up, and we sit and we marinate in shame when we come up short. But do we find and do we celebrate the success? Do we identify the little victories? Do we recognize the נקודות הטובות nekudos hatovos, those small little things that are good? כי בהכרח יש בכל יהודי נקודות טובות רבות Ki b'hechrech yish b'chol Yehudi nekudos tovos rabos. Every Jew, no matter how distant, no matter how far they've fallen, every Jew has positive. Do we emphasize? Do we celebrate? Do we pause and identify? כל נקודה כזאת חשובה בשמים מאד Kol nekudah k'zos chashuvah b'Shamayim me'od. You know what it means to Hashem? We spoke about several weeks ago in Shabbos, to give נחת רוח nachas ruach to השם יתברך Hashem Yisbarach. To give השם נחת Hashem nachas, what that means, to give Hashem nachas. We know how good it feels to give our parents or our boss or our spouse, someone we admire, our mentor, to give them nachas. See how good it feels to know we gave Hashem nachas. The little things give him the greatest nachas. And that's the מחצית השקל machatzis hashekel. העשיר לא ירבה He'ashir lo yarbeh. מי שהוא עשיר בתורה ומצוות והגיע למדרגות גבוהות Mi she'hu ashir b'Torah u'mitzvos v'higia l'madreigos gvohos, if you're wealthy in Torah and Mitzvos, you finish Shas 17 times, and you made billion dollar donations to the community, לא להתגאות lo l'hisgaos, don't get arrogant or proud. Hemshech Tomid l'Alos. ההעשיר לא ירבה Ha'ashir lo yarbeh, don't feel so proud because you have so much. והדל Ve'hadal, and if you have so little, לא ימעיט lo yam'it, don't see yourself as small. Everyone just give your מחצית השקל machatzis ha'shekel. Everybody show up and everybody do your part and everybody contribute what looks and feels to be so small. Everybody do your thing. And that, dear friends, is also the theme of this פורים קטן Purim Katan today. When we have two אדר Adars, a leap year such as today, seven times every 19 years or something like that, we have a פורים קטן Purim Katan, a leap year, in אדר שני Adar Sheni. So Purim is really in the second אדר Adar, so it's adjacent to ניסן Nissan. סמיכת גאולה לגאולה Smichas geulah l'geulah, we create the redemption next to the redemption, אדר שני Adar Sheni and ניסן Nissan. But today's פורים קטן Purim Katan, you can't let the 15th of אדר Adar go by, the 14th of אדר Adar go by in a small fashion. So there's a פורים קטן Purim Katan, a שושן פורים קטן Shushan Purim Katan. We call it small. But the ספרים הקדושים Sefarim HaKedoshim say it's even greater and bigger. You know why? When it comes to the real Purim, you need a שטיקל לחיים shtickel l'chaim, you need to put on a costume in order to really lose yourself and surrender, to experience a ביטול bittul. To really get to דעת daas. The highest knowledge you can have is to know how little you know. The greatest דעת daas is to be מבטל mevatel your דעת daas. Sounds paradoxical, right? The greatest דעת daas, the highest level of knowledge, is to know that I know nothing. What do you mean if I know nothing, how is that the highest level? Because that's the highest level. The people who think they know are on the low level of knowledge. But the people, you know, Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, a cousin of the פוניבז'ער ראש ישיבה Ponevezher Rosh Yeshiva. He was asked, what does he think is the most dangerous thing? If there were one thing he could change in the world, what would it be? And his answer was overconfidence. Overconfidence. Wars have been launched, relationships have been broken, people have died because of overconfidence. Of doctors, of themselves. If he could change anything, it's overconfidence. So the greatest knowledge, the highest דעת daas is when you have no דעת daas. The highest knowledge is when you know you know nothing. ביטול הדעת Bittul ha'daas. So Purim, we dress in costumes and we get inebriated and we actually carry ourselves, we look around the world, people are in costumes, I don't recognize, I don't know, I don't comprehend, I can't see. It's a, it's a, ונהפוך הוא v'nahafoch hu, the world is upside down. I don't know the difference between המן Haman and מרדכי Mordechai. I have no דעת daas. And that's the highest דעת daas. When I'm מבטל mevatel my דעת daas. So we need all those other physical stimuli to do it on Purim. But פורים קטן Purim Katan, today, we get to that level of דעת daas without those things. So it's even higher, it's even holier. It's an עת רצון eis ratzon. There are people we have to דאווענען daven for. There are things we have to דאווענען daven for. Don't let today go by without leaning into it and דאווענען davening. Don't let today go by without realizing that we have to fight the עמלק Amalek in our own lives. עמלק Amalek is that voice of, eh, that nothing is worthy of awe. Awe versus eh. To be a ייד Yid is awe. השם Hashem you're everywhere, this world, you're awesome. To be עמלק Amalek is eh. כח הביטול Koach ha'bittul. Not ביטול bittul of דעת daas. עמלק Amalek are מבטל mevatel. Rav Hutner writes, עמלק Amalek are מבטל mevatel everything. Nothing is worthy of awe, nothing is significant, nothing is impressive. Eh, everything is coincidence and random and chance and cynical and sarcastic. And there's that voice inside us and today, פורים קטן Purim Katan, we squash it, we extinguish it, we silence it. And instead we express our voice not of eh, but of awe. Wow, השם Hashem, you're everywhere and you're in every one and you're in everything, and that gives me the chills, that gives me goosebumps, that fills me with awe. Not כח הביטול koach ha'bittul, כח הקדושה koach ha'kedusha. Not the כח koach of eh, but the כח koach of awe. פורים קטן Purim Katan, it's even holier. So have a סעודה seudah and practice and celebrate and be מבטל mevatel and defeat the עמלק Amalek in us. It's a day of עת רצון eis ratzon. Esther went, שלא כדת shelo k'das. She went, she wasn't invited to the מלך melech, but she barged in and she made her demands. אם על המלך טוב Im al ha'melech tov, if it meets the king's, if the king is willing, please. So today we go in, we're not invited. ובכן U'vchein. You know on יום כיפור Yom Kippur, ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah we say ונתנה תקף U'nesaneh Tokef, ובכן u'vchein, ובכן u'vchein. The טור Tur says where are those ובכן u'vcheins come? They come from Esther. ובכן אבוא U'vchein avo, she says, I'm coming to the king, שלא כדת shelo k'das. ובכן U'vchein, we come in, we say השם Hashem, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy, you didn't invite me, I don't deserve to be in here. If you decapitate me at this moment, you're in the right. However, however, if it pleases you, could you give a רפואה שלמה refuah shleima to Esther Tehila bas Ariella Tzipora, Carmel, Shai ben Razla, and everyone else who needs one. I'm not invited, I don't belong, I'm not worthy, but אם על המלך טוב im al ha'melech tov, השם Hashem, on this פורים קטן Purim Katan, on this עת רצון eis ratzon. Could you help those who want to be married find their spouse? Those who want to be pregnant have their baby. Let those babies come out healthy and well. אם על המלך טוב Im al ha'melech tov. So you gotta take advantage of the small things, the מחצית השקל machatzis ha'shekel, Rav Nachman says, מחצית machatzis. העשיר לא ירבה Ha'ashir lo yarbeh. I don't care how rich you are in Torah and Mitzvos on this פורים קטן Purim Katan, כח הביטול koach ha'bittul, we're nothing. I don't care how poor you think you are, הדל לא ימעיט ha'dal lo yam'it, you think you're unworthy, you have nothing, you can still barge in to the king and ask for what you need. This פורים קטן Purim Katan is a special day, don't let it go by. פרק ל' פסוק א' Perek Lamed, Pasuk Aleph. Turn the page. Turn a few pages. Page 488. I'm skipping a few sections of our parsha that are worth talking about. We have in the past, you can listen. Next week when we don't have a שיעור shiur, there are many years of פרשה שיעורים parsha shiurim online, ויקהל Vayakhel. You could hear online, you can find them. So we have the כיור kiyor, which again the question begs itself, if this is one of the vessels of the משכן Mishkan, why wasn't it back in פרשת תרומה Parshas Terumah? I. We have the בשמים besamim, Mordechai. We have the incense we talked about last Shabbos, the קטורת Ketores. If it's your minhag, read it from the קלף klaf. I'm sorry for my little rent. The קטורת Ketores, the significance of the קטורת Ketores, and that brings us to פרק ל\"א פסוק א' Perek Lamed Aleph, Pasuk Aleph. וידבר השם אל משה לאמור ראה קראתי בשם בצלאל בן אורי בן חור למטה יהודה Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, re'eh karasi b'sheim Betzalel ben Uri ben Chur l'mateh Yehuda. Hashem spoke to Moshe and he said, I have called you by name, בצלאל Betzalel, the son of אורי Uri, the son of חור Chur, of the tribe of יהודה Yehuda. And ואמלא אותו רוח אלוקים v'amaleih oso ruach Elokim, I have filled you with the godly spirit, בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת ובכל מלאכה b'chochma u'v'tvunah u'v'daas u'v'chol melacha. Hashem says בצלאל Betzalel, put on your gartel, I've made you a חב\"ד'ניקער Chabadniker. בצלאל Betzalel, put a special pinch in your hat, you're the first חב\"ד'ניק Chabadnik. Why? חכמה בינה ובדעת Chachma, binah, u'v'daas. This is where it comes from. What is the philosophy of the בעל התניא Baal HaTanya? What is the definition of חכמה בינה ודעת chachma, binah v'daas? Certainly, I am inadequate to tell you. For another time, we can explore it together. But that's what Hashem is telling us, telling בצלאל Betzalel, that he filled בצלאל Betzalel with those things. So Rav Moshe has a fantastic insight. Soon as I find it, I will tell it to you. Here it is. Rav Moshe says the following. Oh, amazing. היכן מצינו שהיתה קריאה קודם לכן לבצלאל Heichan matzinu she'haysa kriah kodem l'chein l'Betzalel? ראה Re'eh, see, קראתי karasi, I called previously בצלאל בן אורי בן חור Betzalel ben Uri ben Chur. ואמלא אותו V'amaleih oso, and I'll fill him with רוח אלוקים ruach Elokim, חכמה, בינה, דעת chochma, binah, daas, ובכל מלאכה u'v'chol melacha. He's an artisan, he's a craftsman, he's a designer, he's a builder. I filled him with all these qualities and all these talents. ראה, ראה קראתי Re'eh, re'eh karasi, I previously called him. פראגט רב משה Freigt Rav Moshe, asks Rav Moshe, where, when? What are we talking about? First of all, how old is בצלאל Betzalel here? He's a בר מצוה בחור bar mitzvah bochur. He's a בר מצוה בחור bar mitzvah bochur. And he's already the architect of the משכן Mishkan. Don't dismiss the kids. But why the word ראה re'eh, see? So listen to Rav Moshe says. Listen to what Rav Moshe says. I'm going to Baltimore this Shabbos, I'm speaking in Baltimore, and I'm trying to figure out what to say in the I hope the people of Baltimore don't listen to the Parsha class. I don't know what I'm saying there yet. So if you're from Baltimore, forget everything. So Rav Moshe says the following. הקריאה הזו זה גופא שנאמר ואמלא אותו רוח אלוקים Ha'kriah hazu, zeh gufa she'ne'emar v'amaleih oso ruach Elokim. So this insight that blew me away. אם הקדוש ברוך הוא חוננו את כל אחד בכשרונות מסוימים, זו עצמה הקריאה שלו Im HaKadosh Baruch Hu chanenu es kol echad b'kishronos mesuyamim, zu atzmah ha'kriah shelo. Where do we find that God called out to him and said, you have these talents and skills? And the answer is because he had those talents and skills. Says Rav Moshe, when a person thinks about their life, when a person looks into themselves and says, what am I good at? Why am I here? What am I programmed to contribute to this world? What are my talents, what are my skills, what are the gifts that I was given? That's Hashem calling you. He doesn't have to actually knock on our door, send us an email. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't call our cell phone. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't speak to us. He speaks to us through the gifts he gave us. So if we look in ourselves and we say, you know what, I'm good at this, that, or the other thing. And I'm not good at it only for myself. Those talents, those skills, those gifts are not just so I can have more money and more things and more experiences, although there's nothing wrong with enjoying that. But those were given to me to make a difference, to contribute and to better and to improve the world around me. That's why I have them. That's my responsibility with them. It's the beginning of מסילת ישרים Mesillas Yesharim. יסוד היסודות ושורש העבודה Yesod ha'yesodos v'shoresh ha'avodah, the foundation of foundations and the root of serving Hashem is for a person to ask themselves, מה חובת האדם בעולמו ma chovas ha'adam b'olamo? What is my duty and obligation? What is my responsibility in the world? Well how do I know? I didn't get the memo. How do I know? I didn't get a FedEx package? I didn't get an email. I didn't get the file. Where does Hashem tell me what I'm meant to do to the world? How do I know? The answer is you have to sit down and ask yourself. You have to sit and ask ourselves. כך היה הדבר גם עשו הקדוש ברוך הוא לאברהם אבינו והיה ברכה Kach hayah ha'davar gam eitzev HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'Avraham Avinu, v'heyei bracha. שאתה אברהם תהיה בעצם מציאותך ברכה לעולם, כי אדם גדול ובעל תם חכם מעצם מציאותו וחיוסו בעולם היא ברכה לעולם She'atah Avraham tihiyeh b'etzem metziuscha bracha l'olam, ki adam gadol u'baal tam chacham, me'etzem metziuso v'chiyuso ba'olam hi bracha l'olam. So Rav Moshe says this is also the פשט pshat that Hashem said to Avraham, והיה ברכה v'heyei bracha. So Avraham says, what do you mean? How am I supposed to give a bracha? What do you mean I'm a bracha? How am I meant to be a bracha? Look at your life and ask yourself, what talents, what skills, what gifts, what difference are you meant to make? We don't live this world for ourselves. We are here to serve. We are here to make a difference. And I have to tell you, if you want pleasure and happiness and you like yourself, there is nothing you can do more for yourself than be a difference for others. There's just nothing better that feels better in the world. So maybe it's ego, maybe it's narcissistic, maybe it's self-serving, but it happens to be that he programmed us that when we make that difference, that feeling that we've actually contributed and had a positive outcome in the world, there's no better feeling. That's why my job, there's no better job on the entire world than my job. I wouldn't trade it for anything. There's no better job in the world, what I get to do, I have the privilege and the gift to do is to try to every day help and to try to make a difference. And you can do it too, and you do do it too. You don't have to be professional. That's the strike against me. When I get upstairs, well that was your job. You got paid to it. That was your career. When you run the חברה קדישא chevra kadisha or the חסד chesed, or you volunteer to give the שיעור shiur, or you're the גבאי gabbai in the מנין minyan, or you call the person, or you visit the person, and you're the, it's not your career, it's not your profession, it's not how you get it paid, it's not what you, how you made a living, then you far surpass any rabbi. But to be a difference, to make a difference to others, says Rav Moshe, ראה re'eh. Where did Hashem call בצלאל Betzalel? Where do we see that? Where's the evidence of it? You know what the answer is? בצלאל Betzalel had those talents and skills. Whatever talents and skills we have means it is our calling. It is our calling. That's what we're supposed to make our our avocation, our vocation, or our vocation, our avocation, our calling is what we do a job or is it a calling? If you're lucky in life, it's both. For some who are less lucky, but they need to pay the bills nonetheless, they have a job, and then they have a calling. For some they are separate, and if you're fortunate, they overlap. But we look at our life and we say, what am I meant to do? And that is Hashem's ראה, קראתי re'eh, karasi. Hashem says, hey, I called out to you and I told you, I gave you these skills. You're a great communicator. You're incredibly and highly organized. You're a leader who can get people to follow. You're a foot soldier who gets things done. Who are you? What's your talent? What's your skill? What are you artistic? Are you creative? What difference do you make? Hashem by giving you that talent and skill was calling upon you to use it. Don't ignore him. פרק ל\"ב פסוק א' Perek lamed bais, pasuk aleph. We're skipping Shabbos. This parsha is so rich and filled and we're skipping all these sections. I guess because we'll speak about them in Baltimore tomorrow apparently. אך את שבתותי תשמרו Ach es Shabsosei tishmoru. Observe my Shabboses. שבתותי Shabsosai. It doesn't say שבתי Shabbasi, observe my Shabbos, it says observe my Shabboses. Why? This week and next week? Well why stop at two? And every Shabbos you're really keeping two Shabboses. What are the two Shabboses you're keeping every Shabbos? Come to Baltimore this Shabbos, find out. No, we've spoken about it in the past. The כתב סופר Ksav Sofer, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, a fantastic insight. But moving right along, we get to the וירא העם כי בושש משה Vayar ha'am ki voshesh Moshe. פרק ל\"ב פסוק א' Perek Lamed Bais, Pasuk Aleph. Oy, the people saw, if you don't קרעכץ krechts when you start to read this where it all begins to go wrong. So beautifully. He took us out, ten plagues, splitting of the sea, miracles, the falling of the man, it's been incredible. Building of the משכן Mishkan, a love affair, a rendezvous point. And this is where it all goes wrong. If you don't קרעכץ krechts when you read this and say, \"Oh, I hate this part.\" I wish they didn't. I wish I could warn them. Don't do it. וירא העם כי בושש משה לרדת מן ההר Vayar ha'am ki voshesh Moshe laredes min ha'har. The people saw that Moshe had delayed coming down the mountain. Where'd they go wrong? They didn't realize that the day follows the night, so they miscalculated in the timing when he said 40 days, when the 40 days were meant to begin versus when they began, and therefore they panicked. ויקהל העם על אהרן ויאמרו אליו קום עשה לנו אלוהים אשר ילכו לפנינו כי זה משה האיש אשר העלנו מארץ מצרים לא ידענו מה היה לו Vayikahel ha'am al Aharon, vayomru eilav kum asei lanu Elohim asher yelchu l'faneinu, ki zeh Moshe ha'ish asher he'elanu mei'eretz Mitzrayim lo yadanu meh hayah lo. They panic. They gather around Aharon. Rise up, make for us gods that will go before us, for this man Moshe brought us to the land of Egypt, we don't know what became of him. Where is he? He's not back, he's gone. He climbed the mountain, he's never coming down. So we don't know what to do. So, no. What do we do? ויאמר אליהם אהרן Vayomer aleihem Aharon, so Aharon says, take your jewelry, bring it to me, they fashion. What do you mean Aharon? Aharon is the spokesperson? Aharon is calling for the building of the egel? How do we understand all of this? So before we get to that, Rav Reuven Feinstein, beautiful sefer that was given to me, נהר שלום Nahar Shalom. Rav Reuven Feinstein, I checked by the way, when he quotes the Rosh Yeshiva, he's talking about his father, Rav Moshe. Rav Reuven Feinstein says, this pasuk begins the sequence of events that led to the terrible sin of the egel. Moshe was late in returning. They panicked. They thought he was dead. They come to Aharon, they demanded, make a replacement. They felt their emissary was missing. They needed a new vehicle to continue the relationship with Hashem. Every year we explain the כוזרי Kuzari, רבי יהודה הלוי Rav Yehuda HaLevi, I find the most compelling explanation. They were not in fact, they were not in fact disloyal to Hashem. They were not worshipping an idol. They wanted to serve Hashem. They had just become accustomed to serve him through a physical, tangible means. We are physical people. We operate through our five senses, and therefore we believe the truth of what our five senses can perceive. So when Moshe could speak to him, and Moshe could hold their hands, and Moshe was a presence in their lives, through Moshe they connected to Hashem, and they panicked. Without Moshe, what do we do? We're all on our own. We can't do this. So the idea was to build an egel. We'll build a physical manifestation which will take the place, or at least buy us time. Question is, asks Rav Reuven Feinstein, a great question. Why when Moshe does not come back, and I never thought of this question before. I've learned Parshas Ki Sisa a few times in my life. Never thought of this question. When they panic, there are a lot of alternatives of what they could have done in their state of panic. Give me an option. What could they have done in their state of panic? ברוך אתה ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. Was there an alternative to Moshe other than a golden inanimate calf? Good. Aharon. Never occurred to me that question. Why didn't they say, Moshe, Aharon, Holy Aharon, brother Aharon. Your brother Moshe's gone, he's not coming back. I guess you need to take over. Continuity. You are the successor. Aharon, I know you're older than Moshe, you were always number two, but slide over a seat, you just became number one. You just became number one. He's not coming back. I was recently talking about, I love talking too, but I was talking about my good friend of Jonathan Morgenstern in Scarsdale and the horrific, horrific story that happened in that community. It was a terrible fire one Shabbos morning, and the beloved rabbi and rebbetzin of the community passed away in a fire Friday night, and he went from a young assistant rabbi, not necessarily on the trajectory of the rabbinate for his whole life, and he like the community came to shul that morning to find out that Rimson passed away, and his rebbetzin, the whole community came to shul Shabbos morning to find out that they were gone, and young, assistant, inexperienced rabbi, you're not only now, not, not now only the senior rabbi of the community, you need to comfort and usher the community through this horrific loss. It's unimaginable. I have such awe of him. So the people could have turned to Aharon and said, some loss, there's a tragedy. We don't know where Moshe went, he's not coming back. We're grieving, we're mourning, we're in a state of loss, but you know what? You've taken over. Why build an egel instead of simply passing the mantle onto Aharon? Is it a good question? It's a good question. I never thought of that question. Says Rav Reuven. Says Rav Reuven, why did Klal Yisrael need to look elsewhere for the new Moshe Rabbeinu? Aharon was a tzaddik. They knew that well. Why wasn't he the obvious choice? Why wasn't he the obvious choice? The answer is the old saying goes, I never heard it, but the old saying goes, better a calf from the street than our own Aharon. When it comes to appointing a leader over people, it's important that their impression of him be one of honor and dignity. In this way, he'll be looked at with the proper respect and will be able to lead the nation. When a person grows up among the people like Aharon did, the childish behaviors and immaturities of his youth make an impression on people that sticks with him even when he grows older. Because of this, it's very difficult for people to completely accept one of their own with complete התבטלות hisbatlus. They remember him as a child before he earned the greatness he now possesses. The nation gave no thought to making Aharon the new emissary, for they knew him as one of their own. Moshe, only Moshe could reign over them. In other words, says Rav Reuven Feinstein, where did Aharon grow up? Among the people. They saw him make noise in the middle of shul. They saw him throwing candies and collecting and scurrying at a bar mitzvah. They saw him leave his plate after kiddush and not put it. They knew little Aharon, loud Aharon. They saw him grow up like every child. Where did Moshe grow up? Moshe grew up in the palace. Moshe grew up among royalty. That's why Hashem arranged it that way. Sforno says, Ibn Ezra says, Moshe grew up among royalty. First of all, he would have the confidence of royalty to confront royalty, but also he'd have the respect of the people who would say, \"Oh, he's not one of us.\" So Aharon was different. Now that Moshe was gone, Klal Yisrael sought a calf from the street to take his place rather than the great Aharon who grew up in front of them. At my grandfather, alav ha'shalom's funeral in Elizabeth, New Jersey, my grandfather Sam Aboff, so Rav Lazar Mayer Teitz gave a hesped and he said about my grandfather, my great-grandparents, my grandparents were in Elizabeth before the Teitzes, the Preils. But my grandfather knew Rav Teitz, the young Rav Teitz, from when he was born. So in his hesped he said about my grandfather that from the day that he took over for his father and became a rav of JC in Elizabeth, my grandfather never called him by his first name. He called him the rav, he called him Rav Teitz. Part of the hesped he gave about my grandfather was that despite his having grown up and been in his class and interacted with him and having seen him as a little boy, he treated him as his rav with awe and respect because even though he was much his younger, that was the relationship he had with him. So that's a hard thing to achieve. Not everybody can achieve that, says Rav Reuven Feinstein, and so much so that the people didn't achieve it. And they saw Aharon, as great as, as much as they loved him, as accessible as he was, and as warm as he was, and as much of a peacemaker as he was, and as much as they loved him, he was still little Aharon. So they had trouble connecting and loving him in that way. Loving him in that way. So what happens? Hashem, they build the egel, וידבר השם אל משה Vaydaber Hashem el Moshe, פסוק ז' Pasuk zayin, Hashem says to Moshe, לך רד כי שיחת עמך אשר העלית מארץ מצרים lech reid ki shicheis amcha asher he'eileisa mei'eretz Mitzrayim. Hashem says to Moshe, oh boy. Moshe, I know that we're having a יום עיון yom iyun up here. I know there's a great ירחי כלה yarchei kallah going on up on here. I know we're having a great convention up here, but while the cat's away, the mice are playing. While you and I are שטייג'ינג shteiging up here at the Agudah conference, at the RCA, the OU, whatever conference it is, let's hope it was a all above, all the above conference, you need to go down. לך רד Lech reid, time to go home. You know why? כי שיחת עמך Ki shicheis amcha, your people that I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are corrupt. They've lost their way. Now if I'm Moshe, what do I say right now? Which word in that pasuk bothers you? עמך Amcha. עמך Amcha. You know, it's like if Yocheved's out, my kids are older now. When they were little kids, calls it, you need to come home because your kids are not behaving, and your kids are out of control, and your kids are not doing their homework, and your kids are not going to bed, and your kids are not doing anything, and you need to come home right now because your kids. Hashem says to Moshe, you need to go home right now because your kids are not behaving. So Yocheved says to me what I would think Moshe Rabbeinu would say to Hashem, \"My kids? They're not your kids?\" עמך Amcha? Moshe says עמך amcha, they're my kids? All of a sudden you're not the omnipotent, infinite creator, source of the universe? They're my kids? עמך Amcha, your kids? What's going on over here? What's going on over here? So the Gemara in Brachos, daf lamed bais, says, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה לך רד מגדלותך, כלום נתתי לך גדולה אלא בשביל ישראל amar HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'Moshe, lech reid mi'gedulas'cha, klum nasati l'cha gedulah ela bishvil Yisrael? Climb down from your high horse, climb down from your greatness, climb down from your position of distinction, because you only have it on behalf and in the merit of the Jewish people. עכשיו שישראל חטאו, אתה למה לי Achshav she'Yisrael chatu, ata lamma li? And now that your people have became corrupt, now that your people have made such a critical mistake, what do I need you for? So I'm taking your status, I'm taking your title. לך רד Lech reid, go down, down and out. So asks the מגן יוסף Magen Yosef, asks Rav Sorotzkin, תמוה הדבר Tamuah ha'davar, I don't understand. Moshe Rabbeinu, עבדי משה avdi Moshe, Hashem testifies about Moshe how much he loves Moshe and cherishes Moshe. And all of a sudden Moshe is using Moshe? Ah, your people, they're corrupt. I lost the people. What what good are you to me? What good are you to me? That's the Gemara. כלום נתתי לך גדולה אלא בשביל ישראל? עכשיו שישראל חטאו, אתה למה לי Klum nasati l'cha gedulah ela bishvil Yisrael? Achshav she'Yisrael chatu, ata lamma li? What do I need you for? What good are you to me? Was Hashem just using Moshe? And Moshe doesn't have a status, his greatness on his own? What in the world is going on here? איך יאמר הקדוש ברוך הוא לאוריד מגדלותו Heich yomar HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'horid mi'geduloso? Okay, he lost the people. The people lost their way. They became corrupt. They made a terrible mistake. But Moshe is still Moshe. Moshe is still humble. Moshe is the כל ביתי נאמן הוא kol beisi ne'eman hu. How did Moshe lose his status? ועוד צערו חינם, כי מידותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא כמידת בשר ודם שכעס שצריך לחברו, משלכו איך אמרו לקדוש ברוך הוא, אתה למה לי V'od tza'aro cheinam, ki midoso shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu k'midas basar v'dam, she'ka'as she'tzarich l'chavero, m'shilcho, eich omar HaKadosh Baruch Hu ata lamma li? Ah, you, why do I need you anymore? Why do I need you anymore? בנראה בזה Ba'nir'eh b'zeh, שבנוסף למדרגה של אדם מסיגה על ידי עמלו ויגיע בעבודתו she'b'nosaf l'madreigah shel adam masigah al yedei amalo v'yegia b'avodaso. So he says the following amazing yesod. He says, I want to get to a few more divrei Torah, so I won't read it to you inside, but he brings a lot of my מאמרי חז\"ל ma'amarei Chazal, but he says what what Chazal are teaching us, what this pasuk, what the Torah is teaching us here is, when you're privileged to be in a position of leadership, never, ever think it's your own worthiness. Never think it's your own merit. Never think that you've captured and you own that title. It's the זכות של הציבור zchus shel ha'tzibbur. It's in the merit of the community that you serve. And when the when you've lost the community, then you've also lost that position of distinction. Know that it's the merit of the community you serve. Last week on the bimah, we had Rav Eli Mansour, who's a great orator, a great talmid chacham, a great speaker. If you haven't watched it yet, you should. I always plug, I don't make any money, that's not my career, Baruch Hashem, it's not my future. My life wouldn't change if it stopped tomorrow. But we have such incredible guests and you hear their message, their inspiration, forget me, it's worth it to listen to them. So Rav Mansour said, I asked him how do you get it all done? He has five websites that are updated daily, daily halacha, daily gemara, daily this, daily, and he runs a large Sassoon synagogue in Brooklyn and in Deal. How do you get it all done? So he answered is there's a סייעתא דשמיא siyata dishmaya that comes when you are a leader of a community. It's the זכות zchus of the community. He said, just like the Torah tells us there's a concept called קפיצת הדרך kfitzas ha'derech to get from point A to point B should take this amount of time, but when you're doing it for the purpose of a mitzvah, it takes a fraction of that time. Eliezer went to go find the wife for Rivka. He merited a קפיצת הדרך kfitzas ha'derech. So so too, when you're preparing shiyurim and you're working on behalf of the tzibbur, in their merit, you get more done than should technically, you should be able to get done. He said he knows that because when he leaves his tzibbur to go speak somewhere else, he leaves that tzibbur to go on vacation, they say, hey, would you mind speaking? It takes him ten times longer to prepare than when he's in his own tzibbur. When he doesn't have the merit of the tzibbur, he doesn't have the efficiency, the productivity, he can't get done everything that he gets done. And that's the message over here. Torah wanted to tell us, if you lost the tzibbur, you lost your merit. Moshe's still the same Moshe, and Moshe's greatness is still appreciated and beloved by Hashem, but the gedulah of Moshe, the stature of Moshe is on behalf of the merit of the people. And leaders lose that. They sometimes think that the people are lucky to have them instead of realizing they're lucky to have the people. It's the people of the tzibbur that they serve. They serve the tzibbur, the tzibbur doesn't serve them. And if the tzibbur loses their merit, they lose their merit. Do I think that any invitations I've ever had to the White House or to go meet pols is because of me? You think it's Ephraim Goldberg? The charm or the good looks? It's because Palm Beach County our votes matter, they make a difference. It's because we decide and we determine presidential elections in Palm Beach County. You think I'm foolish that if I were in New York or California, I would never be invited? Because everybody already knows which way it's going to go. You have to know who you represent and that merit and the moment you forget that and you lose that, then you are lost. And that's what the Torah was telling us here. And that's what the Torah even tells us, he brings a lot of ראיות rayos, but here's an example of one. When Moshe gives the שלטון shilton to Yehoshua, it says נסתתמו ממנו מסורות ומעיינות החכמה nistatmu mimenu masoros u'ma'ayanos ha'chochma. Rashi in Devarim says that the wellsprings of wisdom were closed up. Why? Moshe Rabbeinu, the wellsprings of wisdom were closed up all because he passed the mantle to Yehoshua? Why? The answer is that that high-speed connection came in the merit of the people he was serving. Now that he became the emeritus, Moshe Rabbeinu emeritus it said on the stationary. Now that he became the emeritus, he lost the זכות zchus of the ציבור tzibbur. So נסתתמו nistatmu מסורות masoros ומעיינות החכמה u'ma'ayanos ha'chochma. A leader needs to never forget and never lose sight that their gifts and their opportunities is just a blessing and the merit, the leader serves the community, the community does not serve the leader. אוי ואיזמיר Oy v'ayzmir. We did not get a קפיצת הדרך kfitzas ha'derech of time here. Let's see, one or two last ones. Let's throw in. Okay, I'll tell you which one I want to do. Let's do one more. I'm excited to do. Rav Yechezkel Levenstein on this pasuk. We'll do one more. And I have my whole parsha shiur for next year prepared. Yay. Amcha, we were bothered. Shicheis amcha. Hashem says to Moshe, go down. Yocheved, come home, your kids are misbehaving. Shicheis amcha. So the Medrash Rabbah says, עמך ולא עמי amcha v'lo ami? Hashem, my kids and not yours? My people, not your people? My community, not your? My membership, not your membership? אלא בבא לחתום היה רק הערב רב וכלל ישראל נענש רק משום שלא מיכו ביד חוטאים Ela b'chet ha'eigel hayah rak ha'Erev Rav, u'Klal Yisrael ne'enash rak mishum she'lo michu b'yad chot'im. So the Medrash answers that you know who it was who was misbehaving? It was the ערב רב Erev Rav. Ah, so if it was the ערב רב Erev Rav, if the whole catalyst, the whole manufacturers of this egel were the ערב רב Erev Rav, they were the, I don't even know how to translate ערב רב Erev Rav. They were the riffraff. That's a good translation. Thank you. It's a group effort here. They were the riffraff. So if the whole troublemakers were the riffraff, why were the rest of the Jewish people punished? If they didn't actually contribute, they didn't run, they didn't do, they didn't worship, why were they punished? So Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, the Mashgiach of Ponovezh says the following. הנה הפסוק מגדיר את הפגם שפגמו ישראל בחטא העגל, שחת עמך, ועינו חז\"ל מגלים לנו שכל התביעה הייתה משום שלא מיחו. שאם לא מיחו, יש בזה הוכחה שהדבר רפוי מעט בעיקר טעם המיאוס. מבטל זה את חטא עצמו, גם הוא רפוי. פגיעה קלה p'giah k'alah, כי הניסיון גדול מזה ki ha'nisayon gadol mizeh, כמשמע יעיין רש\"י k'mashma ya'ayin Rashi. You know, the people who are quiet, they didn't protest, they didn't object, they didn't say anything even as they watched the riffraff among them wreak havoc. And yet they're held accountable. And that wasn't an easy thing to do to intervene or interfere. To say something was not easy. The רש\"י Rashi brings כשעלה משה להר, אמר להם לסוף ארבעים יום אני בא k'she'alah Moshe l'har, amar lahem l'sof arba'im yom ani ba. He said I'm coming back at the end of 40 days. נמצא יום ארבעים Nimtza yom arba'im, the 40th day was in שבעה עשר בתמוז Shiv'asar b'Tamuz. בא שטן וערבב את העולם Ba Satan v'irbev es ha'olam, the Satan came down and confused the whole world and it looked like darkness and cloud and they said Moshe died. לכן בא ערבוביא לעולם L'kachein ba irbuvya l'olam. It must be there's such a cloud over the world, there's such a darkness that has descended on the world, it must be because Moshe died. And Moshe died, he's not coming back. And that's what led everything. So רש\"י Rashi says, כמין דמות משה הראה להם השטן שנושא באוויר כששמים k'min d'mut Moshe her'ah lahem ha'Satan she'nasa b'avir k'she'shamayim. They saw as if Moshe was being carried up above. He died and he was ascending on high.So you see, says ר' יחזקאל לעווינשטיין Reb Yechezkel Levenstein, the משגיח mashgiach would say, יבדוק כל אחד את עצמו yivdok kol echad es atzmo. לו היית שם Lu hayisa sham, if you were there, ושמע באזניו ממשה רבינו שישוב v'shama b'oznav mi'Moshe Rabbeinu she'yashuv. If you heard Moshe was coming back. If you got caught up in this. והנה באותו יום הוא ראה חושך וערבוביא בעולם V'hineh b'oso yom hu ra'ah choshech v'irbuvya ba'olam. And the day he was supposed to come back, instead of his reappearing, what is there? Darkness and cloud and confusion descends to the world. האם לא יתגנב בקרבו הרהור ומחשבה ולא קלה Ha'im lo yisganev b'kirbo hirhur u'machshavah v'lo k'alah? אולי באמת משה מת Ulai b'emes Moshe meis? Would you too not be filled with doubt? Would you too not be confused? Would you too not consider that maybe this riffraff, maybe they're right? Maybe they're on to something? It's very, very easy to have fallen prey to this confusion, to get caught up, to get confused, to remain silent and to not protest. And the only ones who do are לוי Levi. לוי Levi step out, לוי Levi stand up and they make a difference. It's a big חידוש chiddush of this מדרש medrash and this insight of ר' יחזקאל לעווינשטיין Reb Yechezkel Levenstein, of the משגיח mashgiach, is that the חטא העגל cheit ha'eigel, this monumental חטא cheit which we continue to suffer from until today like the מרגלים meraglim and other, this חטא העגל cheit ha'eigel was not actually actively building the עגל eigel, but was the silence to protest.So I'll close by telling you, I just wrote, I don't know when it's coming out. משפחה Mishpacha magazine has a new feature where they'll have a statement and then they have three people, agree or disagree and why. So they had a statement, something like, I forgot the exact statement, which was that if there are people who look like me and dress like me and they're acting in inappropriate behavior, it's never okay to be silent. Agree or disagree. I forgot exactly the statement. So I wrote my opinion and I'll share it with you, a little preview to this little column. In closing, based on this insight of the חטא העגל cheit ha'eigel, שלא מיחו she'lo michu, שחת עמך shicheis amcha, your nation failed, they became corrupt. And what was the corruption? Corruption is not only when you actively perpetrate, silence is a form of corruption. Silence is a form of corruption.I wrote the question like almost all others does not have an absolute answer. Some extremists are already marginalized and irrelevant. To publicly condemn them would give them the attention they seek. However, most often, it's critically important to confront and denounce the of the outrageous anti-Torah behavior, particularly those who dress or affiliate like you. It's more natural to condemn the other, we have a greater responsibility and have a more powerful impact when we decry the behavior of those who identify with us, either religiously or politically. Failure to help stop a חילול השם chillul Hashem, particularly within a community which you have a say, makes you an accomplice to it. The גמרא Gemara in שבת דף נ\"ב Shabbos daf nun beis tells us, anyone who had the capability to protest the sinful conduct of the members of his household or the people of his town or the whole world and didn't, is liable for the sins of the members of his household or his town or the whole world and is punished. The גמרא בשבת קי\"ט Gemara b'Shabbos kuf yud tes says ירושלים Yerushalayim would not have been destroyed had it not been for the people's failure to protest or prevent each other from sinning. We find in these moments that we're most accountable not for what's perpetrated, but the silence, indifference, apathy, complacency of those who are there. The גמרא בסוטה י\"א Gemara b'Sotah yud aleph says, פרעה Pharaoh asked three advisors what to do with the Jews. Everyone knows this גמרא Gemara in סוטה Sotah, it's a מדרש medrash. בלעם Bilam counseled פרעה Pharaoh. He said throw all the Jewish boys in the Nile. איוב Iyov was quiet. He was silent. And יתרו Yisro in a sign of protest ran away. So the גמרא Gemara says השם Hashem punished איוב Iyov and השם Hashem punished בלעם Bilam. איוב Iyov was punished, בלעם Bilam was punished, and יתרו Yisro was rewarded that he ran away in protest. Reflecting, the בריסקער רב Brisker Rav asks, the בריסקער רב Brisker Rav, I understand בלעם Bilam's punished because he advised פרעה Pharaoh heinous advice. I understand יתרו's Yisro's rewarded, he ran away in protest. איוב Iyov, don't reward him, don't punish him. Just move on. He's Switzerland. He's Sweden. He's neutral. Neutrality. Why are you punished for neutrality? Asks the בריסקער רב Brisker Rav. So he has such an important insight. He says that firstly when someone's in an influential position and they remain silent, they're an accomplice. You're punished for silence because silence is not neutrality. Silence always benefits the perpetrator, never the victim. Always. But more than that, he says, איוב's Iyov's silence in the face of פרעה's Pharaoh's terrible question, actually emboldened בלעם Bilam. It gave him the confidence he needed to suggest his plan of annihilation. When a good, respected person like איוב Iyov is quiet, so בלעם Bilam said okay. He tested the waters. Here's my plan. Here's what I would do. איוב Iyov, anything to say? No. בלעם Bilam says if a good respected person is going to be quiet, now I know there's no opposition, I can go forward with my plan. Silence is not neutrality. Not wanting to get involved is getting involved because our silence and indifference embolden and benefit the evildoer, it never protects the victim, and it never advances justice.Martin Luther King Jr. said, this could be the first time he's quoted in משפחה Mishpacha magazine if it makes it in. He said, in the end, maybe not, I shouldn't have said that. Maybe not. Anyway, he said, in the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. One day the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam himself will call to account those who perpetrated wrongdoing against him and against others. But there's no doubt he will also remember those who remained silent when they could have and they should have spoken. And I'll tell you, I've experienced this, I'm sure you have, but there are there are crazy people and they're radicalizing others. And when they're not called out for their craziness and for radicalizing innocent people, when they're not called out for inciting people, when they're not called out for what they're doing, when the world doesn't want to get involved and doesn't want to interfere, and doesn't want to stand up and wants to remain silent, רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam will hold people accountable, like he did איוב Iyov, because silence is an accomplice and silence always benefits the perpetrator. Occasionally people say to me, Rabbi, you have so much courage, you stood up about the עגונה agunah or whatever. I'm telling you, I honestly don't know what they're talking about. When there's something obvious and right to do, I don't think it takes courage, it's right to do. But sadly you look around the world and you see so many people, people in leadership positions who have the privilege and the blessing and are living off of the זכות zchus of the ציבור tzibbur and they don't use that microphone, that megaphone, they don't use that platform to stand up and to call out and to confront. The silence is deafening. And that's what השם Hashem says to משה Moshe, כי שחת עמך ki shicheis amcha. It's only the rabble-rousers, it's only the riffraff who are causing the problems. השם Hashem doesn't say to משה Moshe, you got to get down there, the riffraff are acting out. You got to get down there, there's two crazies making insane videos online. השם Hashem says you got to get down there because there's people making crazy videos online and nobody's saying anything. Where are the Jewish organizations? Where are the Jewish spokespeople? Where's the Jewish leadership? Where are they to marginalize? Where are they to call out? Where are they to confront? Where are they to de-platform? כי שחת עמך Ki shicheis amcha, we become corrupt when we're silent and indifferent, when we're quiet and we're not willing to confront the people who need to be silenced. Have a fantastic week everybody and a א פרייליכן פורים קטן freilichen Purim Katan.
