Transcript
Okay, good morning. בוקר טוב Boker tov, welcome back to our Parsha perspectives for today, the first of the new year. It's great to be back together again in person. Our series is still sponsored by our dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש leiluy nishmas David ben Menachem Manesh. We remain very grateful to the Katz family. This morning's שיעור shiur is also sponsored anonymously for the זכות zechus to have a baby. We wish שמחות simchas and good news and good tidings to all those who are looking מירצה השם Mirtsashem to expand their, expand their family. Just a housekeeping note. We are off next week. I'm traveling for a family שמחה simcha, so we'll resume two weeks from today. There are previous שיעורים shiurim you could watch and listen to online and countless other people with better שיעורים shiurim that you could listen to online, but we'll resume אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem two weeks from today. Okay. פרשת נח Parshas Noach, page 30 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. I always feel, you know, not only metaphysically, not only spiritually, are we turning back the clock when we start again, beginning of the book. There's something special about flipping back to the beginning of the חומש Chumash. Being at the very end of דברים Dvarim and all the pages on the right side, and then all the pages are on the left side, you go back to the beginning. I don't know if there are other arenas of life or other examples or areas of life where a group of adults just keep reading the same book over and over and over again, and you keep going back. And it's so familiar. And we know what's coming, and we know how the stories end. And yet, it's as exciting as the first time you read it. Because הפוך בה והפוך בה דכולא בה hafoch ba v'hafoch ba d'kula ba. The Torah is so rich and there's so many layers of interpretation and insight that the text may be the same, but every year when we revisit it, we're different. We're different, the world is different, our lives are different, our insight is different, our wisdom is different, our life experience is different, our age is different. So there's something very exciting about going back to the beginning again and approaching the same text and seeing something else that jumps out at you, something else that's new this year. I know that when I look at מפרשים meforshim, I look at פירושים perushim, in one year that doesn't speak to me, doesn't touch me, doesn't resonate with me, not interested in sharing it. The next year, the very same insight or commentary could be like, wow, that's mind-blowing, that's incredible. That's the richness and the vastness of Torah. We should never take it for granted, we should always appreciate it.אלה תולדות נח, נח Eileh toldos Noach, Noach. נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו, את האלקים התהלך נח Noach ish tzaddik tamim hayah b'dorosav, es ha'Elokim hishalech Noach. This is our annual debate. We won't put it to a vote. Poor Noach. Poor Noach has the unenviable distinction, the name of his פרשה parsha, he as an individual every year this time, the great debate around the globe, are you a pro-Noach, anti-Noach? Is Noach a relative צדיק tzaddik, an absolute צדיק tzaddik? Are we praising Noach? Are we criticizing Noach? You know, is Noach only good for his generation relative to everyone else? You know, or is Noach even, even great objectively in any generation? Rashi, יש מרבותינו דורשים אותו לשבח Yesh meiraboseinu dorshim oso l'shvach. כל שכן שאילו היה בדור של צדיקים היה צדיק יותר Kol sheken she'ilu hayah b'dor shel tzaddikim hayah tzaddik yoser. Some say with such negative influence, such a negative surrounding, such a negative peer group, and yet nevertheless, he emerges the צדיק tzaddik. Imagine, just imagine if he had a great חבר'ה chevra. Imagine if he had great רביים rebbeim. Imagine if he came from a great family. Imagine how much greater he could have been. Or, ויש דורשים אותו לגנאי v'yesh dorshim oso l'gnai. לפי דורו היה צדיק, ואילו היה בדור של אברהם לא היה נחשב לכלום l'fi doro hayah tzaddik, v'ilu hayah b'dor shel Avraham lo hayah nechshav l'klum. Yeah, for his generation. He lived among the most corrupt, he lived among the most immoral, he lived among the most unethical. So yeah, relative to them, he was pretty good. But in Avram's generation, he was a big nothing. He was nothing special, nothing special. We've discussed this many, many times in the past, we're not going to revisit it. יש מרבותינו Yesh meiraboseinu. Notice that when it comes to those who, who extrapolate, those who analyze and understand in a form of praise, it's יש מרבותינו yesh meiraboseinu. For those, יש דורשים לגנאי yesh dorshim l'gnai, it doesn't say מרבותינו meiraboseinu. Why? Because a רבי Rebbe, a teacher, always will see the good. The fact that there are cynics who will see the bad, there are sarcastic, cynical people looking to poke a hole, to be hypercritical, to see the negative, to say, 'Ah, not so impressive.' They're honoring him at the dead, there's nobody else. Not because he's good, she's amazing, there was no one else. If there was someone else, they'd be a big גורנישט gurnisht, they'd never be honored. That's not יש מרבותינו yesh meiraboseinu. That's just יש שדורשים yesh she'dorshim. We've seen many, many different interpretations. But the question is, why would you interpret it לגנאי l'gnai if you could לשבח l'shvach? Why would you interpret negatively? Why would you approach, why would you analyze, why would you understand Noach through the prism of negativity when you could, when there is an alternative, when there is the option of interpreting positively? Why would you even consider the opposite? Why was one predisposed? Why is the default to look critically rather than to look in a praising way? The Alter of Novardok says, שלשתי הדעות נח היה צדיק תמים She'le'shtei ha'deos Noach hayah tzaddik tamim. The truth is, we tend to think one is negative, one is positive, one is critical, one is complimentary. But they're really both complimentary. Both of their conclusions are that Noach is a צדיק tzaddik from his קאפעלע kepaleh to his פיסעלעך feetselach. Noach is a big צדיק tzaddik. That's a song, I didn't make that up. Noach is a big צדיק tzaddik. So Noach is a big צדיק tzaddik. From the top of his head to the bottom of his toes, he's a big צדיק tzaddik, Noach. So both of them come to that conclusion. כל המחלוקת היא מה דקף אותו לכך kol hamachlokes hi ma dakaf oso l'kach. The whole debate is, what motivated him? What inspired him? What led to Noach being a צדיק tzaddik? The conclusion both agree is, Noach is a צדיק tzaddik. Question is why? אותם הדורשים לשבח, מפרשים שהייתה זו מבלי שום סיבה חיצונית Osam ha'dorshim l'shvach, mefarshim she'hayta zo mibli shum sibah chitzonis. Is he internally driven? Is he internally motivated? Does it come from within? Or is he externally motivated? Is it from the outside? מאידך גיסא, אותם שדורשים אותו לגנאי, סוברים שמה שדחף אותו להיות צדיק תמים, משום שראה שדורו נוהג בהשחתה Me'idach gisa, osam she'dorshim oso l'gnai, sovrim she'ma she'dachaf oso l'hiyos tzaddik tamim, mishum she'ra'ah she'doro noheg b'hashchasa, וידע שאם לא יתאמץ להיות צדיק תמים, עלול להיות מושפע מהם ולהיות כמותם. נמצא שלפי כולם, כתוב כאן שבח על נח. V'yada she'im lo yis'ametz l'hiyos tzaddik tamim, alul l'hiyos mushpa mehem v'lhiyos k'mosam. Nimtza she'lfi kulam, kasuv kan shvach al Noach. It's a whole new interpretation. Normally the annual debate ensues, שבח shvach or גנאי gnai? Pro or con? Positive or negative? Complimentary or critical? But the Alter of Novardok says, no, no, no. Both are complimentary. Everybody agrees that we are recognizing Noach's greatness, his righteousness, he's a צדיק tzaddik. So what's the debate? What's Rashi quoting two sides? The debate is, what led to it? What led to it? Is it internal or is it external? Is he motivated from himself or is he motivated by his, as a reaction, as a response to his, to his surroundings? To his surroundings. But both conclude, both conclude לשבח l'shvach. So הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu comes to Noach. Again, big discussion, אלה תולדות נח Eileh toldos Noach. What are Noach's תולדות toldos? Not just his children. שלש בנים, שם, חם ויפת Shalosh banim, Shem, Cham, v'Yafes. Before you get to his children, the פסוק pasuk reads very, very clumsily. אלה תולדות נח, נח Eileh toldos Noach, Noach. These are the offspring of Noach, Noach. So the biggest offspring of Noach is, before you get to Shem, Cham and Yafes, is, is Noach. Is Noach. Who is Noach's father? Turn back. Because the end of last week's פרשה parsha gave us the lineage. Who's Noach's father? Lemech. In Yiddish, what do you call a לא מוצלח lo mutzlach? What do you call a reject, אויסווארף oisvarf, failure, no good nick, unimpressive, reject? A למך Lemech. They called a למך Lemech. Why are they called a למך Lemech? Poor Lemech. Noach is a big צדיק tzaddik. יוסף הצדיק Yosef ha'tzaddik. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu. And poor Lemech, Noach's father, what's his legacy? That a loser is called a למך Lemech. Lemech's a loser. למך Lemech, you know, loser, okay. Go back to high school. Why, why? Why is Lemech? Where does that come from? Rav Weinfeld, שליט\"א shlita. Rav Weinfeld says, because Lemech, Lemech didn't accomplish, didn't achieve. Lemech's entire legacy is, 'I may be a nothing. I may be a גורנישט gurnisht. I leave no legacy, I have no accomplishments, I have no achievements, I've done nothing with my life.' Whose coattails does he ride? 'But do you know who my son Noach is?' So a person, a person who gives up on themselves, a person who doesn't believe that they can make a difference, a person who doesn't want to leave a legacy, who lives vicariously entirely only through their children is a למך Lemech, says Rav Weinfeld. They're a למך Lemech. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't have נחת nachas from children. Of course we hope, we pray, we work hard to be able to have children, and ultimately we דאווען daven hard to get נחת nachas from those children. My uncle, Rabbi Ilan Lazar, עליו השלום alav hashalom, had a great insight. At a ברית bris of a grandson, he said, we say at a ברית bris, זה הקטן גדול יהיה zeh hakatan gadol yihyeh. He said, no, זה הקטן גדול ממני יהיה zeh hakatan gadol mimeni yihyeh. Often parents say, I want my child to be great, I want them to do good things, but I want it to be exactly where I'm at. I come to שול shul at this time, I don't want them to come earlier than me, because then they're a religious fanatic. I don't want them to come later than me, because then they're a religious failure, what's going to be? I come late, this is exactly when they should come. I talk this much during שול shul, if they talk less, they've gone to the right. I don't know what, someone recently told me, they have a son who lives in Ramat Eshkol, said, Rabbi, he's חרדי chareidi, I don't know what to do, I checked my מזוזות mezuzos, I don't know what to do. I don't want my kid to go too far to the right, but I don't want them to go to the left from me, I want them to be exactly. So my uncle, עליו השלום alav hashalom, said, said, no, no. זה הקטן zeh hakatan, the תפילה tefillah for every parent should be, זה הקטן zeh hakatan, not just גדול יהיה gadol yihyeh, גדול ממני gadol mimeni. This child should be greater than me, smarter than me, more accomplished than me, a bigger צדיק tzaddik than me. Should know more Torah than I do, should live more righteously than I do, should be more generous than I am, should be more accomplished professionally and career than I am. That's, there's no competitiveness between a parent and child, that's our wish, that's our ambition. So Lemech, Lemech said, you know, me? Ah, I'm a nothing but do you know who my son is? Have you heard of my son? You know who my, he's a צדיק tzaddik. He was only דורש לשבח doresh l'shvach, he's a צדיק tzaddik. So a person who gives up on themselves, says Rav Weinfeld, a person who doesn't believe they could leave a legacy, who doesn't believe they can have an impact, who doesn't believe they can make a difference, who doesn't believe that they're here for a reason, a mission, and a purpose, who lives vicariously and entirely only through their children, such an individual is a למך Lemech. A למך Lemech is a loser, is an underachiever. And that's why אלה תולדות נח Eileh toldos Noach, Noach is the opposite. Noach doesn't say, do you know who my children are? Shem, Cham, and Yafes. Ooh, אוי וויי איז מיר oy vey iz mir, do you know who they are? The ישיבה yeshiva they got into? You know who they are, how much money they make a year? You know who they are, how many followers they have online? You know who they are, what kind of car they drive? No. What are the תולדות toldos of Noach? Noach. Noach. Noach says, me. I have a difference to make. I'm going to save the whole world. I'm going to build a תיבה teivah. I'm going to put everyone in it. I'm going to save the entire world. אלה תולדות נח Eileh toldos Noach, you know what is the greatest offspring and legacy of Noach? Noach. Yes, Shem, Cham and Yafes. Yes, he becomes the father of the continuity of mankind. Yes, Noach saves the world. But before you get to children and grandchildren, great grandchildren, and אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem, don't give up on oneself. 70, 80, 90, 100 years old, you could be 100 years old. Herman Wouk published his last book, I love to tell you, he was 100 years old, he published his last book. It doesn't matter what age you are, you're not done, you're a תולדות toldos yet to create. And what's his biggest תולדה toldah? אלה תולדות נח Eileh toldos Noach, Noach. And what's the תולדה toldah of Noach? צדיק tzaddik, תמים tamim, that he was a צדיק tzaddik, that he was a תמים tamim, that he was את האלקים התהלך נח es ha'Elokim hishalech Noach, that is his achievement. So the contrast between Lemech and between Noach, never stop believing in ourselves, never stop believing in our capacity, our capability, in our purpose, in our mission, in the difference that we can make. פרק ו', פסוק י\"ד Perek Vav, Pasuk Yud Daled. So השם Hashem taps him. ותשחת הארץ לפני האלקים ותמלא הארץ חמס Vatishaches ha'aretz lifnei ha'Elokim vatimalei ha'aretz chamas. Whole world is filled with חמס chamas. I always can't help but notice the irony of the political movement, terror organization, named after the very cause of the destruction of the entire world, they themselves are חמס chamas. They are chaos, they are corruption, they are ותשחת vatishaches, they are השחתה hashchasa, they are destruction. Everything had become corrupt. Here the מפרשים meforshim and חז\"ל Chazal tell us, it wasn't just humankind, mankind who were capable of a higher order, a higher purpose, higher living, the animal world became corrupt. The טבע teva itself. It says that the rain penetrated three טפחים tfachim into the earth. It had to כאילו ke'ilu wipe off a layer of the earth. The earth became corrupt? Earth doesn't make moral judgment. Earth doesn't have free will. The earth, the soil itself became corrupt that it needed to be able to remove, eliminate a layer of the earth? There was an article in the Wall Street Journal this week about how floods are good for the world. Not for the people who suffer from them. People who suffer from them, our heart goes out, but ecologically or climate perspective, scientifically, the world needs to reset and renew, and the earth and the soil require a certain cleansing. So flooding, again, we pray that flooding be victimless, that nobody be affected, but the article was all about the science of why floods are good. So that's what it was. Hashem wiped away three טפחים tfachim, a layer of earth because it needed rejuvenation, renewal, the earth needed it? No. So חז\"ל Chazal and the מפרשים meforshim explain, when humankind becomes so lost, so upside down and lost, so morally corrupt and confused, when the world is so chaotic, so all of nature is disturbed. So even though animals and vegetation, plant life, doesn't have free will and doesn't make moral judgments, they are pre-programmed by nature. When nature becomes corrupt, when nature has a virus, so every part of nature is affected and impacted. Even the animal kingdom, even the whole world. And I dread and I fear that we're seeing this and that we're living through this even in our, even in our time. Even our time. There are גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael who have said that the moral corruption that led to the destruction of the world pales in comparison to what we're living in today. And they said that before the internet and the billboards, the TV, and the images, and the icons, and the confusion that is absolutely infecting the world today. Can only imagine the מבול mabul, the flood because nature, the very definitions of nature, the very things we took for granted of the very definitions of biology and nature are becoming corrupted. They are being impacted by a virus. So הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells Noach, build a תיבה teivah and climb inside. Get inside. פסוק י\"ד Pasuk Yud Daled. עשה לך תיבת עצי גפר, קנים תעשה את התיבה, וכפרת אתה מבית ומחוץ בכפר Asei l'cha teivas atzei gofer, kinim ta'aseh es ha'teivah, v'chafarta osah mibeis umichutz ba'kofer. The פסוק pasuk says, make for yourself a תיבה teivah, an ark, out of what? עצי גופר Atzei gofer. Gopher wood. And make it with compartments and cover it with tar, cover it with pitch, make it waterproof, impenetrable. Obviously if it's going to float, if it's going to be, if it's going to be effective. If it's going to be effective. What, what's the word, which word is extra in that פסוק pasuk? I skipped. Go back to פסוק י\"א Pasuk Yud Aleph. Before we hit פסוק י\"ד Pasuk Yud Daled. פסוק י\"א Pasuk Yud Aleph. ותשחת הארץ לפני האלקים ותמלא הארץ חמס Vatishaches ha'aretz lifnei ha'Elokim vatimalei ha'aretz chamas. Back to חמס chamas. It's all about חמס chamas. Says the Alter of Kelm, I quoted the Alter of Novardok, now the Alter of Kelm. Says the Alter of Kelm, במה גדל כל כך תביעה עליהם, עדיין לא ניתנה תורה? מה מחייב אותם שלא ללכת שבי אחר יצרם? Bameh gadol kol kach t'viah aleihem, adayin lo nitna Torah? Ma mechayev osam she'lo laleches sh'vi achar yitzram? The world had become corrupt. They were making terrible moral judgment, decision, confusion, lack of clarity. But I ask the Alter of Kelm, we're looking at it through the prism and the perspective, the glasses of a world that has been gifted the blueprint of creation, the instruction manual of life called the Torah. But that generation didn't have it. How are they meant to know right from wrong? How are they meant to know top from bottom? How are they meant to know moral from immoral? Why can't you just take something from your friend? Why can't you be promiscuous with someone to whom you're not married? Why can't you all the things that they did wrong, the moral chaos they introduced, where does it say you can't? How are they meant to know? Who told them? Where does it say it? What manual? What laws guided them? Were they bound by? How did they know? We take it for granted. But how did they know? How did they know? So the Alter of Kelm says a magnificent and a critical insight. He says, חטא דור המבול היה בשיבוש הסדר chet dor ha'mabul hayah b'shibush ha'seder. Because mankind, common sense dictates, demands that the world live with order, with purpose, with respect, with boundaries. There are things that you don't have to be told. There are things that you don't have to be instructed. כל נברא בר דעת שמתבונן על הבריאה, רואה שהכל נברא בסדר מופתי עד כדי כך Kol nivra bar daas she'misbonen al ha'briah, ro'eh she'hakol nivra b'seder mofti ad kedei kach. Because if you simply look at and contemplate, analyze and understand, if you observe the world, you see its order. You see its order, you see its purpose, you see the way it was designed. שאם יתבטל חלילה הסדר, לא יוכל האדם להתקיים אפילו רגע אחת She'im yisbatel chalilah ha'seder, lo yuchal ha'adam l'hiskaiem afilu rega achas. That if you remove the boundaries and the borders, if you remove the order, we can't survive, we can't live one moment. If there is no beach, if there is no coast, ask Naples, Marco Island, and the West Coast of Florida what just happened with Hurricane Ian. When the water overrides the, the beach, what happens? Flooding, destruction, you can't survive. Catastrophe, crisis, death. That's why Hebrew it's called a חוף chof. רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya says when a man and a woman get married and they create boundaries to their life, that their relationship now is unique and singular, that they share something, an intimacy that they will not with any other, and they've drawn a strong boundary, what do they stand under? A חופה chuppah, מלשון חוף mi'lashon chof, just like the beach. Just like the beach, the חוף chof protects the land from the sea, it's a boundary. So to the חופה chuppah creates a boundary, a home that the חתן chassan and כלה kallah will live under. That's a little bonus שבע ברכות sheva brachos Torah for you. Little bonus feature. You don't even have to subscribe, you don't have to have to pay, you don't have to be a global member, little extra bonus material, שבע ברכות sheva brachos Torah. So, רבנו בחיי Rabbeinu Bachya writes, the חופה chuppah is מלשון חוף mi'lashon chof, the boundary. So the Alter of Kelm says, you don't have to be told. You don't have to be given a manual, you don't have to be given a constitution or bylaws, you should simply use your own common sense, your own logic. Look at this world and realize that it has boundaries, that it has order, and that when you remove the order and the boundaries, when you have corruption and chaos, you have destruction. כך זה במידת הקור והחום, הלחות והיובש, האש והמים. כך גם בגרמי העולם. שאם יתגלגל אחד ויפגוש עם חברו, יחרב העולם כולו. kach zeh b'midas ha'kor v'ha'chom, ha'lachos v'ha'yovesh, ha'eish v'ha'mayim. Kach gam b'garmei ha'olam. She'im yisgalgel echad v'yifgosh im chaveiro, yechrav ha'olam kulo. If it overlaps and touches and bleeds into each other, if you remove the boundaries and the order, you can't survive. You have destruction. I know I harp on this and I keep coming back to this. I'm not hung up on this, but I'm very afraid of this. We're living in a world that is increasingly trying to erase boundaries and borders between genders, between peoples, between nations, between countries. The whole EU is to say there are no distinct cultures, there are no different currencies, there are no different languages, there are no boundaries or borders. Everything, everything in every area and arena of life, there are no moral boundaries and moral borders, there are no boundaries and boundaries of modesty, of clothing, of appropriateness, of language, there are no boundaries and borders. And the Alter of Kelm says, you don't have to be told. Any person with common sense looks at the world and realizes that when you erase those and blur those, when you eliminate those, it's the end. It's the end of mankind. It's a flood. The world becomes a place that's a מבול mabul. It's a מבול mabul. By the way, the שפת אמת Sfas Emes says, so where do you go? How do you survive a מבול mabul? How do you survive a flood? Where do you go? What do you enter? תיבה Teivah. The word תיבה teivah means an ark, but the word תיבה teivah also means a word. תיבה Teivah means the תיבה של תורה teivah shel Torah. Says the שפת אמת Sfas Emes, when you immerse yourself and you protect yourself, you find refuge and you find security in the ark of Torah, the תיבה teivah of Torah. We don't have a תיבה teivah today. We don't build a large boat today. In the moral מבול mabul that is flooding and that is violating the boundaries of the world, we don't enter the תיבה teivah, the boat, the ship, we enter the תיבה של תורה teivah shel Torah, says the שפת אמת Sfas Emes. We enter the, the תיבה teivah, the ark, not the ark of a boat or a ship, the ark that's right behind me. We don't actually go into it. Someone told me an incredible story, they say it's true, about a community that a person on שמחת תורה Simchas Torah night, a man was so לעבעדיק lebedik and he drank so much, and he never came home. His wife was so worried, and the community and they had to search, they looked everywhere for him, couldn't find him. Day broke, and they went to דאווען daven in the morning of שמחת תורה Simchas Torah, ויהי בנסוע הארון u'v'hinsoa ha'aron, when they opened the ark and they found him sleeping inside the ארון קודש Aron Kodesh. I don't know if it's a true story, it's not a true story. That is not what the שפת אמת Sfas Emes meant when he said, 'Enter the ארון של תורה aron shel Torah, the ark, the תיבה teivah, the תיבה של תורה teivah shel Torah.' That is not what he meant. Called a תיבה teivah. The ark. It's the same word in English, ark. A תיבה teivah, תיבה teivah means word. The אלף-בית aleph-beis, the תיבה teivah, the ultimate, the highest words there are, is the language, the vocabulary of Torah, the ultimate and the first purpose of the אלף-בית aleph-beis is to teach Torah. That's where we enter. So the Alter of Kelm says, you don't have to be told. You see this in last week's פרשה parsha too. The conversation, we don't have time for this right now at length, Kayin and Hevel. השם Hashem says, hey Kayin, any idea where your brother Hevel might be? Have you seen Hevel recently? It's a funny conversation. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, satellites in the sky, is watching always, knows exactly where Hevel is, knows exactly what happened. Kayin, any idea where Hevel is? And what does Kayin answer? השומר אחי אנוכי? Ha'shomer achi anochi? I don't know, what am I, now I have to, I'm in charge of my brother? I have no idea, you're God. I don't know where he is. And then he says, your brother's blood is calling out to me from the ground. What's going on in this whole conversation? The כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, Kayin's answer is, where does it say I can't kill my brother? Where does it say? He was annoying. He was aggravating. Where does it say I can't kill him? When did you ever tell me that? Imagine a child beats up a sibling and then you punish the child, child says, well, one second, one second. You never told me that rule. You never told me I can't beat him up. Can't beat her up. She's annoying. She's aggravating. Where does it say? Where did you tell me this? When did you sit me down and give me these family rules? Where's the manual? Where's the guide, the handbook? When did you tell me? And that's the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, the conversation, it's beautiful, next year, פרשת בראשית Parshas Breishis, we'll take a look. It's beautiful. He says, that's what God's responding, 'Some things I don't have to tell you. Some things you should know. Common sense. It's a common sense. Your internal moral compass should guide you to what right from wrong, you don't need to be told.' Not everything you need to be told. And my friend Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz says maybe that's why חז\"ל Chazal say sometimes, sometimes the גמרא Gemara will teach a הלכה halacha and we'll say what's the פסוק pasuk? What's the מקור makor? Where do you know that from? What verse do you derive it from? And the גמרא Gemara says, למה לי קרא? סברא היא. lama li kra? svara hi. You don't need a פסוק pasuk, why? סברא svara. You don't need a פסוק pasuk. When do you need a פסוק pasuk? When you wouldn't have arrived at it without being told. But when common sense would dictate, when simple logic would get you to that destination, למה לי קרא lama li kra. Why do you need a פסוק pasuk? סברא היא svara hu. It's a סברא svara. So that inside of last week, the Alter of Kelm applies on this week. Who told the דור המבול Dor HaMabul, who told them you can't steal? Who told them you can't sleep with your neighbor's wife because you're interested? Who told them this boundary? Who said? Who says there's moral boundaries and there's order to the world? Who said? So the Alter of Kelm says, nobody needs to tell you. Common sense, logic, your internal moral compass should have led you to that conclusion. You have destruction without it. רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, the משגיח mashgiach, רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem in his דעת תורה Daas Torah, later in the beginning of במדבר Bamidbar when he talks about the דגלים degalim, the camp and the flags, and the way everything was laid out in order, he quotes this Alter of Kelm and he says the Alter of Kelm, order, we gave a whole שבת הגדול דרשה Shabbos Hagadol drasha once about it. Spoke about the סדר seder. We celebrate freedom with what? Order. Which is a bizarre way to celebrate freedom. Freedom is usually, let's party. Party means no order. We have no agenda, we have no rules, we have no boundaries. Let's just party. That's freedom. Jewish people we get together with freedom and what do we do? We sit around a table and the first thing we sing is the agenda of the evening. קדש ורחץ Kadesh u'rchatz. Imagine you go to a board meeting and you sing, old business, new business, let's approve the minutes. We're selling, we're singing the agenda of the of the board? That's freedom? The Alter of Kelm says, yeah, that's freedom. You can't have freedom without order. And רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem says about the Alter of Kelm, הסבא מקלם היה כועס אם לא העמידו את הכיסא במקומו בדיוק כמו שהיה כועס על מחלל שבת ha'saba mi'Kelm hayah ko'es im lo he'emidu es ha'kisei b'mekomo b'diyuk k'mo she'hayah ko'es al mechalel Shabbos. My children know this because it's one of my pet peeves, drives me crazy. Drives me crazy. When my kids get up from the table and the chairs are all over. I was raised, I was taught, you get up and you tuck in a chair. You push in the chair. When you leave the table, the table should look set, orderly. Not chaotic, chairs everywhere. So the Alter of Kelm would be as disappointed, he would be as vociferous in his rebuke when a chair was not pushed in as if he saw someone be מחלל שבת mechalel Shabbos. מחלל שבת mechalel Shabbos. So the cynic will say, 'Well the Alter of Kelm had OCD? What's with your hang up with the chairs? The Alter of Kelm had OCD? חלילה Chalilah. If he did, there was nothing wrong with that. No stigma, no shame, nothing wrong. Out of the shadows, our next episode on anxiety is coming out. We're going to do one on OCD, nothing wrong. But he didn't have OCD. The Alter of Kelm said order, סדר seder, is like a pearl necklace. What's more valuable on a pearl necklace? The pearls or the string? Objectively, if you go to the jeweler, the pearls are many multiples, exponentially more valuable than the string. The string costs pennies. The pearls cost a lot more than pennies. The pearls are worth a lot more. But if you don't have the string, the pearls fall on the floor, they roll everywhere, you don't have the pearls. And the Alter of Kelm said, that's the role of סדר seder in our lives. We don't worship סדר seder, order. We're not obsessed, we're not OCD with it. But rather, we see its function, its role because without סדר seder, you have nothing else. And that's what the דור המבול Dor HaMabul should have known. When you remove, when you blur, when you erase the boundaries, you have corruption, you have chaos, and ultimately you have an irrecoverable, irreversible destruction. Okay, פסוק י\"ד pasuk yud daled. Now let's fast forward. עשה לך תיבת עצי גופר asei lecha teivas atzei gofer. השם Hashem recruits Noach and he tells him, make for yourself a עצי גופר atzei gofer, make for yourself out of gopher wood a תיבה teivah. What's the word, which word is extra in that פסוק pasuk? Let's put on our thinking hats again. When we started the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur many moons ago, I think I had hair when we began, I used to try to get people to think. The מפרשים meforshim, רש״י Rashi among them, they're always answering a question. They don't offer a commentary that wasn't stimulated or provoked by a question. They just didn't have the pedagogy to formulate it in a question-answer format. So they just gave a commentary that was helping arrive at the conclusion to answer their question. But every ספורנו Sforno, אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra, רש״י Rashi, רמב״ן Ramban, whatever comment you're reading, the מלבי״ם Malbim, the כתב וקבלה Ksav V'Kabbalah, whoever you're reading, you should ask, what question are they answering? What bothered them? Or, even more basic, when you read the פרשה parsha, read it with an eye towards questioning. So, עשה לך תבת עצי גפר Asei lecha teivas atzei gofer. What word there is unnecessary, is extra? לך Lecha. לך Lecha. Excellent. Proud. A proud רבי rebbi of my תלמידים talmidim. עשה לך Asei lecha it could have just said what? עשה תבת עצי גפר Asei teivas atzei gofer. Make a תיבה teivah out of gopher wood. What is the word לך lecha? Why the word לך lecha? Why לך lecha? So רש״י Rashi says, שכדי להצלת נח היה הקב״ה יכול לנקו בדרכים רבות shekedaila hatzlas Noach haya HaKadosh Baruch Hu yachol linko b'drachim rabbos, וכל מטרת בניית התיבה הייתה בשביל שיחזרו כל הדור בתשובה V'chol matras binyas hateivah hayesa bishvil sheyachzeru kol ha'dor b'tshuva. So מדוע אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא עשה לך madua amar HaKadosh Baruch Hu asei lecha? רש״י Rashi says it took a very long time to build the תיבה teivah. And where did נח Noach build the תיבה teivah? Not in the not in the backyard where the HOA president wouldn't see it. Where did he build it? Where did he build it? On the front yard. Probably got notice after notice after notice. Your garbages weren't put back in time, and your סוכה sukkah wasn't taken down in time. And what's the deal with this ark, נח Noach? What's the deal with this תיבה teivah you're building? You didn't get approval from the architect committee. What's going on with it? What's with the what's with the תיבה teivah? So רש״י Rashi already tells us, why? Why did השם Hashem instruct נח Noach and design in such a way that it took so much time, was so public, so much fanfare, attracted so much attention, why? What did what did השם Hashem want? He wanted all the neighbors, HOA leadership and others, to stop by and say, נח Noach, what what's going on here? What's the deal? What are you working on? Oh, what am I working on? I'm glad you asked. You as far of lowlife immoral corrupt למך'ס lemechs, you guys, השם Hashem's about to destroy the world unless you turn it around, unless you get it together, unless you man up. This is it. So I'm building an ark because I'm going to survive but you're all done. And why did השם Hashem want that conversation? He wanted them to say, ooh, that doesn't sound good. What can we do about it? How can we change that? So again, for whom was the תיבה teivah? Not for נח Noach. Who was it for? The generation. His neighbors. For the surroundings. By the way, the whole world or just the region? I'll say something that might sound heretical to you. I once gave a whole שיעור shiur on this topic. Where did the flood happen? Across the entire globe or in Mesopotamia? Or in a particular region of the world, which was the inhabited civilized area of the world at the time, but not really across the entire globe. There is a debate among our commentators on this subject. Not modern commentators. About the subject. How far and wide did the did the flood actually occur? Was it the entire globe or was it regional? Maybe just ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisroel. There's a whole discussion. Just not ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisroel. The area, Mesopotamia, but not ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisroel. It's a big discussion about it. But the point is it was for נח Noach's contemporaries. It was not for him. Which just makes the question more compelling. If it wasn't for נח Noach, it was for his contemporaries, then what word is extra? לך Lecha. What do you mean for you? Build a תיבה teivah out of gopher wood לך lecha, for you. So the ספר Sefer the שדכי עליון Sidchei Elyon answers the following. He says, יתכן שנח נשלח לעורר את בני דורו לשוב בתשובה yitachein she'Noach nishlach l'orer es bnei doro lashuv b'tshuva. נח Noach was sent to awaken, to arouse his generation, his contemporaries, to do תשובה tshuva. לכן אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא עשה לך Lachein amar lo HaKadosh Baruch Hu asei lecha, שראשית לכל ישיב בעצמו אמונה ברורה בעניני שכר ועונש Sh'reishis l'kol yashiv b'atzmo emunah brurah b'inyanei schar v'onesh. Because you know what the best way to inspire others? Is to be inspired yourself. לך Lecha. Don't get up on that pedestal, don't get up in front of that podium. Don't preach to the world unless you start with yourself. לך Lecha. עשה לך Asei lecha. Begin by looking in the mirror. קשוט ואחר כך קשוט לאחרים Kshot v'achrei kach kshot l'acheirim. First begin by criticizing ourselves, self-awareness, self-improvement. The greatest way to inspire others is inspire yourself. Inspire yourself to inspire others. So עשה לך asei lecha. It's true that the reason, the goal was to inspire the contemporaries. Methodology, the best way to inspire others was, עשה לך asei lecha. Be on fire yourself. When you're on fire, it'll spread, it'll become contagious, and you can light the fire of others. This new set of ספרים sfarim that I really enjoy. I think משפחה Mishpacha or עמי Ami, somebody over סוכות Sukkos had a feature on the author. אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pilos HaTorah. I don't get any royalties. רב זאב ציכערמאן Rav Zev Zicherman. He's a big גביר gvir, חסידישע איד chasidishe yid, who's a very, very successful, very wealthy businessman, philanthropist, a גביר gvir, who also is a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. And he used to research fascinating things on the פרשה parsha. I was encouraged by גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisroel to combine them and put them out in ספרים sfarim. And he did. אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pilos HaTorah. It's fantastic stuff, fun stuff. He says on this פסוק pasuk, עשה לך תבת עצי גפר Asei lecha teivas atzei gofer, he says the following. בספר מנחת שמואל B'sefer Mincha Shmuel. Who is the מנחת שמואל Mincha Shmuel? רב שמואל פלורנטין Rav Shmuel Plorinten, who was the אב בית דין Av Beis Din of Soloniki. Born in Salonika. He tells the whole in the footnotes he gives a biography of each of these obscure, fascinating people he digs up. So the מנחת שמואל Mincha Shmuel, I never heard of the מנחת שמואל Mincha Shmuel, on our פרשת נח parsha Noach says, דבר נפלא davar nifla. שכאשר נח עשה תיבה כך עשה אדם אחר תיבה אחרת כמוה She'k'asher Noach asa teivah, kach asa adam acher teivah acheres k'mosah. נח Noach had a copycat. נח Noach had a copycat. He did not register, he did not copyright his תיבה teivah. So what happened to the other guy? There was someone who watched and listened. There was someone who said, you know what? I'm going to hedge myself. He's threatening there's going to be a flood. He's building a תיבה teivah saying he and his people will survive unless our generation turns it around. You know what? I don't have to turn it around. I'm just going to build my own תיבה teivah. So what happened to him? נטבל במבול Nitbal ba'mabul. His boat sunk in the מבול mabul. And that's what it says, וישאר אך נח vayisha'er ach Noach. Later פרק ז׳ פסוק כ״ג Perek Zayin, Pasuk Chaf Gimmel. פרק ז׳ פסוק כ״ג Perek Zayin, Pasuk Chaf Gimmel, the Torah says, וימח את כל היקום Vayimach es kol hayekum, God erased all of the everything on the face אשר על פני האדמה asher al pnei ha'adamah, מאדם עד בהמה עד רמש ועד עוף השמים mei'adam ad behemah, ad remes v'ad of hashamayim, וימחו מן הארץ Vayimachu min ha'aretz. It was all eliminated, wiped out. וישאר אך נח ואשר אתו בתיבה Vayisha'er ach Noach v'asher ito ba'teivah. Only נח Noach survived, and those with him. אך Ach. אך Ach always comes to exclude. What is it coming to exclude? So the מנחת שמואל Mincha Shmuel says that אדם השני שגם כן עשה תיבה נטבע בים adam hasheini she'gam kein asa teivah nitba ba'yam. That we should know in the storyline that there was someone else who built an ark, but he drowned. He didn't make it. He didn't make it. You see from here, שכבר נודע בימיהם חכמה זו של בניית אוניות לשוט על פני המים shekvar noda b'yemeihem chachma zu shel binyas oniyos lashut al pnei hamayim. נח Noach was not the first to build a ship. Ships already existed in the days of נח Noach. As we see, שלשת המלאכים אל אברהם אבינו shloshes hamalachim el Avraham Avinu, מנהיג ספינה manhig sfinah, one of them was a captain of a ship. You see already in the time of אברם Avram. Again, it's a fascinating. Historically, when were ships invented? When did sailing begin? Mankind is born on the earth. Who was the first who said, let's build something and test if it floats and travel with it somewhere? Who was the first? When did that start? Where did that come from? Already in the generation of נח Noach it happened. ספינה Sfinah, אוניה oniyah, first time we find them in תנ״ך Tanach is in what book? Not תיבה teivah, but ספינה sfinah or אוניה oniyah. What book? יונה Yonah. יונה Yonah. Again, wow, what תלמידים talmidim. The book of יונה Yonah. ביונה יורד ליכטיה, ספינה B'Yonah yoreid l'yachtiya, sfinah. במדרש say אוניה לתרשיש B'Midrash say oniyah l'Tarshish. So we see it there. We see it there. Anyway, again, he goes on and on, really fascinating stuff that he has here. But there was somebody else, a copycat, who tried to, there's always a ripoff. There's always the ripoff. It's probably from China the תיבה teivah. It's a lot cheaper, but you see what happens when you buy from China and you don't pay the real cost, what happens? Boat fell apart. Didn't make it. No offense, China, if you're listening from China. Sorry. Please forgive me.פרק ז׳ פסוק ז׳ Perek Zayin, Pasuk Zayin. פרק ז׳ פסוק ז׳ Perek Zayin, Pasuk Zayin. Let's go, we're going to go speed round a little bit. So many more דברי תורה divrei Torah to share here. פרק ז׳ פסוק ז׳ Perek Zayin, Pasuk Zayin. The final call. What happened? ויבא נח ובניו ואשתו ונשי בניו אתו אל התיבה Vayavo Noach, u'vanav v'ishto u'neshei vanav ito el hateivah. נח Noach and his sons and his wife and his daughters-in-law come into the תיבה teivah, מפני מי המבול mipnei mei ha'mabul. Why do they enter the תיבה teivah? Because of the flood. What does that mean? They entered because of the flood. What was the alternative why they enter? Again, you got to read the text with an eye towards critical thinking, asking questions. Why does the תורה Torah go out of its way to tell us that when it was time to enter the תיבה teivah, נח Noach entered and he entered why? Because of the water, the rain, the flood. What could it have said? Why else could he have entered? Because God told them. Build the תיבה teivah and get inside. That's the reason. So רש״י Rashi, again, who was clearly bothered by this question, רש״י Rashi says, אף נח מקטני אמנה היה af Noach mei'katnei emunah hayah. You see from here that נח Noach, נח Noach was diminished in his אמונה emunah, in his faith. מאמין ואינו מאמין Ma'amin v'eino ma'amin. He believed God, he built the תיבה teivah after all. He was a צדיק tzaddik from his קאפל kapel to his ציצית tzitzis. He was תמים tomim. Yet he's אינו מאמין eino ma'amin שיבוא המבול ולא נכנס לתיבה עד שדחקוהו המים she'yavo ha'mabul v'lo nichnas la'teivah ad she'dachakuhu ha'mayim. On the other hand, he was not a believer because the only thing that actually got him got him into that תיבה teivah was what? When the rain began to fall. So what does that mean? How could it be? רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein. רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein the מנהל menahel of תורה אור Torah Or, the ספר האורות sefer Ha'Oras, he says, there's a story. This doesn't appear in the ספר sefer, it appears in this other ספר sefer שדכי עליון Sidchei Elyon that a תלמיד talmid once entered, a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham once came to him and asked him for חיזוק chizuk. So the משגיח mashgiach, רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein, said, how's your אמונה emunah? So this תלמיד חכם talmid chacham was insulted. I know גאַנץ ש״ס gan Shas. I'm a big תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. You're asking me about my אמונה emunah? What am I like, first year בית מדרש Beis Midrash, a seminary girl? What am I in middle school, you're asking me if I have faith, my אמונה emunah? I'm a big time תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. What are you asking me? So you have a הוה אמינא havamina, I don't have אמונה emunah? So רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein answered him. He said, if you look in חומש בראשית Chumash Breishis, you'll see. נח Noach, the same person the תורה Torah called a צדיק tzaddik and a תמים tamim, also said מקטני אמנה mei'katnei emunah, מאמין ואינו מאמין ma'amin v'eino ma'amin. You see you could be a big צדיק tzaddik, you could be a תמים tamim, you could be a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham, but אמונה emunah is so difficult. It's easy to have אמונה emunah in the abstract, in theory, conceptually. It's easy to have אמונה emunah and to say, yeah, of course I believe. You're challenged, they take a census, you believe in God? Absolutely. I have faith. Part of the faith community. I'm a believer. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem, חסדי השם chasdei Hashem, בעזרת השם b'ezras Hashem. Please God, thank God, every formulation you could think of, absolutely, I'm a believer. Okay. Then what happens when your neighbor has something that you want, you get envious? Where's your אמונה emunah? What happens when you have a crisis, a challenge? Do you believe that God is navigating? He may be closing a door, he's opening another. What happened to your אמונה emunah? Where is the אמונה emunah when a competitor opens up and you get ruthless and cutthroat? What happened to your אמונה emunah that השם Hashem is the one who provides? Your child is in the world of שידוכים shidduchim. The area that we're supposed to have the most אמונה emunah than any other. The גאון Gra writes, the גאון Gra writes, it's so backwards and paradoxical, upside down. You know, all of life, we're supposed to do השתדלות hishtadlus and not rely on the faith in השם Hashem. But השם Hashem is מזווג זיווגים mezaveg zivugim since מעשה בראשית maaseh breishis, what's השם Hashem busy doing? Making matches. So when it comes to minimize the השתדלות hishtadlus, the initiative, get out of the way and let השם Hashem make the שידוכים shidduchim. And what do we do? We do exactly the opposite. When it comes to פרנסה parnasah and work and life, we say, yeah, השם Hashem should provide. And then when it comes to שידוכים shidduchim, over-initiative, excessive initiative we take. It's backwards. So you see from here says רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein from פרשת נח Parshas Noach, the fact that that חז״ל Chazal call him מקטני אמנה mei'katnei emunah. You could be a צדיק tzaddik, you could be a תמים tamim, you could be a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham. And אמונה emunah is hard. When push comes to shove, when the rubber meets the road, when you're running late, your flight's canceled, or the competitor opened, or the שידוך shidduch's taking a long time, where's your אמונה emunah then? Do you have אמונה emunah? Or are you מקטני אמנה mei'katnei emunah? It's hard to have אמונה emunah. It's hard to have אמונה emunah. רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein says you see this elsewhere. Who's the father of our people? אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu holds אברם Avram accountable because of a question that אברם Avram asked. Held us accountable. Two hundred and ten years in Egypt in slavery, having to clean for פסח Pesach every year is our punishment because אברם אבינו Avram Avinu said two words. What were the two words? Come on תלמידים talmidim. What were the two words? God said, I promise about a future and a people and a continuity. And אברם Avram looks at him and he says, במה אדע bameh eida? How will I know? How can I believe? How do I know? השם Hashem says, oh boy. Seriously? במה אדע Bameh eida? Seriously? נח Noach, get in the תיבה teivah. Not until it starts to rain. Seriously? השם Hashem looks down here and says to us, I'm so in your life. I'm so present, I'm so obvious. And when you don't see me, השם Hashem goes, seriously? Seriously, you don't see me? So we today is ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh. A גוטן חודש gutten chodesh by the way. Today is ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh. So what do we say in הלל Hallel? We say, האמנתי כי אדבר he'emanti ki adaber. So צדיקים tzaddikim say, how do we grow in our אמונה emunah? האמנתי כי אדבר He'emanti ki adaber. We got to talk about אמונה emunah, talk about השם Hashem, feel השם Hashem, see השם Hashem, talk to השם Hashem, thank השם Hashem. האמנתי He'emanti, when will we grow with our אמונה emunah? כי אדבר ki adaber. So says רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein, a נח Noach and an אברם Avram, even they, a צדיק tzaddik, a תמים tamim, אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu could also, could also be קטני אמנה katnei emunah. You see how challenging it is to maintain and to live with a great and profound sense of אמונה emunah. קדושת לוי Kedushas Levi, רבי לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak, I've told you this before, מקטני אמנה mei'katnei emunah says it's not that נח Noach didn't have אמונה emunah in השם Hashem. In whom did נח Noach not have אמונה emunah? In himself. And that's why he got up in that ark and he pulled away, but he never stood up and really proclaimed. He didn't realize one person can change the world and save the world. Right, that's the contrast. אברם Avram gets up on a soapbox, he changes the world. נח Noach retreats into a תיבה teivah, he saves himself. He didn't have אמונה emunah in himself. He didn't believe in his ability to change the world, to save the world, not only to save himself.פרק ז׳ פסוק ט״ז Perek Zayin, Pasuk Tes Zayin. פרק ז׳ פסוק ט״ז Perek Zayin, Pasuk Tes Zayin. Page 34. והבאים זכר ונקבה מכל בשר באו כאשר צוה אתו אלהים V'haba'im zachar u'nekeivah mi'kol basar ba'u ka'asher tziva oso Elokim. ויסגר השם בעדו Vayisgor Hashem ba'ado. I never noticed these words till this year. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed to say. They came, male and female. השם Hashem commanded them. They all came into the boat. Who closed the door of the ark? Who closed the door? ויסגר השם בעדו Vayisgor Hashem ba'ado. השם Hashem closed the door. Why? What's going on? ברוך אתה ה׳ אלהינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihiyeh b'dvaro. אמן Amein. השם Hashem closed the door. Why did השם Hashem close the door? Do you ever notice this פסוק pasuk before? השם Hashem closed the door. Why didn't he want to close it? Did it have to do with the אמונה emunah, קטני אמנה katnei emunah? Is this really going to happen, this flood? I don't want to close the door. I don't want to believe it. I don't want to close the door on the world the way I know it now. Beautiful. Absolutely possible. Possible. So the חזקוני Chizkuni, חזקוני Chizkuni says דבר נפלא davar nifla. חזקוני Chizkuni says that השם Hashem tells him I want you to put two of each non-כשר kosher animal, seven of each כשר kosher animal, male and female. You need to have enough to be able to bring קרבנות karbanos and for the for them to promulgate, repopulate the world. Two of each species, each animal. חזקוני Chizkuni says, and then השם Hashem sends them to the תיבה teivah. נח Noach standing on top of the ramp, they're coming 2x2, 7x7. He's registering them in, checking them off. It's like a cruise, you know, they got to wear their badge, don't forget your ID. They're all checking in. Go find your life raft. They're all checking in. Did you order the כשר kosher? They're all checking in. And נח Noach says, I don't know when to close the door. Why? Why? How does he know when he's done? How does he know if there are not more animals to come? says the חזקוני Chizkuni. Again, this story is telling you before the way we started, could read the same פרשה parsha every year, there's a פסוק pasuk that you've read the פרשה parsha for how many decades, you never noticed. ויסגר השם בעדו Vayisgor Hashem ba'ado. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu closed the door בעדו ba'ado, on his behalf. Why? Says the חזקוני Chizkuni, לא יכיר את כל מיני בריות lo yamakir es kol minei brios, he didn't recognize all the species of creation. לא ידע נח מתי לסגור את דלת התיבה lo yeda Noach masai lisgor es deles hateivah, he didn't know when to close the door. ולכן כאשר באו כל הבריות כולם לתוך התיבה נסגרה הדלת מאליה על ידי הרוח V'lachein ka'asher ba'u kol habrios kulam l'soch hateivah, nisgarah hadeles mei'eileha al yedei haruach. By the way, how did השם Hashem close the door? ויסגר השם Vayisgor Hashem. That's worth a miracle, closing the door? That's worth his coming down? While we're on the subject of my pet peeves, when you have children who are growing up, every time you go to sleep before them I say, whoever is the last one to go to sleep, turn off the lights and lock the door. When I wake up and the door's unlocked and every light is on, whatever. אלטער פון קעלם Alter of Kelm. I, who was the אלטער פון קעלם Alter of Kelm to raise my children. Anyway, so the door is closed. How did how did השם Hashem close the door? ויסגר השם בעדו Vayisgor Hashem ba'ado. He closed it on his behalf. Why? Says the חזקוני Chizkuni, נח Noach didn't know when when all the animals were in. How did he close it? על ידי הרוח Al yedei haruach. The wind. A wind could close a door, a wind could open a door. That's how he did it. Says the חזקוני Chizkuni, that is what's going on.Now, the flood recinds, finishes, פרק ח׳ פסוק ח׳ Perek Ches, Pasuk Ches. Moving right along. וישלח את היונה מאתו לראות הקלו המים מעל פני האדמה Vayishalach es hayonah me'ito liros hakalu hamayim mei'al pnei ha'adamah. Flood is over and נח Noach wants to know, how are we doing? How does he find out? He sends out a יונה yonah. A יונה yonah. Why did he send a יונה yonah? Why did he send sorry, the עורב orev and the יונה yonah, both of them. What made נח Noach go into the תיבה teivah? The rain. But aside from the rain, why did he build the תיבה teivah? Who has been guiding him all along, telling him exactly what to do? השם Hashem. So why didn't he wait for השם Hashem to say, you're good to go, we've landed. Another joke they have, when the plane lands, to those who are still seated, Merry Christmas, to those standing in the aisles, happy חנוכה Chanukah. Everybody that plane lands, everyone waits for the ding, they time, can I be the first? As if they're going to get off any faster. As if it's going to help them get their stuff off the out of the overhead. Everybody's in such a rush to disembark. And you've heard my routine about the miracle, 70 wheelchairs lining up to get on the plane. The miracle in the sky, the same people who needed the wheelchair to get on the plane, JetBlue, you land in JFK, they're running like no tomorrow, off the plane, who needs a wheelchair. There's a שמאָרג shmorg somewhere waiting for me. I got to get to the buffet, the early bird, I'm in, I got to go. Okay, you heard that routine. So everybody wants to disembark. So the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, he's got the loudspeaker. He's the one who said buckle up, we're about to take off on the on the on the ark, it's about to be a flood. He's the one who says we've landed. Don't get up till you hear the ding, till the captain says we're safely at the gate, yada yada yada. Don't get up yet. So why is נח Noach preemptively, prematurely sending out the עורב orev, the יונה yonah? What's he doing? What's he doing? All of a sudden he's not listening and waiting for the captain? What's he doing? And by the way, the captain ultimately says it. When does השם Hashem say it? We're going to see that פסוק pasuk in a moment. השם Hashem says, צא מן התיבה tzei min hateivah. It's time to disembark, time to get off. So why is he sending them out on some scouting mission? So back to רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein. This is in a ספר האורות sefer Ha'Oras. רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein says the following. נח Noach knew he was the יחיד שנשאר מכל הבריאה yachid she'nishar mi'kol ha'bria, he's the only one who survived of all of creation, above humanity. He knew he had a תפקיד tafkid. He had a great goal and a mission right now to repopulate the world, to build the world anew, to start it from scratch, to build it correctly to last. So he waited and he longed and he looked forward and he wanted. And when a person feels a mission, when a person feels a sense of purpose and a sense of mission, they don't wait for instructions. They're ready to go. צמאה לך נפשי כמה לך בשרי Tzam'ah l'cha nafshi, kamah l'cha b'sari. Says רב זייד אפשטיין Rav Zaid L'Epstein, this was a reflection of his thirst, of his yearning. You're right. If you're just like, I'm going somewhere, I'm waiting, I'll do what I'm told, I'll follow. But if you are the lone survivor, the designated survivor, if you are tasked with the mission and the purpose to save the world, then you don't wait. You're eager, you're running, you're looking, you're scouting, you're planning, you're getting ready to be able to, you're getting ready to be able to go.What happens? The יונה yonah comes back. פסוק י״א Pasuk Yud Aleph. והנה V'hinei, I'll turn the page 38. ותבא אליו היונה לעת ערב והנה עלה זית טרף בפיה V'tavo eilav hayonah l'eis erev, v'hinei aleh zayis taraf b'fiah. וידע נח כי קלו המים מעל הארץ V'yeda Noach ki kalu hamayim mei'al ha'aretz. The יונה yonah comes back in the evening and the יונה yonah has an olive leaf in its bill. It's holding an olive leaf in its mouth. And נח Noach knew the waters had subsided enough that the יונה yonah, the dove, now had access to this olive branch. רש״י Rashi says, אמרה יונה לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא amrah yonah lifnei HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This was no ordinary dove. This dove had a message for God. The dove says to השם Hashem, רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, מוטב יהיו מזונותי מרורין כזית ומסורין בידך ולא יהיו מתוקין כדבש ומסורין ליד בשר ודם mutav yihyu mezonosai merurin k'zayis u'mesurin b'yadecha v'lo yihyu mesukin kidvash u'mesurin l'yad basar v'dam. This this יונה yonah comes back and says, ah, גוואלדיק gevaldik, געשמאַק geshmak, olive branch. Is an olive branch sweet, tasty, delicious? What does an olive branch taste like? It's bitter. It's wood. It's bitter, it's wood. As opposed to, what was the dove fed in the תיבה teivah? Sweets, something delicious. So the dove comes back, dove says to רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, you know what? I'd rather eat something bitter that comes directly from your hand, God, than eat something sweet that has to be fed to me by a man. I'd rather be sustained and nourished, I'd rather come from you than have to live from man. Said רבי יחזקאל סרנא Reb Yechezkel Sarna. Said the great משגיח של חברון mashgiach of Chevron. Said the following. נח Noach gets smacked twice in the תיבה teivah. In the מבול mabul story, פרשת נח Parshas Noach, נח Noach takes it on the chin twice. He gets smacked twice. When was the first time? The פסוק pasuk that says וישאר אך נח vayisha'er ach Noach. When חז״ל Chazal say, the lion. We know the lion kicked him. נח Noach took one on the chin. He got hit hard. When is the second time? When the יונה yonah says to God, I'd rather be fed something bitter for you than even something sweet and delicious by that guy נח Noach. נח Noach took it on the chin once physically and once emotionally. Which one was more painful? Which one was harder to heal, hear? The bullying. Number two was harder. שכך שנה שלמה עסק נח במסירות נפש She'kein shanah shleimah asak Noach b'mesirus nefesh. A whole year, he's working, he's providing, he's feeding, he's cleaning. And after all that, the יונה yonah who saw ungrateful says I'd rather be fed something bitter from you השם Hashem, than something sweet from him. זאת המכה כואבת יותר Zois ha'makkah ko'eves yoseir. That hurt even more. Says the משגיח mashgiach, says רבי יחזקאל Reb Yechezkel, ההרגל שהוא מרות שגרת החיים משכיח מאיתנו את האמת הפשוטה זו ha'hergel she'marus shigras hachayim, mashkiach meitanu es ha'emes ha'pshutah zu. מיום ליום אנו מקבלים מזונותינו וכל צרכינו ברחמים וחסדים אין סופיים מהקדוש ברוך הוא Mi'yom l'yom anu mekablim mezonoseinu v'chol tzracheinu b'rachamim v'chasadim ein sofiim mei'HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Every day השם Hashem feeds us. Every day he provides for us. Every day he's so good for us. And we forget. We forget to have that הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov and to thank him. We forget where it really comes from. We forget to acknowledge him as the as the source. השם Hashem says, צא מן התיבה tzei min hateivah, when they arrive on the water sins, he says, leave the ark. Why does he say צא מן התיבה tzei min hateivah when it's time to go? זוהר Zohar says when when נח Noach left the תיבה teivah and he saw the whole world destroyed, he began to cry. So the זוהר Zohar, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu looked at him and he said, רועה שוטה ro'eh shotah, you foolish shepherd. Why are you crying now? You should have cried all the years you were building it. You should have cried the whole time that there was the impending doom destruction. Now you cry when you come out and you see the aftermath? Now you're crying when you see the consequence? When נח Noach understood that he made a mistake, what did he do, says the זוהר Zohar? That's when he offered the קרבנות karbanos. That's when he offered the קרבנות karbanos to השם Hashem as for forgiveness, as atonement. מקטני אמנה Mei'katnei emunah, רבי לוי יצחק Reb Levi Yitzchak, from the failure to believe in himself and the failure to believe that he could have saved the world, that's when he has to bring these קרבנות karbanos of atonement. Says רב נתן Rav Nosson, נחמן Nachman's great תלמיד talmid, ליקוטי הלכות שבת ז׳ סימן א׳ Likkutei Halachos Shabbas Zayin Siman Aleph, that unlike אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu and other נביאים nevi'im who דאַוון daven hard on behalf of everyone else and were able to nullify the decree, even though נח Noach was a צדיק tzaddik and a תמים tamim, he had one פגם p'gam. And what was his פגם p'gam? He didn't know how to inspire others. He didn't know how to inspire others. He knew how to arrive to be worthy of being called a צדיק tzaddik and a תמים tamim himself, but to take that inspiration and share it with others, to be able to lift and enrich others, to be able to lower himself to the level of others. He lived in an ivory tower. He lived in retreat, secluded in the refuge of the righteous. But an ability to live among, to interact with the wicked, to not be impacted by them but have them be impacted by you, נח Noach didn't have that. He didn't have that. He didn't have that ability. And that says רב נחמן Rav Nachman, through his תלמיד talmid רב נתן Reb Nosson says, that's why נח Noach now needed this ציווי tzivui. צא מן התיבה Tzei min hateivah. The whole reason you got into this mess to begin with was you were living in hiding, you were safe and secure in an ivory tower. You just cared about yourself, my continuity, my future, my well-being. צא מן התיבה Tzei min hateivah. Get out of this ivory tower and now go interact with the world and elevate it and enrich it and transform it and change it. And that rings in our ears until today. Our area here in Boca Raton is 140,000 Jews in Boca, it's a quarter of a million Jews in Palm Beach County, over 92% are unaffiliated. גאָרנישט Gornisht, nothing, נאַדאַ nada. Affiliated was measured if you work out at the JCC, you were affiliated, and yet 92% are unaffiliated. There are hundreds of thousands of Jews all over. צא מן התיבה Tzei min hateivah. Get off Montoya Circle. צא מן התיבה Tzei min hateivah, get out of Century Village. When someone when somebody bagles you at the supermarket, we have a responsibility. צא מן התיבה Tzei min hateivah. נח Noach, the world was destroyed because he was hiding in that ivory tower. He said, you know what? This is a פרום frum environment for me, for my family. I'm good to go. I've got a תיבה teivah, while the world was drowning around him. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says of נתן Nosson, says רב נחמן Reb Nachman, what a beautiful רב נחמן Reb Nachman. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says at the end of it all, how do I know if you learned that lesson? צא מן התיבה Tzei min hateivah. Get out of that protective environment. Of course, we create protective environments for our family, for our community, we have to have standards, we have to have safety, but we also have to have an eye to a mission, how we're going to transform the world. How are we going to make a difference? How are we going to move that needle on intermarriage and assimilation? How are we going to make a difference? We have an obligation, we have a responsibility. We have to. We have to.One more. Two more. We're running out of time. Story of my life. That's what's going to be on my tombstone. He ran out of time. After 120. It would be pretty accurate. He ran out of, he was always running out of time. והיה ב׳ פרק ט׳ פסוק י״ד V'hayah ba Perek Tes, Pasuk Yud Daled. פרק ט׳ פסוק י״ד Perek Tes, Pasuk Yud Daled, middle of page 42. והיה בענני ענן על הארץ ונראתה הקשת בענן V'haya b'anani anan al ha'aretz, v'nirehsa ha'keshes ba'anan. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu makes a deal and he says, a rainbow. When I really want to destroy the world, רש״י Rashi quotes, כשיעלה במחשבותי להביא חושך ki shetalev b'machshavosi l'havi choshech. חושך choshech. ובעבדן עולם U've'avdan olam, when you, למך'ס Lemechs, when you losers, when you ungrateful, עוסקים oiskim, reject, immoral, corrupt, no boundary people, when I want to destroy a world again, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to look at that rainbow and remember my commitment, our covenant, my promise, not to do that again.Wonders Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, the great שיחות מוסר Sichos Mussar, says Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu needs a rainbow to remember? He's the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam. He's the omnipotent, infinite God. He needs a rainbow to remember? Says Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, no, he does not need a rainbow to remember. So why do we have the whole rainbow? Why do we have the whole phenomenon? Why do we have the whole sign and symbol? Why do we have the whole reminder for השם Hashem? You know why? הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu was leading by example. In a moment of התעוררות hisorerus, in a moment of inspiration, you need to do something. You need to do something that will transform you. It needs to be recorded in a meaningful way. You need to do something that will have an impact, that will make a difference. He didn't need the rainbow to remember never to destroy the world again. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says in this moment where I feel inspired, כביכול kiviyachol, I feel inspired and motivated and aroused to make a promise and a pledge never to do it again, that needs to be captured in some meaningful way. And we too, you come off a ימים נוראים Yamim Noraim, inspired and aroused and on fire. Great. How are you capturing it? What are you changing about it? You're going to hang something different on the walls of your house? Home screen of your phone or your laptop? Taking on a קבלה kabbalah of a new practice? And say, what do I have to? I was so inspired by ימים נוראים Yamim Noraim. Surely that will last through the year. Surely it won't. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu was trying to inspire us by example. That when you're inspired, when you're aroused, when you see, when there is something, be moved to make a difference with it.Last thing, we don't have time for it so I won't really tell you. My favorite new ספר sefer, אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah has a whole discussion that ויהי כל הארץ שפה אחת ודברים אחדים vayehi chol ha'aretz safah achas u'dvarim achadim. The דור הפלגה Dor Haflagah, the generation that built that tower, at the time all spoke one language. Then they were dispersed all over and we were cursed with the United Nations. So that one language, been a curse on humanity ever since. What was the language they spoke? What language, they spoke one language. What language did they speak?They spoke, what was that language? The גמרא'ס a מחלוקת in מגילה Gemara's a machlokes in Megillah. רבי אליעזר רבי יוחנן Rabbi Eliezer Rabbi Yochanan. They all spoke 70 languages, so it means that they all were fluent in every language. So one language, meaning they were all fluent, but it was 70 languages. Or no, maybe it was, maybe it was a different language, maybe it was לשון הקודש Lashon HaKodesh. It was Hebrew. לשון הקודש Lashon HaKodesh. We spoke last שבת Shabbos about the snake and חוה Chava. What language the מדרש Midrash says, לשון lashon, the snake spoke לשון הקודש Lashon HaKodesh. My daughter-in-law said no, the snake, חוה Chava spoke snake. What did they speak? But I'll tell you something amazing. The יעב״ץ Yavetz in the ספר sefer מגדל עוז Migdal Oz, he quotes here in this אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pelaos HaTorah, says about לשון הקודש Lashon HaKodesh, how did the whole world speak לשון הקודש Lashon HaKodesh, Hebrew? How? He says something amazing. He says, אם יגדל ילד ולא ישמע לשונות אחרים מעודו im yigdal yeled v'lo yishma leshonos acherim me'odo. Let's say a child grew up. Drop a child in a jungle, they grow up not hearing any other language. They're not taught any language in school, not through osmosis by hearing others speak it. Does a child intuit a language? What language do they have in conversation in their own head? We spoke on שבת שובה Shabbos Shuvah. We exchange four million words a day in our own head. We talk to ourselves four million words a day. Are the conversations in our own head. So a child who never was exposed to any other language, what language do they speak to themselves in their own head? Do they intuit? Is there a default language that everyone is pre-programmed to know to speak? Says the יעב״ץ Yavetz, יתחיל לדבר לשון הקודש מעצמו בלי לימוד כלל yaschil l'daber Lashon HaKodesh me'atzmo b'li limud klal. זהו מחמת שהיא לשונו המוטבע בו zehu machmas shehi leshono hamutba bo. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu created man that we instinctively, intuitively, we naturally have the ability, the knowledge to speak Hebrew. Okay, so I don't know what happens after that. The רמב״ם Rambam maybe says similarly. It's a fascinating insight. Again he has מראי מקומות marei mekomos on this but we are out of time. We're off next week. We resume in two weeks. We're off tomorrow morning, but we do have Behind the Bima tomorrow night with the great Rabbi David Fohrman of אלף ביתא Aleph Beta. He's amazing. אלף ביתא Aleph Beta, his Torah is fantastic. If you like the פרשה parsha, and you do because you're here, you got to check out אלף ביתא Aleph Beta. Tonight, I hope everybody's going to join us. Tonight in Hollywood, Rav Schechter, Rav Amar, ספרדי Sefardi chief rabbi of Israel, former ספרדי Sefardi chief rabbi, incredible event tonight. Here's the best part, you ready? If that doesn't get you, Rav Schechter, Rav Amar, גדולי ישראל Gedolei Yisrael. Three magic words: Free buffet dinner. There's a free buffet dinner, music, dancing, גדולי ישראל Gedolei Yisrael, celebrating סמיכת חבר smichas chaver, incredible Torah event. I hope you'll all be there tonight. Details on the back page of the weekly you can get in the lobby. Till next time, stay happy, stay healthy.
