Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב boker tov. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. As always, a big thank you to our parsha series sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman, לזכר נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש l'zecher nishmas David ben Menachem Manash. We remain very grateful to the Katz family. This morning shiur is also sponsored by Reni and Paul Laster in honor of their dear cousins Lori and Harold Landa, our beloved members, my dear friends. Thank you so much to the Lasters, to the Katzes. Thank you to our sponsors. If you'd like to sponsor a parsha shiur, you can go on BRSonline.org/sponsor. You can sponsor the parsha perspective write-up, which thank God is now being disseminated all over. People are enjoying some of the דברי תורה divrei Torah. They're not my own, what I share have the privilege of sharing with you. You can sponsor that as well. We are learning פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo. We have the privilege, page 1068, 1,068 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash.And פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo begins, והיה v'hayah, and it will be, כי תבוא אל הארץ אשר השם אלוקיך נותן לך נחלה וירשתה וישבת בה ki savo el ha'aretz asher Hashem Elokecha nosein l'cha nachala, v'rishta v'yashavta bah. It will be when you enter the land that Hashem gives you as an inheritance, as a ירושה yerusha, וישבת בה v'yashavta bah, when you conquer the land, when you inhabit the land, when you dwell in the land, ולקחת מראשית כל פרי האדמה v'lakachta me'reishis kol pri ha'adamah, you take from the first fruit, אשר תביא מארצך אשר השם אלוקיך נותן לך asher tavi mei'artzecha asher Hashem Elokecha nosein lach, ושמת בטנא v'samta ba'tene, put it in a basket, והלכת אל המקום v'halachta el ha'makom, go to the place אשר יבחר השם אלוקיך לשכן שמו שם asher yivchar Hashem Elokecha l'shakein shmo sham, the place that God chooses to dwell. We've shared many times and we've seen in many parshios that the Torah interestingly, curiously, does not delineate where that place is, leaves it intentionally and by design mysterious. Where are the coordinates? What do you put into Waze? How do you get to that place? Torah does not tell us where the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash is. Very enigmatically, mysteriously, simply says the place God has chosen to dwell. Now go find it. Now go find it. We've shared many times. We saw that in others, a Jew has to have a finely calibrated spiritual compass. We have to be seekers and searchers. We have to be on a mission and drawn to find it. It's not spoon-fed. It's not handed over. Takes work. We recently discussed, it's called עבודת השם avodas Hashem for a reason. It takes עבודה avodah. So you got to go look and you got to go search and you got to go seek. It's not handed over to us. ובאת אל הכהן u'vasa el ha'kohen, you come to the priest אשר יהיה בימים ההם asher yihyeh bayamim ha'hem in those days, ואמרת אליו v'amarta eilav, and you say, הגדתי היום להשם אלוקיך כי באתי אל הארץ אשר נשבע השם לאבותינו לתת לנו higadeti hayom l'Hashem Elokecha ki vasi el ha'aretz asher nishba Hashem la'avoseinu lases lanu. The Kohen takes the basket, you tell the Kohen, you declare I've come to the land that Hashem swore to our forefathers to give us. And טאקע takeh he's given it to us. And I'm a farmer here. And I've been successful agriculturally in growing product on the land and I've brought it to offer it to you. ולקח הכהן הטנא מידך V'lakach ha'kohen ha'tene miyadecha, the kohen takes the basket from the farmer, והניחו לפני מזבח השם אלוקיך v'hinicho lifnei mizbach Hashem Elokecha, and places it before the altar. וענית ואמרת V'anisa v'amarta, and then you shall call out and say before God, ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, וירד מצרימה ויגר שם במתי מעט vayered Mitzraima vayagar sham b'msei m'at. While I'm here, let's start from the very beginning. Let's go back in time. Let's review history. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, an Aramean tried to destroy my father. You're familiar with these psukim from the Haggadah from Pesach. It's why some of you just broke out in hives. וירד מצרימה Vayered Mitzraima, we went down to Egypt. We lived there. We were few in number. ויהי שם לגוי גדול Vayhi sham l'goy gadol, and then we multiplied, and then we became a great nation, גדול ועצום ורב gadol v'atzum v'rav. וירעו אותנו המצרים ויענונו Vayareiu osanu haMitzrim v'ya'anunu, they tortured us, ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה v'yitnu aleinu avodah kashah, they gave us hard work. ונצעק Vanitzak, we called out, we cried out, Hashem you heard our cries. ויציאנו Vayotzi'einu, you took us out. What does any of this have to do with the fruit? What does any of this have to do with the farm? What does any of this have to do with ביכורים bikurim? What does that do with the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash? Yeah, that's ancient history. I got it. It's good, Pesach, when you get to the Seder, talk about what happened. I got it. Why right now? A farmer's here to say this is my first fruit, this is the first, and I'm giving it to you Hashem. I'm not keeping it, I'm not holding on, even though it represents my toil and my effort, my blood, my sweat, my tears. It is for you, because everything really comes from you. Perfect exercise in gratitude. What does that have to do with all of this ancient history? So I want to share several insights on this pasuk. וענית ואמרת V'anisa v'amarta.Several insights. Let's start with an insight from Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro who was the ראש הישיבה Rosh HaYeshiva of Be'er Yaakov. And he says the following, look at Rashi. וענית ואמרת V'anisa v'amarta. You come, the farmer ties a little string around that first fruit, that little fig, watches it grow, when it ripens, plucks it, takes it, puts it in a basket with great pomp and circumstance, brings it to Yerushalayim where he delivers it, and וענית v'anisa, you answer, ואמרת v'amarta, and you proclaim this declaration. Says Rashi, what is the essence, what is the theme, what's at the core of the declaration, the proclamation the farmer says, is שאינך כפוי טובה she'einchah k'fui tovah, I'm not ungrateful. I'm not ungrateful. I'm here to let you know, I am not ungrateful. Not ungrateful. Okay. So we're going to see in a moment, that's different than saying I'm grateful. Why do we say I'm not ungrateful? Why not say, I'm here to express gratitude? But let's start. So Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro says the following. The Torah מביאה בפרשה שלנו שש פעמים הודאה להשם על כי תבוא אל הארץ meviah b'parsha shelanu shesh p'amim hoda'ah l'Hashem al ki savo el ha'aretz. We introduce the section of showing gratitude to Hashem with the words when you come to the land אשר השם נותן לך נחלה asher Hashem nosein l'cha nachala, that God gives you as an inheritance, and then again, אשר השם נותן לך asher Hashem nosein l'cha, and then again, that God promised לתת לנו lases lanu, ויציאנו vayotzienu, ויתן לנו vayiten lanu, אשר נתת לי asher nasata li, אשר נתן לך asher nasan lach, כדי לנטוע בליבנו הקרת הטוב ולהעקור מתוכנו את הספיקות החכמות שמתדמה לו לאדם שהכל מגיע לו k'dei lintoa b'libeinu hakaras hatov u'l'akor mi'tocheinu es ha'sfeikos ha'chachamos she'misdameh lo l'adam she'hakol magia lo. All of לחזור ולחזור על כן, בין בדור שקיבל את הארץ, בין בדורות הבאים, שהשם יתברך נתן לנו את הארץ l'achzor v'lachzor al kein, bein ba'dor she'kibel es ha'aretz, bein ba'doros ha'ba'im, she'Hashem Yisborach nasan lanu es ha'aretz. If you look in this small section, if you count how many times in this little few psukim, the Torah repeats over and over that God gave you, that God gave you, that you gave us, that God gave us, that you gave us, that you took us out. Yeah, we got it. Here's the fruit. I got it. Why are we repeating that over and over again? Because we confront every day of our lives, we confront the fact that God is hidden from us. And we have to search and seek and find him and acknowledge him and recognize him and appreciate him and talk to him. But the much more comfortable, we're much more inclined, the more natural attitude or approaches to feel what? Whatever I have is my hard work. Whatever I have is the result of my effort, of my labor, of my toil. כחי ועוצם ידי עשה לי את החיל הזה Kochi v'otzem yadi asah li es hachayil hazeh. This fruit? I broke my back. I stood in the sun. I plowed, I planted, I harvested. Where was God? What was God have to do with it? God gave you the land. God took you out of Egypt. God gave you the strength. God gave you the posture. God gave you the coordination and the muscles. So over and over and over in this says Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro, because it's so difficult and complicated, because it is so natural to not see him and to give credit to ourselves, the Torah in the very section that communicates the source of the obligation of הקרת הטוב hakaras hatov, specifically repeats over and over and over again, אשר השם נותן לך נחלה asher Hashem nosein l'cha nachala, אשר השם נותן לך asher Hashem nosein l'cha, לתת לנו lases lanu, ויציאנו vayotzienu, ויתן לנו vayiten lanu, אשר נתת לי asher nasata li, אשר נתן לך asher nasan lach. God gives, God gives, God gives, God gave, God took, God provided, God helped, God sustained. What do you think? You knew that that land is the right place to farm. When you purchased that land, who put that thought in your mind? Who gave the weather and the elements to support its growth? Who gave you the wherewithal and the physical capacity and competency to work the land? Who made it successful and kept away the infestation? A billion parts to the success of that little fig. The little date, the little fruit. That little fruit, you say it's me. It's not you. It's him. And that's why the Torah repeats over and over. כך רואים אנו שגם שאדם מחוייב לברך ולהודות בכל יום מאה ברכות ושלוש תפילות, שחוץ מחובת התפילה והכרת הטוב יש לחזור עליו שוב ושוב כדי לנטוע בליבנו את השיעבוד שלנו לקדוש ברוך הוא Kach roim anu she'gam she'adam mechuyav l'varech u'l'hodos b'chol yom meah brachos u'shalosh tefillos, she'chutz mei'chovas ha'tefillah v'hakaras hatov, yeish lachzor alav shuv v'shuv k'dei lintoa b'libeinu es ha'shibud shelanu la'Kadosh Baruch Hu. Says, says Rav Moshe Shmuel Shapiro, the reason we have an obligation every day to recite a hundred brachos. It's codified and it's brought down in Shulchan Aruch in several places. A Jew has to say a hundred brachos a day. In the Living with Emunah shiur, we made a 100 brachos party. You may remember. We put out different food groups that required different brachos. And we made a little party of a hundred brachos. מאה ברכות בכל יום Meah brachos b'chol yom. I left out one sponsor. Also, complete רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah, שלום דב בן שושנה רבקה Sholom Dov ben Shoshana Rivka, is having surgery right now. So, she'll have a רפואה שלמה refuah shleimah, speedy, complete, painless, successful surgery. Sorry, we omitted it at the beginning but all of our דברי תורה divrei Torah should be the זכות zechus, the merit for the grandson of one of our members, שלום דב בן שושנה רבקה Sholom Dov ben Shoshana Rivka. We should hear only בשורות טובות besoros tovos, we should hear very very good news. Should be a successful surgery. So, a hundred times a day. The challenge is so great, almost insurmountable. It's so easy to forget him, to not see him, to not credit him. It's so easy to swell with arrogance, to take pride and think it's us. The rabbis came along and they said, a hundred, not ten times, not five times, not twenty times, a hundred times a day, stop what you're doing and remember, it's him. That cup of coffee, someone discovered the coffee bean. Somebody planted it, somebody harvested it. Someone packed it, someone shipped it, someone ground it, someone packed it into a little Keurig. Someone overcharged for it. Someone, I know the coffee snobs, I'm going to get emails now. Keurig, espresso. All the coffee snobs will now tell me, what's real coffee, what's fake coffee. You make a שהכל shehakol. Every hundred, you come out of the bathroom, you see thunder or lightning. A hundred times a day. Three תפילות tefillos a day. Nineteen brachos each. They contribute towards but additionally an obligation of a hundred brachos a day. Why? To overcome the inertia, to overcome the instinct, to overcome the challenge of not seeing him. So a hundred times a day we remind ourselves, oh yeah, I forgot for a minute I thought that I control my breathing and my heartbeat and my health, and my livelihood, and the outcome of a surgery. For a minute I thought it was the surgeon, because we paid top dollar and found the biggest מומחה mumcheh and went across the and I thought it was us. So I make a hundred brachos to keep interrupting, to keep reminding. And that's what the Torah is doing here. God gave you, God gave you, God gives you, God took you out, God sustains you. Because we keep needing to be reminded. That's how pathetic we are. Really. That's how easy it is to slip into that forgetfulness and to not remember. So we have to be reminded over and over again. And that's why we begin, he says, with ארמי אובד אבי וירד מצרימה Arami oved avi vayered Mitzraima, כדי שההודאה לא תהיה מהשפה ולחוץ. ולכן מתבוננים בתחילת מסכת הצערות של עם ישראל, ורק בהתבוננות במצב הרע שלפני הטובה, משם הטוב יוצא על הפועל, רגש הקרת הטוב כראוי k'dei she'ha'hoda'ah lo siyeh mei'hasafah v'lachutz. V'lachen misbonenim b'schilas maseches ha'tzaros shel Am Yisrael v'rak b'hisbonenus b'matzav ha'ra she'lifnei ha'tovah, mi'sham ha'tov yotzei al ha'poel, regesh hakaras hatov k'rauy. וכבר כתב הרמב\"ם במורה נבוכים במצוות ביכורים שאדם צריך לזכור ימי רעה שבזה ירבה להודות ויפעול בליבו הכנעה שמזה תצא הקרת הטוב V'kvar kasav ha'Rambam b'Moreh Nevuchim b'mitzvas bikurim she'adam tzarich lizkor yemei ra'ah, sheb'zeh yarbeh l'hodos v'yif'ol b'libo ha'kniah she'mizeh teitzei hakaras hatov. The Rambam says you have to remember not only good days but the bad days. We tend to only focus on the good days. We forget what it was like. I tore my Achilles several years ago. I had to have surgery. It took six months of rehab. And I was on a knee scooter. And I couldn't carry a cup of coffee across a room. And I wasn't supposed to be able to drive, but I learned to drive with my left foot. But all kinds of other, I can admit that now I cause nothing ever happened. I was safe. Everything was good. But you know what happened? I remember I promised and I swore, I'll never make the bracha המכין מצעדי גבר hameichin mitzadei gaver the same. שעשני כל צרכי she'asani kol tzorchi. The kavana I'm going to have every day that I could take a step, that I could walk, that I could put on my pants, that I could carry a cup of coffee, that I could run. The kavana I'm gonna... You know what happens? I totally forgot what that was like. So, I totally went back to forgetting to have kavana. And the same is true with all of us. God forbid a person had a gastrointestinal disease or a bladder disease. A person was catheterized. God forbid, I'll never make an אשר יצר Asher Yatzar the same way again. The gift of eliminating successfully and in a healthy way. Then what happens? We fall back into that trap of just feeling entitled, entitled to walk, entitled to eliminate, entitled to eat and digest, entitled to see, until it's taken away. So the Rambam says, \"Remember, hold on to when you didn't have it.\" So when you do, you'll never feel entitled and you'll never feel, take it for granted. And boy, can you appreciate the little things like taking steps without it hurting, getting up out of a chair, going to the bathroom, eating food, seeing clearly and easily and countless other examples. But here he also explains this question that I began with, and I don't want to spend all of our time on this first pasuk, even though there is so much to share and to say. But why do we go back to the beginning of history? I'm here to deliver the first fruit, the little fig, the little date, the little string around it. God, I worked, I sweat, I toiled, I baked in the sun, and I'm here to deliver it to you, not take it home and eat it myself, because God, it really all belongs to you. I got it. And I'm grateful for it. And now can I go back to life? Can I go back to work? Why do I have to make this declaration? ארמי אובד אבי וירד מצרימה Arami oved avi vayered Mitzraima, let's go back to the beginning of the history of the world. First God created the world in six days. Why? Just hand over the first fruit. And he says the most magnificent explanation and interpretation and what a message about הקרת הטוב hakaras hatov. You know what the message of הקרת הטוב hakaras hatov is? I was recently at an Aufruf, my מחותן's mechutan's son got married. מזל טוב mazal tov to Andrew and to the מחותן's mechutan's family. My מחותן mechutan Ari Pro does something exceptional at every שמחה simcha. Was זוכר zocheh to see at hours we shared together and now again at the next aufruf. Some people might say it's unusual or why do it or it's a טירחא tircha. But at every simcha he talks all about the grandparents and the great grandparents. And he reminds everyone sitting there how we got here. And the people, my parents, our family, we do that too, many do. And you say, okay, they're gone. They're gone for many years. We're focusing on the next generation. The friends are roasting them, we're saying nice things about them. But why are we going back in time about people who are no longer here? And the answer is, you think you're so privileged to celebrate this שמחה simcha? Do you know what they went through? What they came through to get here? Do you understand what it took? Sacrifices that were made, prices that were paid. Do you understand? So the farmer, the הקרת הטוב hakaras hatov in any given moment is not only for that moment, it's for everything that led to that moment. So not only we're grateful for that milestone, we're grateful for what it took to get to that milestone because if one little thing were off, one little thing, one of those ancestors didn't survive. One didn't persevere. One didn't decide to try for another child. One didn't pay for the Jewish education. One didn't do what it took to not work on Shabbos. One didn't, would we be here? Would we be living this richly Jewish life? So those milestones, the Torah is telling us ביכורים bikurim is a milestone where you stop and you say, you're in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. You just grew a fruit. Do you know what it took? You know what it took? I'm blessed to have two siblings who live in Israel. And and when their children have an event at their school, it's very significant. But often my parents spend half the time in Israel, we'll see and we'll post on our family WhatsApp, you're not just at a חומש Chumash party when you attend the גן gan in Israel where the חומש Chumash is given out. You're at a Jewish history party. After 2,000 years of exile, that there are Jewish children getting a חומש Chumash in מודיעין Modi'in or אלון שבות Alon Shvut or anywhere else in Israel. That that's not just that moment, that חומש Chumash that's being given, that is everything it took from the inception of our people, we were taken out of Mitzrayim, through 2,000 years of travails and trials and persecution to the beginning of the redemption of the return to our land, to the ability to have a חומש Chumash party in Israel. And that's what the Torah is telling us, he says. That the farmer is not focused only on that fruit. Now, it wouldn't be very practical or functional if every time we said thank you, right? So you say to somebody, thank you for dinner. But let's go back to the beginning. I'm so grateful for when I met you 40 years ago and our friendship and each other. Like it's not so practical. Every email where you write thank you, right? Somebody sends you an article, I thought you'd enjoy. Thank you. I want to thank whoever invented the internet and the technology and the email system. Like it's not so practical. I'm not suggesting this is the level of thank you with each thank you. But milestones, moments to pause and to say, wow, what it took to be here and to get here, that won't be lost on me. So there's a big powerful message and lesson within gratitude, gratitude within gratitude. There's the gratitude for the moment, there's the gratitude for that particular experience or success or triumph or object. But there's also the bigger context, the broader picture gratitude, which is to always live with that attitude of gratitude. For life to always be lived through the prism and the backdrop of, wow, the bigger picture of what it took to be here and to get here, and to get here. We had Hillel Fuld behind the bima several weeks, months ago, and he shared his brother ארי, השם יקום דמו Ari, Hashem yikom damo, was murdered. And we talked about the rise of antisemitism and terror in Israel. And this is somebody who lost his brother to terror, but said, with that, I think he quoted his father, it's never been safer in the world to be a Jew. So, yeah, we narrow in and yeah, we focus and yeah, we fight. But we also have a הקרת הטוב hakaras hatov context. We don't just live in that moment, the dangers, the challenges, the issues of which there are and they seem to be growing. But with whatever challenges are in Israel or elsewhere, it's never been safer. If you think about Jewish history and the mass persecution and the systematic attempts of extermination, it's never been safer, בלי עין הרע bli ayin hara, to be a Jew, anywhere in the world. So we have to live with broad picture, big vision, not narrow moments. That's what's going on in this opening, that's what's going on in this opening pasuk. A couple of other quick ideas, so we move on. וענית ואמרת V'anisa v'amarta, the Gemara in סוטה דף ל\"ב Sotah daf lamed beis says that when the farmer says this, he has to say it בקול רם b'kol ram. He has to say it out loud. Can't whisper, can't mutter, can't just move his lips and think it in his heart. בקול רם B'kol ram. He's got to proclaim it loudly. Why? Why? says Rav Dovid Korglas, the משגיח Mashgiach of נר ישראל Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, in שיחות חכמה ומוסר Sichos Chochmah u'Mussar. Says the following, דרכו של עולם שאדם נמצא בעת צרה הוא פונה לקדוש ברוך הוא darko shel olam she'adam nimtza b'eis tzarah u'poneh la'Kadosh Baruch Hu. When you're in a crisis, when you're in a crisis, a moment of urgency or emergency, you call out, you cry out to God with everything you've got, with all of your strength and all of your כחות kochos and all of your voice and all of your authenticity. ודבק בו באמונה שלמה ודבק כאשר טוב לו הוא שוכח את הקדוש ברוך הוא v'davek bo b'emunah shlemah v'davek k'asher tov lo hu shocheach es ha'Kadosh Baruch Hu. The old, there's no atheist in a foxhole. So in a moment of urgency or crisis or an emergency, you cry out, big Tehillim gatherings, heartfelt tefillos, flowing tears, kol ram. And when everything's going smoothly and well, successful, on plan, then you forget. זהו שנצטווינו דוקא בהודאה לקדוש ברוך הוא דוקא בקול רם Zeh hu she'nitztaveinu davka ba'hoda'ah la'Kadosh Baruch Hu davka b'kol ram. So that's why specifically the Torah here says, thank you should be as loud as I need you. Thank you should be the proclamation, the declaration should be as compelling, as loud, as in everyone's face, as urgent as the emergency moment, as the emergency moment. The Ramban says, כוונת הרמב\"ן על כל התפילות ועל קיבוץ בתי כנסת סוד התפילות הרבים, שלבני אדם מקום שיתקבצו ויודו לקל שבראם, וינציאם ויפרסמו זה ויאמרו לפניו בריאותיך אנחנו Kavanas ha'Ramban al kol ha'tefillos v'al kibbutz batei knesses, sod tefillos ha'rabim, she'l'vnei adam makom she'yiskabtzu v'yodu la'Kel she'b'raam, v'hintziam v'yifarsmu zeh v'yomru l'fanav b'rioscha anachnu. The Ramban in שמות פרק י\"ג Shemos perek yud gimmel, the Ramban says the purpose of shul is not only to come together to cry out for crisis. It's a place to come together and to cry out, to share, wow, thank you for all that's going right. Thank you for all that's going well, to attribute to him and to say thank you. So the whole beginning of our parsha is a master class in gratitude, in an attitude of gratitude, and how to say thank you for everything that's gone well and for everything, for everything that we have. For everything that we have, to be grateful, to be grateful. That's what Rav Nachman also says. Rav Nachman says, I skipped. Sorry. I skipped one. Rav Zeidel. וענית ואמרת, שאינך כפוי טובה V'anisa v'amarta she'einchah k'fui tovah. לכאורה הפסוק חוזר לעצמו. אומר ואמרת אליו, אתה אומר לכהן. אז למה אני צריך לחזור וענית ואמרת? L'chorah ha'pasuk chozer l'atzmo. Omrim v'amarta eilav, atah omer la'kohen. Az lamah ani tzarich lachzor v'anisa v'amarta? You answer, you respond and you say, what do we gain by repeating that he's speaking? ובכלל צריך להבין, and moreover, why do we have to say ארמי עובד אבי Arami oved avi and so on. So Rav Zeidel Epstein says, הקרת הטוב זו אינה מה שנאמר בתחילה, אלא הקרת הטוב מיוחדת על כך שזכה להיות כחיים המתים של הכרה בנושא הטובה והודאה אליו Hakaras hatov zo einah mah she'ne'emar b'tchilah, ela hakaras hatov m'yuchedes al kach she'zachah l'hiyos k'chaim ha'mesim shel hakara b'nosei ha'tovah v'hoda'ah eilav. So one is I'm grateful. Here's what I'm grateful for. I'm grateful I'm alive. I'm grateful I was able to travel here. I'm grateful for my farm. I'm grateful for this first fruit. I'm grateful you took me out of Egypt, and grateful you brought me into this land. But you know what I'm really grateful for? This is what he says is the reason for the second I'm grateful. You know what I'm really grateful for? I'm grateful that I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I live with a sense of gratitude. So many people see the glass half empty. So many people see what's missing, not what's there. So many people live feeling entitled and bitter. I'm grateful that I'm grateful. And this is what we say in davening. מודים דרבנן Modim d'Rabbanan. A little previous Seder snippet. מודים דרבנן Modim d'Rabbanan. When the chazan leads the מודים Modim, the community responds. The אבודרהם Avudraham is bothered. Why? There's no other part of חזרת הש\"ץ Chazaras HaShatz that we answer. We answer קדושה Kedushah but every bracha of שמונה עשרה Shemoneh Esrei, the chazan repeats in חזרת הש\"ץ Chazaras HaShatz, we're good to go. Why מודים Modim? Famous אבודרהם Avudraham. I love to quote it. I'll quote it again in Seder snippets. The אבודרהם Avudraham says, \"You know why? You can't outsource gratitude.\" Every other bracha, the chazan could have us in mind. But when the chazan says, \"I'm grateful,\" we don't say, \"Yeah, say thank you for me too.\" We have to say thank, you can't outsource gratitude. What's the end of מודים דרבנן Modim d'Rabbanan? This is what Rav Zeidel says. What's the end of מודים דרבנן Modim d'Rabbanan? מודים אנחנו לך Modim anachnu lach, and it ends, על שאנחנו מודים לך al she'anachnu modim lach, ברוך קל ההודאות Baruch Kel ha'hodaos. מודים אנחנו לך, על שאנחנו מודים לך Modim anachnu lach, al she'anachnu modim lach. Wow. I am so grateful that I am grateful. Because to live a life without gratitude, to live a life feeling entitled or hypercritical or bitter or deserving, it's a miserable life. The capacity to identify what we're grateful for and to feel grateful, what a bracha. So among the things I'm grateful for is feeling grateful. מודים אנחנו לך, על שאנחנו מודים לך Modim anachnu lach, al she'anachnu modim lach. Says Rav Nachman, התורה, בזמן שבית המקדש היה קיים, היה כל אחד מביא לשם את הביכורים, הפירות הראשונים שגדלו שצמחו בשדהו ומסרם לכהן. ובמהלך טקס הבאת הביכורים היו מקריאים את הפסוקים Ha'Torah, b'zman she'Beis Hamikdash haya kayam, haya kol echad meivi l'sham es ha'bikurim, ha'peiros ha'rishonim she'gadlu, she'tzamchu b'sadehu, u'm'saram la'kohen. U'v'mahalach tekes ha'vaas ha'bikurim hayu makri'im es ha'psukim. And in the ceremony of bikurim, you would repeat this line, this text, this script about how God took us out of Egypt, our, an Aramean wanted to destroy our father Yaakov, previous parsha shiurim, we delved into, who's the Aramean? Lavan? Where do you see in the Torah that Lavan tried to destroy Yaakov? We've talked about it in the past. I'm tempted but I'm not going there. Self-control. Not going there. You can listen to the past. Who's the Aramean and where did we see he tried to destroy our forefather? And there's a double benefit to learning that. You'll understand פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo, and you have a דברי תורה dvar Torah for the Seder. So it's worth listening and looking into it. But we're not going there. So an Aramean tried to destroy my father, but God, you took us out of Egypt and you brought us to the land and you made me build this first fruit. כתב רבי נתן Kosav Reb Nosson, Rav Nachman's great student, Rav Nosson writes in ליקוטי הלכות Likutei Halachos, בית חם, הי\"ג beis chem, yud gimmel, שהביכורים מסמלים את ההתחדשות she'ha'bikurim m'samlim es ha'hischadshus. What does bikurim represent? What's it all about? So one element we just spoke about is bikurim is the master class of gratitude, gratitude, to avoid being ungrateful, how to be grateful. Gratitude is not just honed in, it's big picture, be grateful that we're grateful. All about gratitude. But Rav Nachman understood a little bit differently. And he said, you know what bikurim is really all about? Newness, freshness, התחדשות hischadshus. שכמביאים אותם מהפירות שמתחדשים בשדה בכל שנה. ומה שאתה מביא she'k'mivi'im osam mei'hapeiros she'mischadshim b'sadeh b'chol shanah. U'mah she'atah meivi, what do you bring? What is the means, the medium through which we express the gratitude? We don't take some ancient artifact. We don't find something old and aged, the fine wine. What do we specifically bring? First fruit. What do first fruit represent says Rav Nosson in the name of his teacher Rav Nachman? התחדשות Hischadshus, newness, freshness, fresh start, new beginning. ומצווה זו באה ללמדנו ולהשרש בנו את חשיבותה של ההתחדשות בעבודת השם, ושל הצורך להזדרז ולהשכיל בכל פעם מחדש u'mitzvah zo ba'ah l'lamdeinu u'l'hashreish banu es chashivusa shel ha'hischadshus b'avodas Hashem, v'shel ha'tzorech l'hizdarez u'l'haskil b'chol pa'am mei'chadash. In any relationship in life, you need to introduce freshness, newness, curiosity, inquisitiveness, creativity, joy, passion, romance, energy. Anything and everything can get old. Torah understood that. Intimacy, pleasure, the most basic, core, animal, carnal pleasure can get old and routine and stale. And the Torah says there's an institution called נידה, טהרת המשפחה niddah, taharas hamishpacha. By requiring a separation, it creates a longing, התחדשות hischadshus, newness, freshness. That's true in every area of life and every relationship of life. And that's what the Torah is reminding us. The farmer every year says I'm bringing my first fruit. New season, new start. להבדיל, להבדיל, להבדיל l'havdil, l'havdil, l'havdil. As happens, I don't care about football, not because I'm so religious, I don't care about sports. I wish that were the reason. I follow God's team, the Yankees, in baseball. But I don't care about football. Football just started. So the first week of football is fantastic to see. Like even the Jet fans have hope. Even the Dolphin fans believe this could be their season. התחדשות Hischadshus. It's a new, it's a, spring train, oh, spring training. This is our year. We've got this. The new school year. All those parents who think, I love homework, I love carpool, I love, let me post for the world to see a picture of my kid on the first day of school. I love, I love new school. התחדשות Hischadshus, newness, fresh, it's going to be my year. This is our team's year. This is my children's year. Freshness. So the farmer takes his first fruit and says, \"Ah, this is my year.\" First, beginning, freshness. It's a renewed belief in myself, renewed belief in us, in our relationship. It's a renewed longing and desire and drive and creativity and joy. ושאין כך צורך להשתחרר מהפחדים ומהדאגות באשר לכל הספקות שמעניק עליהם ומונעות את התקדמותם בחייהם. V'shein kach tzorech l'hishtachrer mei'hap'chadim u'mei'hade'agos ba'asher l'chol ha'sfeikos she'ma'anich aleihem u'mona'os es hiskadmusam b'chayeihem. You see the גאוות היצר הרע שאדם חושש שאינו יכול לעשות לא ga'avas ha'yetzer hara she'adam chosheish she'eino yachol la'asos lo. We've all kinds of impediments to say, eh, we have anxiety, we have worry, we have fear. We have a voice of self-sabotage. It's not going to work out, never happened. Give up, walk away. Why bother? Don't try. Comes along bikurim, first fruit and says, there's a fresh start. There's a new beginning. There's always a new opportunity. הדרך להשתחרר מהפחדים הללו Ha'derech l'hishtachrer mei'hap'chadim ha'lalu, what's the way to escape? What's the way to avoid these fears, these anxieties? על ידי שיזכיר האדם לעצמו את כל חסדי השם ונפלאותיו שעשה עמנו עד היום al yedei she'yazkir ha'adam l'atzmo es kol chasdei Hashem v'nifla'osav she'asah imanu ad hayom, that we remind ourselves of Hashem's goodness and kindness, you know he got me this far. Very late last night, I was just talking to and trying to help and support someone through a very, very difficult circumstance. And I said to them, you know, you've been through very hard things in your life. When you say, I can't do it, I don't have what it takes, I'll never get through it, I can't. You can. You know you can because you've proven you can. You've had difficult circumstances, you've had very difficult challenges, and you've overcome them and you've showed the strength to persevere through them. You have it in you, you can do it again. And says, says Rav Nachman, that's what the farmer is reminding himself of. What gives us the capacity and the strength and the faith and the optimism? to believe his חדשות chidushus, new try, fresh start. You know why? Let's review Jewish history. Let's talk about all the people that tried to knock us down and knock us out. Let's talk about all the experiences that set us back, and here we are. We got up each and every time. We broke through, we climbed up over, around, under, or we ran through that wall, and here we are. In this land, with this farm, with this first fruit, let's do it again. We got this. We got this. We have that strength. It's in our DNA, it's in our history, it's in our own personal narrative, in our own lives. We've got this. לכן מקריא בזמן עבר ס'הביכורים את תולדות יעקב עם ישראל, איך נרדף על ידי לבן הארמי, וירד למצרים, והפך לשם לעם גדול Lachein makrim b'zman avar s'habikkurim es toldos Yaakov, Am Yisrael, eich nirdaf al yidei Lavan ha'Arami, vayeired l'Mitzrayim, v'hafakh l'shem l'am gadol. Says Rav Nachman, that's why the farmer stands there and he says, I'm here to try again. כהן Cohen, I was here last year, I told you what a great year it was to be. I blew it, I went back to my farm, I watched the wrong things, I said the wrong things, I listened to the wrong things. I blew it. I didn't give away 10% of my farm the way I was supposed to. I blew it. I blew it. So why should I believe this year will be any different? I limped here this year to give you my first fruit. So the Torah says, you know what you should declare to the כהן Cohen? Talk all about יעקב Yaakov and how he escaped לבן Lavan, and how he planted within you and within me, within us, the DNA to persevere, to endure, the tenacity, the resolve, the resilience. We've got this. התחדשות His'chadshus. Try again. Take it from the top. New beginning. We can write the next chapter of our book of our lives. We've got this. And that's why we specifically read what we read, because reviewing that history gives us the strength to believe that we can start again. התחדשות His'chadshus.He goes on. We'll end here because there's so much more to see. But such a beautiful, beautiful message. So two messages, different. Is it an exercise in הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov? Or התחדשות his'chadshus, new beginning, fresh start with the faith and the endurance that we learn from those who came before and what it took to get to where we are today. פרק כ\"ו, פסוק י' Perek Kaf-Vav, Pasuk Yud. Still in this context. ועתה, הנה הבאתי את ראשית פרי האדמה אשר נתתה לי ה' V'ata, hinei heiveisi es reishis pri ha'adamah asher nasata li Hashem. I am bringing to you the beginning of my first fruit that you gave me. והנחתו לפני ה' אלקיך והשתחוית לפני ה' אלקיך V'hinachto lifnei Hashem Elokecha v'hishtachavisa lifnei Hashem Elokecha, and I am bowing down. ועתה הנה הבאתי V'ata hinei heiveisi, and now I have brought. פרק כ\"ו, פסוק י' Perek Kaf-Vav, Pasuk Yud.So, הקדמה ארוכה מקדים הביכורים hakdamah aruchah makdim habikurim. The person who brings the bikurim gives this long introduction. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, the whole history, so on. Why? בברכת המזון B'birchas hamazon we do that as well. Why? And so again, this is a lesson. ועתה V'ata, now. The word ועתה v'ata means 'and now' means everything I said until now was not critical or crucial to what I'm about to do now. Now the real ביכורים bikurim begins. So why was everything said beforehand? That's what we saw. Either broad gratitude for everything that got us here or to strengthen and support and empower me, I believe that התחדשות his'chadshus, we could take it from the top. פרק כ\"ו, פסוק י\"א Perek Kaf-Vav, Pasuk Yud-Aleph. How does he conclude the farmer? מקרב ביכורים Mikra bikkurim. Farmer concludes: ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' אלקיך ולביתך V'samachta b'chol hatov asher nasan l'cha Hashem Elokecha u'l'veisecha. The Torah concludes. ושמחת V'samachta, be joyous, be grateful, be happy with all the good that God has given you and your home, you, the לוי Levi, the גר ger, אשר בקרבך asher b'kirbecha. Be happy. Or, put differently by the great poet, don't worry, be happy. ושמחת בכל הטוב V'samachta b'chol hatov. Says the אור החיים הקדוש Or Hachaim Hakadosh, ושמחת בכל הטוב V'samachta b'chol hatov, what does that mean? Says the אור החיים הקדוש Or Hachaim Hakadosh, ר' חיים בן עטר Rav Chaim ben Attar. אין טוב אלא תורה Ein tov ela Torah. אין טוב אלא תורה Ein tov ela Torah. ושמחת V'samachta, be happy בכל הטוב b'chol hatov. What's the good? What's the טוב tov? The little fig? The little fruit? What's the טוב tov? אין טוב אלא תורה Ein tov ela Torah. שאלמלא יבני אדם מרגישים מתיקות וערבות טוב התורה, She'ilmalei yivnei adam margishim metikus v'areivus tov haTorah, if Jews would really understand and appreciate and taste the sweetness and the beauty and the deliciousness of Torah, היו משתגעים ומתלהטים אחריה hayu mishtag'im u'mislahtim achareha. They would go crazy chasing it and pursuing it. ולא יחשב בעיניהם מלא עולם כסף וזהב למאומה V'lo yachshav b'eineihem melo olam kesef v'zahav l'umah. And they would say, 'Ah, money, material things, possessions, eh!' It's nice, enjoy them, have them, use them. But what's my real life? How is it really defined? What's my real drive? What's my real passion? What's my real identity? What's my real goal? Torah. אין טוב אלא תורה Ein tov ela Torah. כי התורה כוללת כל הטובות שבעולם Ki haTorah koleles kol hatovos sheba'olam. Says the אור החיים הקדוש Or Hachaim Hakadosh, whatever טוב tov is in the world, you could find it in Torah. Immerse yourself in Torah. And by this, I think the אור החיים הקדוש Or Hachaim Hakadosh means both, Torah learning, taste Torah learning, the sweetness, the joy, the beauty, you're tapping into eternity. Eternity. Some Netflix series? Some book you read? Some experience, trip you took? Nice, lovely, enjoy, assuming they're kosher and appropriate and okay. But they're this-worldly. They are there are pleasures that are genuine pleasure, but they're this-world pleasures. And then there are pleasures where you're touching eternity, where you're tapping into eternity. Like a grandchild's חומש chumash play in Israel. You're tapping into eternity. I haven't been זוכה zocheh yet. But you're tapping into eternity. There are moments and pleasures. Torah study, seeing a continuity of Torah to future generations, the טיש tisch we had, the unity טיש tisch we had, אחדות achdus on Friday night, that was a little piece of a slice of עולם הבא olam haba in this world. You're tapping into eternity, into immortality. So how could anything be sweeter or more pleasurable, more delicious, more joyous, more real, more authentic, more lasting than that? תורה מצידה עצמה Torah mitzida atzma. So this is now the לשיחות עליון, הספר לשיחות עליון l'sichos elyon, sefer l'sichos elyon which I quote often from. Many of these ideas and these people I quote were really collected, I have to give credit, to this wonderful ספר לשיחות עליון sefer l'sichos elyon. So here he says, התורה מצידה עצמה מתוקה וערבה בלי גבול haTorah mitzida atzma mesukah v'areivah bli gvul. Torah itself is sweet and delicious without boundary. וכל חכמותי העולם הבל וריק כלפיה v'chol chachmosei ha'olam hevel v'rik klapeha. Every other pleasure in the world is nothing, is גורנישט gurnisht compared to it. לכן העוסק בה הוא שמחה גדולה עד מאוד לאדם Lachein ha'osek bah hu simcha gedolah ad me'od l'adam. To be involved in it, immersed in it, engaged in it, ah, there's nothing better. So why does the Torah have to tell us, ושמחת בכל הטוב samachta b'chol hatov? אלא שנמנעים בני אדם להגיע להרגשה זו כדי כדברי אור החיים Ela she'nimna'im bnei adam l'hagi'a l'revah zu k'dei k'divrei Or Hachaim, באופן טבעי מתיקות עד שיגעון ומתלהטות, שמחמת עכירות החומריות ותאוות עולם הזה b'ofen tiv'i, m'sikus ad shega'on u'mislahtus, she'machmas achirus hachomrius v'ta'avos olam hazeh. A person avoids, 'cause, you know what? The Torah is competing with the pleasures of this world, the joys of this world, silliness and superficiality of this world. So the Torah promises us, ושמחת בכל הטוב v'samachta b'chol hatov. שנזכה בישראל שרק יעמול בה She'nizkeh b'Yisrael sherak ya'amol bah, if only you toil and make the effort, if only you take the first step, ושמחת v'samachta, it's a ברכה bracha, it's a promise, it's a הבטחה havtacha. Hashem is saying, 'Taste it, try it.' טעמו וראו כי טוב ה' Ta'amu u'reu ki tov Hashem. My Bubby's favorite פסוק pasuk. Taste it and you'll see how good it is, how delicious it is, how amazing it is. It's the greatest. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, we just started a new yeshiva in Boca, Yeshiva South Florida. New בחורים bachurim, 13 בחורים bachurim and 6 כולל kollel and amazing רבנים rebbeim and הנהלה hanhala. It's an incredible yeshiva, not for now, another time. The other day I was, I was there. I'm coming up the stairs and and the קול תורה kol Torah, the sounds that come through the door and down the stairs, it's like, wow, it's גן עדן Gan Eden. It's גן עדן Gan Eden. Any a room full of young people who are spending the overwhelming bulk of their day pouring over an ancient text because it has timeless teachings and it is a taste of immortality and of eternity. Ah, it's unbelievable. It's the greatest and sweetest sounds that there are. It's an incredible, you get goosebumps. Goosebumps. ושמחת בכל הטוב, אין טוב אלא תורה V'samachta b'chol hatov, ein tov ela Torah. Torah is promising, 'Try it, taste it.' ושמחת בכל הטוב, בכל הטוב V'samachta b'chol hatov, b'chol hatov.פרק כ\"ז פסוק ח' Perek Kaf-Zayin, Pasuk Ches. כי תכלה לעשר Ki s'chale l'aser, now we have מעשר maaser. You have to tithe, you have to separate. There's a וידוי מעשר vidui maaser. We are not going to repeat, although it's among my favorite דברי תורה divrei Torah. Why is it called וידוי מעשר vidui maaser? The Mishna in סוטה Sotah. What does the farmer say when he takes his tithes and delivers them? I have a confession to make. And what's the confession? Don't try this at home with your spouse. I have a confession to make. My confession is that I am perfect, that I've done nothing wrong, that I've done everything right. That's the farmer's confession. Torah, the חז\"ל Chazal call it וידוי מעשר vidui maaser, וידוי vidui, confession. And what's the confession? לא עברתי ממצותיך ולא שכחתי Lo avarti m'mitzvotecha v'lo shachachti. I haven't violated, I didn't forget, I didn't violate. I've done everything. That's my confession. I'm sorry, I have to confess. Don't try it at home. I have a confession. Why in the world is that called confession? Listen to previous years, we discussed it, we discussed it there. But now פרק כ\"ו פסוק י\"ז perek kaf-vav pasuk yud-zayin. In this context, את ה' האמרת היום להיות לך לאלקים וללכת בדרכיו ולשמור חקיו ומצותיו ומשפטיו ולשמוע בקולו Es Hashem he'emarta hayom lihiyos lecha l'Elokim v'laleches bidrachav v'lishmor chukav u'mitzvosav u'mishpatav v'lishmoa b'kolo. God and the Jewish people are intertwined, inextricably. We are inseparable. So Moshe turns to the people and he says, 'Don't think you have an identity outside of your relationship with God. It is part of who you are. It is what makes you tick.' היום הזה Hayom hazeh, today God is commanding you. את ה' האמרת היום Es Hashem he'emarta hayom. You have distinguished Hashem today to be a God for you. את ה' האמרת היום Es Hashem he'emarta hayom. You have distinguished God today to be your God, להיות לך לאלקים lihiyos lecha l'Elokim, ללכת בדרכיו laleches b'drachav, to walk in his path, to emulate him, to imitate him, to observe his laws, and to listen to his voice. So, I'm one of the lucky few. I got a hold of אוצר פלוס התורה Otzar Plus HaTorah. Big of Eisen on דברים Dvarim. The דברים Dvarim one, not easy to get. And oh, there's such great stuff in this one. I told you this fascinating ספר sefer who collects the most fascinating topics. So many I want to share with you in here, but we can't, we don't have time. But he has some great ones. את ה' האמרת היום Es Hashem he'emarta hayom. בפסוק זה מרומז גודל חשיבות לימוד משניות B'pasuk zeh merumaz godel chashivus limud Mishnayos. In this pasuk is an allusion to how important it is to learn Mishna. Okay. I didn't see that coming, did you? Where in this pasuk is there an allusion to the importance of learning Mishna? כמו שכתב בעל הטורים K'mo shekasav Ba'al HaTurim. את ה' האמרת Es Hashem he'emarta, כאן רמז ו' סדרים kan remez vav sidrim. את ה' האמרת Es Hashem he'emarta, in this pasuk is an allusion to the six סדרי משנה sidrei Mishna. להיות לך לאלקים Lihiyos lecha l'Elokim is זרעים Zeraim. שעוסק בקריאת שמע she'osek b'krias shema. עוד יש תרומות ומעשרות שהם יראת השם Od yesh trumos u'maasros she'hem yiras Hashem. וללכת בדרכיו V'laleches b'drachav is מועד Moed, עם תשבית משבת רגלך im tashvis miShabbos raglecha. לשמור חקיו Lishmor chukav is נשים Nashim. עריות Arayos. ושמרתם את חקתי u'shmartem es chukosai. ומצותיו u'mitzvosav is סדר קדשים seder Kodshim, קרבנות korbanos. אלה המצות Eileh hamitzvos is נזיקין Nezikin. לשמוע לקולו lishmoa l'kolo is סדר טהרות seder Taharos. שאומר איש אשר ימרא את פי ה' she'omer ish asher yamreh es pi Hashem. וכנגדם להיות לו לעם סגולה u'knegedem, lihiyos lo l'am segulah, ולשיחה עליון לתהלה ולשם ולתפארת u'l'sichah elyon l'thilah u'l'shem u'l'sif'eres, להיות לך עם קדוש lihiyos lecha am kadosh. Those six phrases, six סדרי משנה sidrei Mishna, there you go. Didn't see that coming. He quotes here, מסופר על מרן הגאון החתם סופר, שבכל שנה מראש חודש אלול עד אחר יום הכיפורים M'supar al Maran HaGaon HaChasam Sofer, she'b'chol shanah mei'Rosh Chodesh Elul ad achar Yom HaKippurim. And because of this בעל הטורים Ba'al HaTurim, because this pasuk, את ה' האמרת היום Es Hashem he'emarta hayom. האמרת He'emarta. How do we declare and proclaim that Hashem is our God today? משנה Mishna. משנה Mishna and נשמה neshama are made of the same letters. A commitment not only to the written Torah but the oral Torah. A commitment to our מסורה mesorah. How do we declare Hashem is my God? By immersing ourselves in that Torah learning, by reading his diary, by listening to him. דאווענען Davening is us talking to God, Torah learning is God talking to us. So how do we say, 'God, I want to hear what you have to say, you're in my life'? By listening. How do I listen? By learning Torah. So, את ה' האמרת היום Es Hashem he'emarta hayom, 'God, I declare you're my God today.' How? In this pasuk, says the בעל הטורים Ba'al HaTurim, in two ways are an allusion to שישה סדרי משנה Shisha Sidrei Mishna, to ש\"ס משניות Shas Mishnayos. And because of that, this is the interesting part that he dug up. Unbelievable stuff in here. Because of that, the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer, ר' משה סופר Rav Moshe Sofer of Pressburg, חתם סופר Chasam Sofer, would make a סיום על ש\"ס משניות siyum al Shas Mishnayos every year between ראש חודש אלול and יום כיפור Rosh Chodesh Elul and Yom Kippur. 40 days. He finished ש\"ס משניות Shas Mishnayos every year in 40 days. Unbelievable, no? 18 פרקים prakim a day. מה שלא עשה כן בשאר ימי השנה Ma shelo asa kein b'shaar yemei hashanah. He didn't do it the rest of the year. He didn't do it the rest of the year. Anyway, I thought a very interesting little interesting tidbit.He has another great thing here, 'cause the next pasuk, פרק כ\"ז פסוק ח' perek kaf zayin pasuk ches, not the next pasuk, Torah goes on to tell us a story when we cross into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, the blessings and the curses, הר גריזים, הר עיבל Har Grizim, Har Eival, טוחה tochachah, ארור arur, we're going to get into all that in a moment. But when we cross in, וכתבת על האבנים את כל דברי התורה הזאת באר היטב u'chsavta al ha'avanim es kol divrei haTorah hazos ba'er heitev. Write all the words of the Torah באר היטב ba'er heitev. Write it carefully. פרק כ\"ז פסוק ח' Perek Kaf-Zayin, Pasuk Ches. Write on these stones. So, it's very, very interesting. We've shared this previously also. What was written on these stones? So here he goes through many, many opinions. Moshe, write the Torah on stones when you enter the land. I think it was רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya, I forgot where I first saw it, the stones at the entrance, when you cross the Jordan, put stones there that have the Torah on the way into Israel. Who said these stones on the way into Israel serve for ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael what a מזוזה mezuzah does for a house. The same way there's a מזוזה mezuzah when you come into a house, put these stones for anyone who comes into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. In other words, when you land in Ben Gurion Airport, anyone who comes in, citizen or visitor, Jew or non-Jew, dignitary, politician, you kiss the מזוזה mezuzah because that says everything about the home, there should be stones on the entrance into ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael on the way in. So what was written on these stones? The רמב\"ן Ramban says from בראשית Bereishis until לעיני כל ישראל l'einei kol Yisrael. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra says the מנין המצות minyan hamitzvos. The מאירי Meiri says ספר דברים, המשנה תורה Sefer Devarim, the Mishneh Torah. Others say the עשרת הדברות Aseres HaDibros. Others say the כתב והקבלה Ksav V'hakabalah says שמע והיה אם שמוע Shema v'hayah im shamoa. Big מחלוקת machlokes. What was written? But he also asks, how big were these stones? Big, small, their size, their placement, how many stones? But then he gets into a great topic, which we don't have time for. When Moshe wrote whatever he wrote on stones, however big they were, did he put the נקודות nekudos? Did he put the dots? Where do the נקודות nekudos come from? How do you know the proper pronunciation without the נקודות nekudos? Torah doesn't have נקודות nekudos. ספר תורה, מזוזה, תפילין Sefer Torah, mezuzah, tefillin, we just have the letters without the vowels. Without the vowels, you don't know the proper pronunciation. I was once at a חב\"ד מנין Chabad minyan for a שבת Shabbos very far away. There wasn't a בעל קורא baal korei, so they took out, I'd never seen this before. They took out, they opened the Torah, and they put on top of it, translucent, you know, you know the old days that like you'd put on a thing to project back in the old days. So they put that on the Torah, so you read through the plastic, you saw the Torah text, but it put the vowels for each column. So each column you put the plastic and then the בעל קורא baal korei, anyone could be a בעל קורא baal korei for dummies. What's the הלכה halacha about doing that? I don't know, I didn't look into it, I don't want to know. I don't know. It was interesting. So you need the vowels in order to read. Ask any בר מצווה bar mitzvah boy about the importance of the vowels. Ask any בר מצווה bar mitzvah boy or his father or the parents or the בר מצווה bar mitzvah teacher, the trauma of the year of preparing about the vowels. So where do they come from? Where do we have them from? What's the authoritative vowels? And were they on these stones? נפלאות בנין נקודות Niflaos binyan nekudos. Were they given from סיני Sinai? He has unbelievable מקורות mekoros. Pages and pages of incredible sources. Where do they come from? When do we get them? קמץ and פתח kamatz and patach. Just if you're, if you're the type of person, you're like a nerd or geek like me that it excites you these types of things, he's got great stuff in here. But anyway, clearly most of you are not, so we're going to go on. הלאה Vaiter. We'll come back to it another. מגד יוסף Meged Yosef. באר היטב Ba'er heitev. Says ר' יוסף סורוצקין Rav Yosef Sorotzkin. The מגד יוסף Meged Yosef, on the words באר היטב ba'er heitev, write on the stones, and באר היטב ba'er heitev. רש\"י Rashi says, ah, write on the stones. He didn't get into this in here, maybe he does. It's so many pages, I didn't read it all. רש\"י Rashi says באר היטב ba'er heitev means, write it on the stones, the Torah, when you come into Israel, you'll see it. באר היטב Ba'er heitev, explain it clearly. What does that mean, explain it clearly? Soncino? Artscroll? Koren? What does באר היטב ba'er heitev mean? Explain it clearly. Did I leave anyone out? I don't want to get an email. What does באר היטב ba'er heitev mean? Says רש\"י Rashi, שבעים לשון shivim lashon. Wow, these had to be big stones. I'm not sure how much was written there and whether it included the dots, the נקודות nekudos, the vowels. But you also needed to put in 70 languages. Why? Why 70 languages? Why 70 languages? Because what happens when the ambassador from Uruguay comes, the ambassador from France, the ambassador from China, thank you. How will they know how to understand the Torah? This is on the entrance into Eretz Yisrael. This is the מזוזה mezuzah of the country and the people. Everyone needs to be able to read it. So שבעים לשון shivim lashon. אף לגבי מתן תורה עצמו מצינו בגמרא Af l'gabai Matan Torah atzmo matzinu b'Gemara. We find this even with מתן תורה Matan Torah. גמרא שבת פ\"ח Gemara Shabbos pey ches tells us, כל דיבור ודיבור שיצא מפי הגבורה נחלק לשבעים לשונות kol dibur v'dibur sheyatza mipi hagvurah nechlak l'shivim leshonos. That when God spoke, when we received the Ten Commandments, they came out, they were communicated, if you look in, להבדיל, להבדיל, להבדיל l'havdil, l'havdil, l'havdil the UN, you see all the people sitting there with their earphones, it came out in 70 languages. Wonders ר' יוסף סורוצקין, the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef, I don't understand why. Was the Torah offered to everyone? Torah was offered to everyone. What did all the other nations say? 'Thanks but no thanks.' We're going to, we're going to pass. We turned it down. Take a rain check. Not interested, thanks for the offer, we're going to pass. So if we have a tradition that every nation was offered and they took a pass, why does it have to be in 70 languages? Why 70 languages? So the מגד יוסף Meged Yosef, ר' יוסף סורוצקין Rav Yosef Sorotzkin offers a very interesting insight. And he says you see from here evidence, and he quotes many, many sources. מהרש\"א שב, he quotes many sources. כלי יקר, מהרש\"א Kli Yakar, Maharsha. You see again this tradition that we've had, we've shared many times, that converts who convert in תשפ\"ב Taf-Shin-Pey-Beis, in 2022, we did a conversion last week, conversion meeting is tomorrow. Converts who join us today, their soul was destined to convert since הר סיני Har Sinai. So you know what? Maybe they've been living all these years in between in China, or in South Africa, they speak English. They don't speak Hebrew. Or in France or Spain or wherever else. So the שבעים לשון shivim lashon are for גירי צדק geirei tzedek, are for holy converts who also needed access. So you're right, nations of the world who turned it down and declined, they don't deserve it in translation. But for the converts who would ultimately convert, they do. I want to give a different answer. My answer, why would Hashem put it in 70 languages if they were undeserving? Who says the 70 languages are for 70 nations? Maybe the 70 languages are the שטיבל מנין shtiebel minyan, a נסח ספרד מנין nusach sfard minyan, the אשכנזי מנין Ashkenazi minyan, the השכמה מנין hashkama minyan. I'm not joking. The חסידים Chasidim, the מתנגדים misnagdim, the ספרדים Sefardim, the אשכנזים Ashkenazim, ויז'ניץ Vizhnitz, באבוב Bobov, לובאוויטש Lubavitch, סאטמאר Satmar, גור Ger. Who says? So maybe the שבעים לשון shivim lashon is Hashem says, the Torah is not one size fits all. It's not uniform and you don't have to conform. There's many languages that it speaks to us in. And the Torah speaks to us differently in 2022 than it did in in 1902 and than it did in in 1002. There are different languages and different times, different cultures. And for some, Torah is communicated over social media and technology, באשר הוא שם ba'asher hu sham. And for others, the Torah should never, they would never listen to the Torah communicated in that on that platform or through that messaging. So maybe the שבעים לשון shivim lashon is at least שבעים לשון shivim lashon for that. And we should be open-minded to that. פרק כ\"ז פסוק ט' Perek Kaf-Zayin, Pasuk Tes. וידבר משה והכהנים הלוים אל כל ישראל לאמר, הסכת ושמע ישראל Vayedaber Moshe v'hakohanim haLeviim el kol Yisrael leimor, haskeis u'shma Yisrael. Listen up. Be attentive and listen. היום הזה נהיית לעם לה' אלקיך Hayom hazeh niheisa l'am l'Hashem Elokecha. Today you became a man. Today you became a people. Today it's a start. הסכת ושמע Haskeis u'shma. This one I'll leave to you as a question. What do you mean הסכת haskeis? ושמע U'shma. שמע Shma means listen, here. Then what does הסכת haskeis mean? What does הסכת haskeis mean? You're all struggling 'cause it means listen. Listen, listen. Artscroll struggled. How did it translate? Be attentive and listen. Well, if you're listening, aren't you attentive? Be attentive and listen. If you're attentive, aren't you listening? Okay. If you're listening, you may not be attentive, but if you're attentive, are you listening? What does הסכת haskeis adding to שמע shma? What does הסכת haskeis mean different than שמע shma? Rav Volbe explains it very beautifully in עלי שור Alei Shur, but we'll come back to it another time.Let's go to פרק כ\"ז פסוק ט\"ו Perek Kaf-Zayin, Pasuk Tet-Vav. Now we get into the curses. ארור Arur. Curses, הר גריזים, הר עיבל Har Grizim, Har Eival. Jews were split, the tribes in two, לויים Leviim in the middle, making proclamations, everybody answered אמן amen. Let's take a look at some of these curses. ארור Arur. פרק כ\"ז פסוק כ\"ו Perek Kaf-Zayin, Pasuk Kaf-Vav. ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת לעשות אותם, ואמר כל העם אמן Arur asher lo yakim es divrei haTorah hazos la'asos osam, v'amar kol ha'am amen. Cursed is the one who does not uphold this Torah, and everybody answered אמן amen. What does that mean? I understand cursed of a person who perverts justice and doesn't stand up for the orphan, the widow, and the convert. I understand cursed is the person who is promiscuous and violates moral boundaries. Cursed is the person who lies with an animal, cursed is the person who steals or bribes. I got all that. But ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת arur asher lo yakim es divrei haTorah hazos, what does that mean? Cursed is the person who does not uplift the Torah. What does that mean? The ירושלמי Yerushalmi in סוטה Sotah says, שואל ר' שמעון בן יעקב על פסוק זה, וכי יש תורה נופלת Sho'el Rabi Shimon ben Yaakov al pasuk zeh, v'chi yesh Torah nofeles? Why do you have to uphold the Torah? Does it fall? Is the Torah falling that you have to catch it? אשר לא יקים Asher lo yakim, cursed is the one who doesn't catch, who doesn't lift, who doesn't hold. Says the ירושלמי סוטה, פרק ז' Yerushalmi Sotah, perek zayin. ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת, זה החזן Arur asher lo yakim es divrei haTorah hazos, zeh ha'chazan. This curse is addressed to the חזן chazan. The חזן chazan needs to know ארור arur, they're cursed if they don't lift up the Torah. What does that mean? The חזן chazan drops the Torah while walking it back? Cursed is the חזן chazan who doesn't sing עץ חיים היא Etz Chaim hi. Some of you have cursed the חזן chazan who doesn't sing גילה קחת טוב Gilah kachas tov. Some of you are cursing if he's not singing מזמור לדוד Mizmor L'Dovid. Cursed is the, is that what it means? What does the ירושלמי Yerushalmi mean? ארור Arur, cursed is the, what did the חזן chazan do wrong? He's a volunteer, the חזן chazan. God bless the חזן chazan. What did he do wrong? So the רמב\"ן Ramban here has two פירושים peirushim. The רמב\"ן Ramban has two explanations on the ירושלמי Yerushalmi. One is, ארור חזן שאינו מעמיד ספר תורה בארון הקודש כתיקונו שלא יפול חס ושלום arur chazan she'eino ma'amid sefer Torah b'aron hakodesh k'tikuno shelo yipol chas v'shalom. The חזן chazan is not careful on the בימה bimah to make sure it doesn't roll off, in the ארון aron to make sure it's safe and secure. It's positioning that are careful that it can't fall. Cursed is a חזן chazan who's casual and careless with a ספר תורה sefer Torah. Then, ארור חזן שאינו מגביה ספר תורה להראות פני כתבו לכל הציבור arur chazan she'eino magbiha sefer Torah l'har'os pnei k'savo l'chol hatzibur. Cursed is the חזן chazan who doesn't do הגבה hagbah correctly so that everybody could see the writing of the Torah. As it says in מסכת סופרים Maseches Sofrim, שמגביהין ספר תורה מראין פני כתבו לכל הציבור she'magbihin sefer Torah, mar'in pnei k'savo l'chol hatzibur. We have to show it to everybody on the right and on the left, and you turn around. Nobody gets הגבה hagbah correct. שכטר Schechter has a little-known article. My great-uncle, עליו השלום alav hashalom, איזי נוימן Isi Noman, was the editor of a journal called the Jewish Journal, the Journal of Jewish Liturgy and Prayer. It was put out by the Belz School of Music. It's not well known, but it's worthwhile to read. And there are a few articles by Rav Schechter in there. I think you could find on YU Torah.org on their website, I think they have the old journals. And he has an article on not well-known, this is not the title of it, I'm butchering it, but but not well-known הלכות של קריאת התורה halachos shel krias haTorah. And in there, one of them is the proper way to do הגבה hagbah. You turn a little bit to one direction, then you make a full turn the other way, how many columns to be open, with the seam. Most people are too busy competing with Arnold Schwarzenegger to prove how strong they are. Some of these people need to be tested for steroids, the הגבה hagbahs they're doing, how many columns they're showing. All by the way, risking it all for us, our lunch and dinner. But there's a proper way to do הגבה hagbah. So the רמב\"ן Ramban says, what's the ארור arur to the חזן chazan, the curse to the חזן chazan? To do הגבה hagbah the right way and to make sure that everybody sees. Why is that important? How many letters are in the Torah? We have a tradition, 600,000. It's not actual, but there's 600,000, that's the tradition. How many Jews? 600,000 left Egypt. There's a letter in the Torah for every one of us, and there's an idea, there's no source in the whole, there's no source to use your pinky. No source. Not sure where that came from. One person maybe didn't have a finger, used their pinky, then everybody, I don't know what this, I don't know it was in a cast, I don't know what the story is. There's no source for use, there's an article in the חקירה Hakirah journal from Flatbush. There's no source for using your pinky. The שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch records you point with your forefinger. זאת התורה Zos haTorah, you point with your forefinger. You find the letter that begins your name and you say there's a place for me in the Torah. I'm in the Torah. My letter is in the Torah, my name is in the Torah, me in the Torah. So the רמב\"ן Ramban says, it's talking to the חזן chazan. But you should look, he says at the at the incredible idea here from the ירושלמי Yerushalmi and from the and from the רמב\"ן Ramban.The דברי חיים Divrei Chaim, דברי חיים Divrei Chaim was the צאנזר רב Sanz'er Rav, חיים מצאנז Chaim of Sanz. שניצל דברי מקרה רע שקרה בעיר She'nitzal divrei mikreh ra she'kara b'ir. There was an incident, he writes about this in יורה דעה ח\"א Yoreh Deah chelek aleph. This is again from אוצר פלוס התורה Otzar Plus HaTorah. Now he dug up all the stuff about falling Torahs and what happens and how you respond and how you react and הגבה hagbah and do you do הגבה hagbah before or after? ספרדים Sefardim do הגבה hagbah before they read the Torah. זאת התורה Zos haTorah, then they put it down and then they read it. So is הגבה hagbah before or after? חב\"ד Chabad does הגבה hagbah, they lift it, then they put it on the בימה bimah and roll it there and cover it there. They don't sit down with it open. How? Where does it come from? אוצר פלוס התורה Otzar Plus HaTorah. I don't get a penny by the way. Not for Rav Shechter's new sefer, not for אוצר פלוס Otzar Plus, maybe I should get a commission for plugging these ספרים sfarim, but it's just fantastic stuff. So the דברי חיים Divrei Chaim tells a story that happened once in this community. What happened? שמש בית המדרש בא לשבת קודש לבית הכנסת Shamash beis hamedrash ba l'Shabbos kodesh l'veis haknesses. The the גבאי gabbai in shul once came Friday night to shul to take a nap, to rest, to watch the בית מדרש beis medrash and the ספר תורה sifrei Torah that nothing happened. They didn't have locks and alarms and security, volunteer professionals. But he didn't see anybody there and he didn't want to sleep there alone, even גבאים gabbaim have phobias. So he left and he thought he locked up. In the morning they came back, בבוקר של יום שבת קודש באו מתפללים לבית המדרש ומצאו ספרי תורה מונחים על הרצפה בבזיון b'boker shel yom Shabbos kodesh ba'u mispalelim l'veis hamedrash u'matz'u sifrei Torah munachim al ha'ritzpah b'vizayon. Torahs were unraveled, rolled, lying all over the floor. They were גנבים ganavim. They came in the night and they opened the ספר תורה sifrei Torah and they threw them on the ground. And they said, 'What do we do to correct this?' השיב להם הדברי חיים Heishiv lahem haDivrei Chaim, again, it appears in his תשובות יורה דעה teshuvos Yoreh Deah, שאין לנו גדר תענית כשנופל ספר תורה ותפילין לארץ, אין למנהג זה שום רמז בש\"ס she'ein lanu geder ta'anis k'shenofel sefer Torah u'tefillin l'aretz, ein l'minhag zeh shum remez b'Shas. The idea that you fast when a Torah falls, there is no source in all of ש\"ס Shas. מה דאיתא בירושלמי מסכת סוטה ארור שלא יקים ארור חזן אינו כל כך שכל המתפללים מתענים אלא רק מי שממונה על להגביה ספר תורה בארון Ma d'eisa b'Yerushalmi maseches Sotah, arur shelo yakim, arur hachazan, eino kol kach shekol hamispalelim mis'anim, ela rak mi she'memuneh al l'hagbiha sefer Torah b'aron. You see from this pasuk that ארור arur, cursed is the one who didn't uphold the Torah, whoever was responsible for the Torah and it fell, that's who has to fast. There is no source in Shas that everybody fasts. And even the custom of the fast is not everybody, it is the person who was responsible, the חזן chazan, the גבאי gabbai, the שמאי shamash, the rabbi, security chief, whoever was responsible. אומנם הביא דברי חיים רמז למנהגו Omnam heivi haDivrei Chaim remez l'minhago, however, there is an allusion, from מסכת תענית Maseches Taanis, שם שאבותינו sham she'avoseinu. גורמין לביזיון התורה *Gormen l'bizayon haTorah*, that the sins of the city cause the Torah to be embarrassed. לכן אם קרה ביזיון התורה *Lachein im kara bizayon haTorah*, so something happened to a Torah, if a Torah fell, everybody should the community should get together and introspect and maybe take upon themselves a fast. So there is an allusion from that גמרא *Gemara* in תענית *Taanis*, but really that obligation to fast, there is no source. If anything, only the חזן *chazan* has the source to fast, not everybody else. And then he goes on, להניח ספר תורה בהיכל *l'haniach sefer Torah b'heichal*. How should the Torah be in the היכל *heichal*?Is a נידה *niddah* allowed to see a ספר תורה *sefer Torah*? There's a misnomer some have, the Torah shouldn't pass. Can women kiss the Torah? If a woman is in a state of נידה *niddah*, can she touch the Torah, see the Torah? Fascinating sources. The answer is yes, she can. How should the Torah be placed in the ארון *aron*? Is the Torah standing upright? Is the Torah put lying down? Is the Torah on poles? Is the Torah like the ספרדים *Sefardim* in a case? All these things that maybe you are curious, maybe you didn't even know that you should be curious, he collects incredible sources. Amazing, amazing sources. Amazing sources on it. Amazing sources on it.I'll tell you one more פשט *pshat*. I think of a וועלט *velt*, we're out of time. One more פשט *pshat* on this רמב\"ן *Ramban*. ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת *Orur asher lo yakim es divrei haTorah hazos*. It relates to, Rabbi Brody's having an event tonight through his outreach center, bringing together חברותות *chavrusas* from every segment and every denomination across this community. The Torah should bind and unite us. An enormous partner in Torah. And that's this other פשט *pshat* in the רמב\"ן *Ramban*. ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת *Orur asher lo yakim es divrei haTorah hazos* means, if you have the ability to uphold Torah and you don't. I mentioned this recently. Somebody bagels you. Somebody lets you know they're Jewish, but they don't know much about being Jewish. And you don't take advantage to invite them for a שבת *Shabbos* meal, offer to learn with them, to inspire them. If you're not supporting Jewish education and Jewish outreach, you are cursed.You might have said I'm neutral. I'm not an outreach professional, I'm not an outreach volunteer. I don't have time. I don't have an interest, I'm not good at it. So it's true somebody mentioned to me or asked me or hinted to me, but it's not for me. So we might have said, you know, you don't get the outreach person of the year award, but you also didn't do anything wrong. I would have said you're neutral, you're פארווע *parve*. You don't get מפטיר יונה *Maftir Yonah*. You're not a, you know, you're not honored at the shul dinner, but you also didn't do anything wrong. Comes along the Torah and says no, ארור *orur*. You're cursed. You could have inspired a fellow Jew? You could have inspired a Jew and you didn't? You're not פארווע *parve* or neutral. ארור *Orur*. Hear how powerful that is? You're cursed. You're cursed is unbelievable. That is incredibly powerful. Incredibly powerful.This מוצאי שבת *Motzei Shabbos* we are streaming a brand new podcast I'm starting with Moshe Yachnes, called Out of the Shadows. It's about mental health, trying to take the stigma away from mental illness. It'll be a once a month podcast on different issues of mental illness, anxiety, depression, OCD, ADD. But the opening one this מוצאי שבת *Motzei Shabbos*, pre-סליחות *selichos* that we're streaming, we're interviewing four guests about the state of mental health in the Orthodox community. Dr. Pelkovitz, Dr. Norman Blumenthal, Rachel Tuchman, Elisheva Liss. Four conversations separately with each of them. Where are we really at? Let's be honest with ourselves, let's get rid of that stigma, let's let's start to really tackle it. So I hope you can come here and participate in it, or watch it wherever you are. It'll be on מוצאי שבת *Motzei Shabbos*. I'll get the information out to you. But it's a really, really important topic. Tomorrow morning, 10 minutes of meaning. Living with אמונה *emunah*. ברוך השם *Baruch Hashem* there's a ברית *bris* tomorrow morning. One of the רבנים *rebbeim* in our new ישיבה *yeshiva*, Rabbi Steinmetz is making a ברית *bris*. Which means living with אמונה *emunah* is at 9:15 not 8:45. There'll be an email, but living with אמונה *emunah* is at 9:15 not 8:45. Tomorrow night behind the בימה *bima*. Eitan Katz last week. If you loved Eitan, you're gonna love his brother Shlomo Katz this week. Rabbi Shlomo Katz. So that's this week. So your schedule is full. So we'll spend a lot of time together. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
