Transcript
Okay, good morning, everyone. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. So glad and grateful and excited to be resuming our learning together of the Parsha. This morning we have the privilege of learning together Parshas Vayera. Page 78 in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash. As always, we begin with our attitude of gratitude. Tremendous thanks to our series sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family, in memory of Becky's father, לעלוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנוש l'iluy nishmas David ben Menachem Manush, David Grossman. This morning's שיעור shiur is also sponsored by Eric Froman in commemoration of the יארצייט yahrzeit of Harold Dubow, צבי הירש בן יונה דוב Tzvi Hirsch ben Yona Dov, the 15th of חשוון Cheshvan. Anonymously in honor of the יארצייט yahrzeit of יצחק בן חיים צבי Yitzchak ben Chaim Tzvi and מינדל בת יצחק Mindel bas Yitzchak. And by Elaine Trachtenberg, Audrey and Alan Lieberman, דבורה וחיים לייב קאץ Devorah v'Chaim Leibkowitz, in memory of their husband, father, and grandfather, our dear and beloved member, someone who was a pillar of our community, did so much for us, Dr. Howard Trachtenberg, who is sorely missed, חיים צבי הירש בן בנימין Chaim Tzvi Hirsch ben Binyamin, on his יארצייט yahrzeit, the 19th of חשוון Cheshvan. All their נשמות neshamos should have an עלייה aliyah. Tremendous thank you to all of those sponsors. One last housekeeping note before we dive into the Parsha together. We've started a new WhatsApp group for the Parsha Perspectives. So for those who want to be on to know the schedule, when a שיעור shiur is on or off, for the Parsha Perspective printout, the write-up that you could print for your Shabbos table, bonus material, extra דברי תורה divrei Torah, you could take out your phone right now, or remember to do it later, and go to rabbiephraimgoldberg.org/whatsapp. Rabbiephraimgoldberg.org/whatsapp, and there are the links to join each of the WhatsApp group for every שיעור shiur I give because each group, each שיעור shiur will have a WhatsApp group, we'll post bonus material, some of the sources, keep up to date about the שיעור shiur, whether it's on or off and where, and where you can find it online. So if you'd like to access all of that, go to rabbiephraimgoldberg.org/whatsapp and you can find it all right there. Okay, with that, let's dive into the Parsha. Page 78, as I said, in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash. ויֵרָא אליו ה' באלוני ממרא והוא ישב פתח האהל כחם היום Vayera eilav Hashem b'eilonei Mamre, v'hu yoshev pesach ha'ohel k'chom hayom. The sun is out, high in the sky. Avraham Avinu is sitting outside nonetheless. The thought of not doing חסד chesed, for Avraham, the idea of living a self-centered, egocentric life, of being focused only on himself and his happiness, is more painful than baking in the sun. We can relate here in South Florida, though the weather has turned, and it is beginning to be magnificent. And I see many of you have arrived. Welcome back to South Florida, by the way.The, we know what it's like in the summer here to bake in that sun. It's oppressive. It absolutely draws all the energy out of you. It can knock you out. We are desperate to get back inside, back in the air conditioning, back in the shade, back in the cool weather. And Avraham Avinu says, the thought, the thought of being inside by myself, the thought of neglecting or ignoring people who could need my help? No way. Absolutely not. He refuses and he sits and he sits outside. There are several magnificent things to learn about Avraham's חסד chesed here in this case. One, the Alter of Kelm wonders, מדוע האריכה התורה לפרט פרטי פרטים דווקא מעשה חסד של אברהם אבינו מלאכים maduah ha'aricha haTorah l'fareit pratei pratim davka ma'asei chesed shel Avraham Avinu malachim? If the Torah wants to delineate, if the Torah wants to elaborate, if the Torah wants to communicate and educate about the importance and the significant and the details of how to do חסד chesed, why does it choose Avraham's חסד chesed not with people, not with human beings, not with, we know that Avraham Avinu, the planted ויטע אשל בבאר שבע vayita eishal b'Be'er Sheva. Avraham Avinu, this אשל eishel is an acronym, Avraham Avinu took care of his guests in extraordinary ways. He went to great lengths. He didn't leave any stone unturned. He did incredible things for them. And yet, when the Torah wants to delineate and elaborate, it doesn't do so in Avraham Avinu's actually helping other human beings. It does so in the context of what? With whom? When Avraham is helping none other than מלאכים malachim and angels. So why not elaborate later ויטע אשל בבאר שבע vayita eishal b'Be'er Sheva? Why not elaborate in the context of helping actual people who have actual חסרונות chesronos, needs and lacks in their life? Why does the Torah specifically elaborate here in the context of the angel? So says the Alter of Kelm, בא התורה להשריש בנו יסוד חשוב ba haTorah l'hashrish banu yesod chashuv. The Torah here is trying to plant within us an incredibly important foundation. אף שאורחים אלו לא היו כלל צורך בהכנסת אורחים זו Af she'orchim eilu lo hayu klal tzorech b'hachnasas orchim zu. You might say to yourself, you learn this narrative, you read about this episode, and what conclusion might you reach? Wow, what a waste. What a waste. Avraham Avinu spent time, spent money, spent energy, got his family involved, who also, by the way, were recovering from ברית מילה bris mila. And what a waste. He did it all for people who didn't need it. They were מלאכים malachim. They weren't tired. They weren't hungry. They weren't anything because they were angels, they weren't even people. So one might read this episode and conclude, wow, what a total and utter waste. But that would be a terrible mistake, says the Alter of Kelm, because that presumes, that presupposes for whom do we do חסד chesed? Who is the חסד chesed really all about? The recipient. Who is the beneficiary? The target of the חסד chesed. But that's a mistake. Because when we do חסד chesed, it's not only about providing the need for another, it's about cultivating within ourselves the instinct and the intuition of kindness, of being magnanimous, of being generous, of being giving, of being good. And so you're right. It turns out that these were angels. And it turns out these resources didn't go to those who really needed. It turns out Avraham spent a lot of time and a lot of energy where it wasn't really needed. But you know what? חז\"ל Chazal tell us, רחמנא לבא בעי Rachmana liba ba'i. Hashem wants our heart. And all these מצוות mitzvos and all these behaviors and all these mandates are to try to mold and fashion and transform our hearts, to turn us into givers, not takers, to turn us into people who are focused on others, not ourselves, to become selfless, not selfish. So even though you're right, there's going to be outliers, there's going to be, hopefully, a minority of cases where the person didn't really need or receive, but in the end of the day, it's really about us becoming, transforming ourselves to become givers. And that's why, says the Alter of Kelm, when we דאווען daven, we say in our דאווענען davening, ומצאת את לבבו נאמן לפניך U'matzasa es levavo ne'eman l'fanecha. About Avraham Avinu, הקדש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the הריבנו של עולם haRibono shel Olam found, ומצאת u'matzasa, what did he find about Avraham? That his actions are נאמן ne'eman? ומצאת את לבבו U'matzasa es levavo, his heart is נאמן לפניך ne'eman l'fanecha. His heart was trustworthy and faithful and reliable, because for Avraham it's all about his heart, having a good heart, expanding his heart, and nourishing his heart, and having a heart that is a giving heart. And I find this a powerful message, not only because when it comes to חסד chesed, you know, sometimes it's not about over-examining the worth, the worthiness of the recipient. But sometimes it's about there's an opportunity presented for us. Are we going to do what's right? Are we going to do, are we going to be givers? Are we going to be kind? Are we going to be generous? רחמנא לבא בעי Rachmana liba ba'i. It's not always about an evaluation, an analysis on the worthiness of the recipient. And you know, sometimes there's going to be outliers in all of us for our community and those who knock on the door of our homes. There are going to be people who come collect and we find out later they didn't really need. We find out later they were frauds, or that they were capable of earning on their own and they came anyway. And I'm not saying that we should specifically give without doing a proper investigation, without demanding some level of transparency. Of course we should, particularly when it comes to communal funds for which we have an awesome responsibility. But if it turns out and if we find out that the person that we gave to really didn't fully need or or we then saw them eating out locally in a restaurant and how are they using that money and now we start to be filled with regret and resentment and anger, we shouldn't stop. says the Alter of Kelm, Avraham Avinu, these are angels and yet, he has no regret. You know why? It's about molding and shaping and fashioning our heart and the way and the way that we give. It's a willingness to be מוסר נפש moser nefesh, a willingness to be able to make sacrifices and compromise and give of ourselves because life is not about ourselves, it's about caring and supporting others. So the Alter of Kelm says that's why the Torah specifically elaborates in Avraham Avinu's unusual or unique precedent חסד chesed when it comes to angels, not human beings, to teach us that even when the recipient doesn't seem worthy, it's not a waste of resources, time or energy. It's not a bad use of our effort because it's all about growing and becoming better ourselves. Rav Zev Leffstein, the משגיח mashgiach of תורה אור Torah Or, Sefer Ha'aros, he has another beautiful, beautiful idea. He says, מעשה החסד של אברהם עם המלאכים מצינו חידוש גדול ma'aseh ha'chesed shel Avraham im hamalachim matzinu chidush gadol. When it comes to Avraham's חסד chesed with the angels, we find an enormous חידוש chidush. Are you ready for this? כי את עצם הידיעה שאדם לא נברא לעצמו ועל כל חיוב לעשות חסד עם זולתו ברוחניות ובגשמיות, זאת יודעים הכל ki es etzem hayedia she'adam lo nivra l'atzmo v'al kol chayav la'asos chesed im zulato b'ruchniyus u'v'gashmiyus, zos yodim hakol. We all know that when it comes to I have resources, I have money, I have food, I have things, I have the opportunity to share it with others. Share it with others. Share our גשמיות gashmiyus with others. That we know. We also know that in the world of רוחניות ruchniyus, Rav Moshe Feinstein has a famous תשובה teshuva, and he says that just like we have an obligation to give מעשר ma'aser, just like we have to give 10% of our income to others who don't have, הקדש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it's not our money. We are the junior partner, he is the senior partner. With whatever we earn and whatever we have, we were incapable of really achieving it without him. He's the senior partner. He's 99.999% and our effort and our initiative and our ingenuity and our entrepreneurship were .0001%. And Hashem says, \"You know what, despite that, I tell you what. You keep 90%. Just do me a favor. 10%, don't even give to me. I've got other kids who need. Do me a favor. I really deserve 99%, I'm the senior partner,\" says God. \"You keep 90%.\" Even though it never would have happened, it never would have succeeded, you would never have it. You keep. Did they figure out the powerball yet by the way? The drawing? I don't have a ticket. They did. Okay. But my Uber driver last night in Alabama promised me that if he won, he was going to give some to our, he's not Jewish, but he promised he was going to, he was blown away by our, our kids that we took to Auburn. So he wanted to give some of the money here. Anyway, so whatever we earn, sorry for that distraction, whatever we earn, 1.9 billion, whatever we earn, God is the senior partner, 99.999. And he says, \"You keep 90% and 10%, don't even give it to me, give to other children of mine who need.\" And Rav Moshe writes the same way that we have an obligation to give 10% of our income to those less fortunate. Similarly, 10% of our spiritual investment of time, our spiritual income and ability, we have to give to others. So if you have the opportunity to learn with someone less knowledgeable, if you have the opportunity to host, to do outreach, to be able to inspire others, then at least 10% of your time you have to give in that context. So says Rav Zev Leffstein, no חידוש chidush there. That's obvious, that we know. Share your גשמיות gashmiyus with others and share your רוחניות ruchniyus with others. Last week I was in Israel with my family, family שמחה simcha. I was sitting at a cafe and a man came over to me. He looked like a Breslov Chasid, but I don't want to assume. And he sheepishly said, \"You know, I'm in that store and I'm trying to buy my first pair of תכלת techeiles. And I can afford the בגד beged and the ציצית tzitzis, but the תכלת techeiles is just so expensive, I can't afford it.\" What do you say? I'm not flexing, I'm not showing off. Any of you would have done the same. I'm trying to give you an example. It's an interesting story because I happen to have my own dilemma or guilt why I don't wear תכלת techeiles. It's a good question. My Rav Schechter does. Many other גדולי ישראל Gedolei Yisrael. Rav Belsky wore תכלת techeiles and Rav Scheinberg, one of his pairs of ציצית tzitzis wore תכלת techeiles. תכלת techeiles is a whole סוגיא sugya. But I figured this is my opportunity. I don't wear them, but if I can buy them for someone else, wonderful. So here was a Jew, sincere, when he first came over, he wanted money. I said, \"I'm sorry, I don't have any cash,\" you know, the way I want to go back to my my cappuccino, my latte, my french fries. He says, \"No, I don't want money. I just need help buying ציצית תכלת tzitzis techeiles.\" Who wouldn't jump at that opportunity? Who wouldn't jump at that opportunity to help another Jew do a מצוה mitzvah which might be the fulfillment of the מצוה בשלמותה דאורייתא mitzvah b'shleimusa d'oraysa of תכלת techeiles? Who wouldn't jump? So בגשמיות b'gashmiyus, to know that we have to help others physically, we know. To give of ourselves spiritually to help others, we know. Says Rav Zev Leffstein, here is the חידוש chidush of Avraham Avinu. With whom was he speaking when these angels in the guise of men showed up? Who was he having a conversation with? With the הריבנו של עולם haRibono shel Olam, with the Almighty, with Hashem. And he interrupts and he aborts the conversation with Hashem, he terminates the conversation with Hashem to go wash the feet, to go give some water for them to wash their feet and to make lunch and to serve these three men he has no idea who they are. That's the חידוש chidush says Rav Zev Leffstein. החידוש שמצינו אצל אברהם אבינו שהקריב מהרוחניות שלו לעשות לזולתו גשמיות ha'chidush shematzinu eitzel Avraham Avinu she'hikriv me'ha'ruchniyus shelo la'asos l'zulato gashmiyus. He sacrificed his spirituality to give materially to others. We know we should sacrifice spiritually to give spiritually and we know we should sacrifice materially to give to others materially. But that he gave up spiritually to give to others materially. Get out of the בית מדרש beis medrash because there's somebody who's hungry. Stop your תהילים Tehillim or your learning or your extra דאווענען davening because the Jews on the West Coast, and nothing should come our way now. The Jews on the West Coast were slammed by Hurricane Ian and we need to pack provisions and we need to drive it there. But do you mean I have a חברותא chavrusa? But do you mean I go to a שיעור shiur? But what do you mean, will I miss מניין minyan? But what do you mean, I go to the תהילים Tehillim group? I should pack the provisions? I should collect the wipes and the canned tuna and the bottled water and drive up to Naples? Yes. Avraham Avinu says to the הריבנו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, \"Excuse me. Excuse me for a moment. I got to go and I'll be back.\" And what does he go to do? He says, \"Excuse me, הריבנו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, I got to go, somebody wants a חברותא chavrusa in קיצור שולחן ערוך Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. Somebody wants a חברותא chavrusa in פנימיות התורה pnimiyus haTorah.\" No. He doesn't interrupt his conversation with Hashem to pursue רוחניות ruchniyus. He interrupts his רוחניות ruchniyus to pursue helping someone else with their גשמיות gashmiyus. Says Rav Zev, that's the חידוש chidush of Avraham Avinu. That's what the Torah is trying to communicate here. In terms of our priorities and our hierarchy, of course רוחניות ruchniyus is critical and key, תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם Talmud Torah k'neged kulam. But there's a Jew and here Avraham Avinu, this is not a fellow Jew, this is not an עברי Ivri, these are strangers. And Avraham Avinu interrupts his own ambition and pursuit of רוחניות ruchniyus to provide for and help the גשמיות gashmiyus of another. That is the incredible חידוש chidush. So Avraham Avinu feeds them. ויקח חמאה וחלב ובן הבקר אשר עשה ויתן לפניהם והוא עמד עליהם תחת העץ ויאכלו Vayikach chem'ah v'chalav u'ven habakar asher asah vayitein lifneihem, v'hu omeid aleihem tachas ha'eitz, vayocheilu. He takes cream and milk and a calf which he had prepared, he puts it before them, and he stood them over them beneath the tree and they ate. He stood over them beneath the tree and they ate. When was this? When was this? Everybody knows from Rashi. When was this? What? What time of the year? Oh, we all know. Pesach. But it's not so clear. This wonderful sefer I've been telling you about, Otzar P'la'os HaTorah, fascinating, really enjoyable, great, I could give a five-hour shiur every week just sharing his his sources. They're fascinating. So he says the following. On the one hand the Medrash in Bamidbar Rabbah, Parshas Nasso says, 'And wait here under the tree.' Why? Why under the tree? Where were they eating inside of? When do you eat outside your home under the material that comes from a tree? What holiday was it? It was Sukkos. The Medrash in Parshas Nasso says it wasn't Pesach, it was Sukkos. And they were eating in the sukkah. And if you look actually, none of us say it, but if you look in the piyut for Sukkos, for the second day of Sukkos, it says a reference to this Medrash that in fact these angels Avraham Avinu was feeding them where? In the sukkah. Why? Because it was Sukkos. Avraham Avinu is not going to keep Sukkos? Which begs the question whether it's Pesach or Sukkos, which we're not going to get into now and we've spoken about previously, what do you mean? Pesach hadn't yet happened. They weren't yet enslaved in Egypt and they hadn't yet been liberated. Sukkos hadn't yet happened. They didn't yet wander through a desert where they needed to sit in sukkos and they hadn't yet been protected by the ananei hakavod. So what in the world are you talking about that Avraham Avinu celebrated holidays that commemorated events that hadn't yet happened. There's a critical core thing to understand about the Jewish notion of time and the Jewish observance of Yomim Tovim, but we don't have time for now. But that is the key to understand, the key to understand another time. So one Medrash says, he was feeding them in Sukkah because it was Sukkos, that's what the piyut of Sukkos says. The malachim came on Sukkos. The Gemara Rosh Hashanah says when they came to deliver the news to Sarah, you are going to become pregnant, you're going to conceive and have a child, la'moeid, by next yom tov, you're going to be very pregnant and giving birth. And what was the next yom tov according to one opinion in the Gemara Rosh Hashanah was Pesach. This was Sukkos, by the next yom tov, you're already going to need a crib. By the next yom tov, you're going to need a nanny. By the next yom tov, you're going to have trouble making Pesach and also taking care of a newborn. As the Pirkei D'Rebbe Eliezer, Avraham's bris was on Yom Kippur. The malachim came on the third day after his bris mila and they came the two days before Sukkos and so they came Sukkos time. On the other hand, our Parsha and you look at the Meforshim on our Parsha and we're all familiar, what they made matzah, not chametz, because it was Pesach. So which is it? Was it Sukkos, was it Pesach? What time of the year did these angels visit? Again, a lot more to elaborate and say here, but he quotes a chidush from Rav Menachem Mendel of Rimanov in the sefer Menachem Tzion. He says, התעכבו אצל אברהם יותר מששה חודשים his'akvu eitzel Avraham yoser m'shisha chodashim. You want to be blown away by Avraham's hospitality? He didn't get a call from the shul that we have guests and visitors who are checking out the community, can they sleep at you Friday night? They'll come Friday afternoon, 14 minutes before Shabbos, they'll leave Motzei Shabbos, 30 seconds after Havdalah, could you put them up for Friday night? That's not the call he got. When Avraham Avinu welcomed these three malachim, they unpacked and moved in for how long? Six months, from Sukkos to Pesach. And that's why we have medrashim that reference both. Which is it? Were they there on Sukkos or were they there on Pesach? The answer is, yes, both. That's hospitality. That's Hachnasas Orchim. That's like Nobel Prize winning Hachnasas Orchim. That's why Avraham's the goat. He's the greatest of all time in Hachnasas Orchim. Six months? That's a long time for a family to move in, let alone strangers. Sometimes strangers are easier than a family, but that's a long time to host. That's a long time to host, six months. The Recanati has a tradition, one of the Rishonim, that when angels are in this world for seven days, seven consecutive days, they can't ever return back upstairs. So that supports the idea that the three came together and they had three separate missions, Sdom, Avraham Avinu, tell Sarah her news, and they were here for seven days, they couldn't go back up. Therefore they moved in for six months. It is a fascinating, fascinating Otzar Pla'os HaTorah of which he has even more, even more to say. By the way, they come to tell Sarah she is pregnant, these angels. I have a question. I've been trying to read the parsha more critically when I'm doing Shnayim Mikra. I have a lot of questions, but during the parsha shiur, I like to also give answers, so I don't want to share the questions that I don't have answers for, but I'll tell them, maybe you have the answer. Sarah Imeinu, she doesn't make the bread. Why can't she have contact with the bread? פירסה נדה Pirsah nidah. Rashi says all of a sudden her cycle returns, she menstruates, she gives to the status of a נדה nidah, she's טמאה tameiah, she's impure, she doesn't want to contaminate the bread because in those days they were observing the laws of of purity. Moments later, the angels tell her, \"You are going to conceive and have a child.\" And she reacts incredulously. She laughs cynically. \"Me? I don't have a womb. I haven't had my period. I don't have an אורח כנשים orach kanashim. What are you talking about? How is it even possible?\" I don't understand. Didn't a minute ago פירסה נדה pirsah nidah? It's true that for many years, or maybe for all time, she had not menstruated and experienced the possibility of conception. But now she did so much so she was טמאה tameiah when it came to the bread. So why does she act so surprised? Clearly, something's going on. Something supernatural is happening. Something's shifting. Why does she act so surprised and so cynically when she finds out? That's one question. I'll ask you another question. The Medrash is critical of Avraham when it comes to preparing and giving to the angels. Does he do it himself? Much of it he does himself. Some of it, he sends who? Yishmael, by means of a שליח shliach. And חז\"ל Chazal say, because he sent a שליח shliach and he did it על ידי ישמעאל al yedei Yishmael to go get the water, similarly God took care of us, not directly, but through an agent, through a שליח shliach. And חז\"ל Chazal offer that as a criticism. Avraham, you didn't do it directly yourself, you should have. And I think we discussed last year and two years ago in the parsha shiur, what kind of criticism? Avraham is trying to involve the family, his children. He's trying to be מחנך mechanech his children. So isn't that a positive? And Rav Moshe Feinstein says, the best way to be your מחנך mechanech your child is not to have him do something instead of you, but it's to show them how to do it yourself. So you're done with the big meal, you're done with the guests in your home, and you're full, and you're kicking back in your recliner, and now they're walking out. So you say, \"Hey, Shai, come. Walk your guests out.\" You have to be מלוה melaveh a guest, you give them the whole all the מקורות mekoros, the הלכה halacha, you have to walk a guest out. You sit in your recliner, your belt is undone, you're sitting back, and you call your child, walk them out. Says Rav Moshe, that's not how you מחנך mechanech. You מחנך mechanech you say to your child, \"Watch me walk them out. See, I'm walking them out because that's what we do.\" You got to do it yourself and you've got to do it directly. But here's my question. Hakadosh Baruch Hu took the sun out of its sheath, out of its wallet, out of its נרתיק nartik, put the sun high in the sky to bake down, why? Why did he do that? Beginning of our Parsha. Because Avraham was recovering from surgery, he was in pain, Hashem wanted to protect him. Hashem wanted him to sit still, go lie in bed, go sit on the couch, go focus on your recovery. Now is not the time to have guests. So he put the conditions in such a way, there would be no guests. He was trying to protect Avraham. So on the one hand, he's recognizing and protecting Avraham in his recovery from surgery. On the other, he's criticizing Avraham that Avraham didn't do everything himself. Anyway, just read the Parsha critically, and these questions jump at you. These questions jump out at you. Last week's Parsha. The king of Sdom offers Avraham the spoils of the war, which legally he's entitled to. And Avraham says, \"No, I don't want my wealth to come from you. Hashem promised me that I'll become wealthy. I don't want it to come through you.\" To which I wondered, maybe that's how Hashem wants you to become wealthy. Maybe you were supposed to buy a lottery ticket. \"Hashem, you promised me wealth. What happened to the 1.9 billion?\" \"Hey fool, did you buy a ticket?\" Maybe the spoils, which he was entitled to. It wasn't gratuitous or a מתנה matana. The law of the time was, the law of the land was, to the victor go the spoils. He was entitled to them. So why does he turn them away? Maybe that was exactly how Hashem wanted him to become wealthy. Maybe there's exact means through which he was meant to attain his wealth. Anyway, just think critically in the way that we read the Parsha. So Rav Nachman says, he feeds these angels. He feeds these angels. He runs to give them food. Did he know they were angels or did he think they were men? So certainly at first he thought they were men. That's why he troubled himself and bothered himself to get up and to run. He didn't just move slowly, he moved with alacrity and zeal to go provide for them. So certainly at first he thinks they're men. But as time goes on, Rav Nachman suggests, proposes, that he clearly realized these were no ordinary men, that Hashem had sent them. So Rav Nachman wonders, Rav Nachman of Breslov wonders, if he comes to realize these are no ordinary men, these are angels, shouldn't he stop the meal? Stop. Turn the fires off, turn the oven off. Stop all the food prep. Turns out, they're here for some other reason, we could communicate, let's talk, but they don't need the food. Why is he feeding them anyway? Listen to this beautiful insight of Rav Nachman. I love this insight. בדיוק את הנקודה הזאת רצה אברהם ללמד את המלאכים b'diyuk es ha'nekudah ha'zos ratzah Avraham l'lameid es ha'malachim. Avraham was trying to communicate and teach something to the malachim. He wanted them to understand something about our way of life down here on earth. They come from the world above, they come from a place of perfection, they come from a place that is free of temptation and desire, they come from a place in which automatically one does all that is right. Rav Nosson writes in Likkutei Halachos, quoting from his rebbi Rav Nachman, שמלאכים שוכני שמים קשה להם להבין את גודל הנסיון של עולם הזה she'malachim shochnei shamayim kasheh lahem l'havin es godel hanisayon shel olam hazeh. The malachim can't relate to, they can't identify with temptation and desire and appetite and drive. They don't understand what that means. Like, \"What do you mean you're still eating if you're full?\" The malachim would look with wonder, like what, I don't understand. Which is a wonderful question on every one of us. It literally makes no sense. As intelligent, as bright, as accomplished as we are, we are pathetic fools. Animals don't eat once they're full. They understand the purpose of eating is to live. You don't live to eat, you eat to live. And animals, when they're done, when they feel full, when they have derived the nourishment they need, they're done, they stop. And what do we do? I'll take three more of those and four more of those and six more side dishes. And where's the dessert? We keep eating. The malachim don't understand because for us, our eyes are bigger than our stomach. Ooh, that looks delicious. That looks amazing. Our portions, everything that we want. They don't understand the malachim what it means to have an internet and images and icons that distract us and that draw us. They don't understand the world of temptation and drive. They don't understand. They מקטריגים על חוטאים m'katrigim al chot'im. So the malachim come down and they go up to God and they prosecute against us. These lowly, pathetic men, we've discussed also the Medrash how the angels from the very beginning of time prosecuted and told Hashem, they're fallible, they're failures, they're flops, they're frauds. Don't create a world with humans in it. Don't, you're going to regret it. And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu, when we fell in, he tells the angels, I don't want to hear it. Don't tell me you were right. I don't want to hear it. It was worth creating the world anyway. He throws Emes to the ground. We've discussed that Medrash. So from the very beginning of time, the malachim who can't identify at all with the way that we live, they're busy prosecuting against us. So you know what Avraham Avinu does? He says, come here angels. Avraham נתן להם אוכל nasam l'hem ochel. He says, come. I want you to, I want you to experience an all-you-can-eat buffet. Come, I'm taking you to a Pesach program. I want you to see a Pesach program. I was once at a Pesach program many years ago and the chef came out of the kitchen, sorry, the maitre d', the host of the program at the end, he said, \"You know, there's, there's only a thousand people staying at this hotel, but according to the chef, there's 10,000 people at each meal.\" You know, when they give you the option of which main, many people say, \"Yes.\" I just want a taste of that one and a taste of this one and a taste of that one. And the next meal, I'm not eating anything, I'm so full, there's no way I possibly can have. A taste of this and three of those and four of those. So Avraham Avinu says to the malachim who have no sense of what it's like to live as pathetically as we do, to have the struggles and the temptation, the drive and the desire and the appetite that we do, you know what Avraham Avinu says to them? He says, \"Come. I want you to come to a Pesach program. I want you to sit in the sukkah over Sukkos. I want you to have three meals a day for eight days. Come.\" כדי שיבינו את מה שצריך האדם לעבור בעולם הזה k'dei sheyavinu es mah she'tzarich ha'adam la'avor b'olam hazeh. To understand a little bit, to get a little bit of a taste, pun intended, of what our life is like, what it's like to live like us. את כוחם של צרכים הגופניים es kocham shel tzrachim hagufniyim, that we have physical needs and physical desires and physical drive and that it overwhelms and overcomes us and it tempts us. Get a little taste, have a little understanding, have a ביסער רחמנות bisser rachmanus. Feel bad for us. Don't sit in judgment of us. Don't prosecute us. You have no idea if you were down here, you have no idea how it would be for you. So you know what? Go back and be proud and be happy that you don't live with this drive and this temptation. But stop sitting in judgment of us. Stop prosecuting us because you have no idea how long you'd last if you had to come down here and endure the tests that we have. ולכן אמרו חז\"ל שאפילו מלאכים שבאו להתאכסן אכלו בטהרה, נכשלו ולא קיימו שליחותם כראוי. ולא יכלו לחזור לשמיים זמן רב עד שתקנו את עצמם. So even though they ate and they stayed angels, they didn't become human beings, but they too tasted imperfection. They tasted failure. And they weren't able to return immediately back upstairs. They had work to do on themselves because they got a little sense of what it's like to be imperfect. A little sense of what it's like to be human. What it's like to be human. And the core of this is eating, is food. You can find online, I know I keep giving you many references to myself, but we once gave a whole shiur, I think last year or two years ago, on the Jewish approach to eating and to food, quoted many sources. תערוך לפני שלחן נגד צוררי ta'aroch l'fanai shulchan neged tzorirai. We say in Mizmor. David. You make a table before me in full view of my adversaries. Who are my adversaries? תערך לפני שלחן נגד צררי Ta'aroch lefanai shulchan neged tzorerai. Who are my enemies? The צוררי tzorerai, my appetite, me. לחם Lechem, the word bread, the staple of eating, is the same root as the word מלחמה milchama. Every time we eat, we're waging a war with ourselves. Some are not. For some there's no battle, there's no war, it's easy. They have no, they have to be reminded don't forget to eat. I have a child like that. We have to beg him, we have to chase him, we have to remind him, we have to bribe him to eat. It's a waste of his time. He has no interest. Can't relate. I don't know who, I don't know where this kid came from. Don't understand it whatsoever, whatsoever. But most of us live every day with when's my next meal. Ooh, that looks so good. Ooh, I'll have some of that. I can't wait to go there. I can't wait to eat that again. It's so hard. The angels come get a taste. Why is this lesson, this insight of רב נחמן Rav Nachman, I find so powerful, so beautiful?I, I, when I was in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, I met with several גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael. And I shared with them several dilemmas or tensions or things that I'm struggling with or thinking about. And without getting into the details of one of those conversations, one of them said to me about a particular issue he had in his community, first of all, the very fact that he faces similar dilemmas was very validating and reassuring to me. But he had a dilemma. He didn't know what to do. And he went to a bigger גדול gadol, he would say, or a previous גדול gadol of a previous generation, who told him, don't sit in judgment of that person, and don't hold back from showing kindness to him or his family, because if you were in his shoes, you have no idea if you would have ever passed his test. You have no idea. His background, his genetics, his drive, his desire, his condition, his conditioning, you have no idea if you would have failed worse, if you would have done better. So your job is not to sit in judgment, that's for השם Hashem. Your job is to step in and do all that you can to help and make things better. It's a very powerful image. And that's what רב נחמן Rav Nachman is saying. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu was telling the angels, come over here. Come to the פסח Pesach program. Come to the all you can eat שמארג shmorg. Come. I want you to taste a little bit of a typical שבת Shabbos meal. You have so many opinions about how much we eat? You've never sat around one of our tables. I want you to taste it a little bit. I want you to live a little bit with what it's like. Because when you go back, I know that you're not going to make a buffet in heaven, but I want you to have a little more pity, a little less judgment, a little more understanding of what we live with, of that desire, that temptation, that struggle that we have on a regular basis and, and all the.Okay. So that was אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaot HaTorah and, and רב נחמן Rav Nachman. There's another insight he has here. שרה אמנו פרסה נדה Sarah Imeinu parsa nidah. She became a נדה nidah. So we know that אברהם Avraham and שרה Sarah kept the whole תורה Torah, even before it was given. So if she was a נדה nidah, how did she conceive? What does a נדה nidah need to do before they can be with their husband? You have to go to the מקווה mikvah. Did שרה אמנו Sarah Imeinu go to the מקווה mikvah? Here again, only אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaot HaTorah could dig up such sources. רב משה באסולה Rav Moshe Basula. Who was רב משה באסולה Rav Moshe Basula? He has in the footnotes these biographies. He was born in Italy. His father was רב מרדכי צרפתי Rav Mordechai Tzarfati. He was an expert in קבלה Kabbalah. He has a whole biography of רב משה באסולה Rav Moshe Basula. He went to go visit ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael in the year רפ״א Reish Pey Aleph and in רפ״ו Reish Pey Vav. And he writes about his journey and his, his travels to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael in the ספר מסעות ארץ ישראל Sefer Masaot Eretz Yisrael. And there he writes, לאחת בלילה הגעתי לחברון Le'achat balayla higati leChevron. One time at night I came to Chevron. מירושלים לחברון כ״ב מילן ויותר MeYerushalayim leChevron kaf beis milin v'yoser. 22 mil from ירושלים Yerushalayim to חברון Chevron, that's the distance. הלכתי להתפלל על קברי אבות Halachti l'hispalel al kivrei avos. I went to חברון Chevron to go דאווען daven at מערת המכפלה Me'aras HaMachpelah. קרוב לשם הייתי, ראיתי מקווה גדולה מאוד Karov l'sham hayisi, ra'isi mikvah gedolah me'od. I saw a great, a large מקווה mikvah עם ארבע עמודים מרובעים גדולים, ועמוק ונפלא עם סולם של אבנים שיורדים בו im arba amudim merubaim gedolim, v'amok v'nifla im sulam shel avanim sheyordim bo. It was deep and had a magnificent ladder. אומרים שהיה בית התפילה לשרה אמנו Omrim shehaya beis hatfilah l'Sarah Imeinu. It was the מקווה mikvah of שרה אמנו Sarah Imeinu. He says on his journey, on his travels, he came across the מקווה mikvah of שרה אמנו Sarah Imeinu. And he quotes more about this. Again, these are one of these obscure sources that this wonderful ספר sefer digs up and answers a question we didn't even know we had, which is, if she was פרסה נדה parsa nidah, שרה אמנו Sarah Imeinu had to go to the מקווה mikvah first. Then וימהר אברהם vayemaher Avraham, אברהם Avraham runs to the tent to שרה Sarah, says, prepare all these things quickly, quickly, quickly, alacrity, alacrity, alacrity, taking care of the guests. I'm not going to take the time now, I thought I would. Maybe we'll discuss another time, but the דברי אברהם Dvar Avraham. The דברי אברהם Dvar Avraham. Who was the דברי אברהם Dvar Avraham? רב אברהם דוב בער הכהן שפירא Rav Avraham Dov Ber HaKohen Shapira, who was אב בית דין av beis din in קובנה Kovna, the דברי אברהם Dvar Avraham, a great, a great פוסק posek. The שו״ת דברי אברהם Shu\"t Dvar Avraham in חלק ב׳ סימן ב׳ Chelek Beis, Siman Beis, he quotes from the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim a story. Do you sing שלום עליכם Shalom Aleichem and אשת חיל Eshes Chayil before קדש kiddush or after קדש kiddush? So most have the מנהג minhag, when do we sing it all? Before. Come home and you sing it all before. The problem is if you have around your table people who are hungry, if you're hosting guests who are hungry, you are delaying feeding them food. While you're doing what? Interacting with the angels, welcoming to your home and turning them around. So is that appropriate, is that proper? Those who were learning מסכת נדרים Maseches Nedarim will appreciate this. In מסכת נדרים Maseches Nedarim we came across the concept of בל תאחר bal te'acher. בל תאחר Bal te'acher means when you make a promise or pledge, you're not allowed to delay in fulfilling it. When it comes to קרבנות korbanos, you have three רגלים regalim. You have three holidays. When it comes to fulfilling the מצוה mitzvah of צדקה tzedakah, if you made a promise or pledge to צדקה tzedakah, when do you have to fulfill it? Immediately. Unless you negotiated a payout over time, but if you otherwise simply said סתם stam you're going to give something to צדקה tzedakah, you violate בל תאחר bal te'acher if you don't give it immediately. You have to pay the pledge immediately. When it comes to צדקה tzedakah, when it comes to an עני ani. In fact, I saw a whole discussion, you have to give a בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy a gift immediately. If you promise the בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy a gift, the בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy as soon as he turns 13 and he's no longer under the responsibility of a parent, ברוך שפטרני baruch sheptarani. How many assets does he have? Unless he's the beneficiary of a trust fund, none. He's a poor person. So that בר מצוה bar mitzvah gift is really a gift to a poor person and when it comes to צדקה tzedakah to an עני ani, there's a prohibition of בל תאחר bal te'acher, you have to give the gift immediately. Interesting whole תשובה teshuva about how, how long do you have to give a בר מצוה bar mitzvah gift. So come back to the דברי אברהם Dvar Avraham quotes the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim says, he writes this in the משנה ברורה Mishnah Berurah as well, סימן רע״א Siman Reish Ayin Aleph, כשיבוא לביתו ימהר לאכול מיד kesheyavo l'veiso yemaher le'echol miyad. When you get home, start to eat immediately. שאם אין תאב לאכול יכול להמתין She'im ein ta'ev le'echol yachol l'hamtin. If nobody's hungry, you can wait, but normally you have guests or even members of your family. In that state, they have the status of a poor person waiting to eat. A poor person waiting to eat, you cannot delay paying or providing what you're going to give them. And therefore, the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim talks about, therefore, חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim talks about only, only singing שלום עליכם Shalom Aleichem and אשת חיל Eshes Chayil after you began the meal, after קדש kiddush and after קדש kiddush and המוציא HaMotzi. It's pretty wild, no? Pretty wild. And he has a whole discussion from the דברי אברהם Dvar Avraham, לימד זכות על המנהג העולם שלא גוערים בכל המזמורות לפני קדש limeid zchus al minhag ha'olam shelo go'arim b'chol hamizmoros lifnei kiddush. דברי אברהם Dvar Avraham says, so how do you defend those who sing beforehand? Why are you delaying? Why are you pushing it off? חתם סופר Chasam Sofer didn't sing שלום עליכם Shalom Aleichem at all for this reason. It's quoted, the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer omitted שלום עליכם Shalom Aleichem because you can't sing a song to angels while your guests are hungry and waiting to be eating. Anyway, he has a whole אריכות arichus, he has a whole discussion of this, but alas, we don't have time. פרק י״ח פסוק י״ז Perek Yud Ches, Pasuk Yud Zayin. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu turns to אברהם Avraham and he says, והשם אמר המכסה אני מאברהם אשר אני עושה V'Hashem amar, hamechaseh ani me'Avraham asher ani oseh? Am I going to hide from אברהם Avraham what I'm about to do? אברהם Avraham is now my trusted loyal servant. אברהם Avraham is faithful to me and my vision for this world more than anyone who came before him. They were all big failures. קין Kayin killed הבל Hevel out of jealousy, and the דור המבול Dor HaMabul was תאוה taavah, and the דור הפלגה Dor Haflagah is כבוד kavod. קנאה, תאוה, וכבוד מוציאים את האדם מן העולם Kinah, taavah, v'kavod motzi'im es ha'adam min ha'olam. These three generations, they don't get the purpose of this world. They destroy the world. אברהם Avraham is the first one who gets it. אברהם Avraham is the first one who lives for others, not for himself. אברהם Avraham is the first one who lives trying to promote God's vision for the world. So השם Hashem says, this אברהם Avraham is so special, is so precious to me, המכסה אני מאברהם hamechaseh ani me'Avraham? Am I going to conceal from אברהם Avraham what I'm about to do? Can't be. אי אפשר Ee efshar, not possible. I have to tell אברהם Avraham what I'm about to do. Says the אלתר מקלם Alter miKelm, how did אברהם Avraham know? So השם Hashem then continues and he tells אברהם Avraham. ואברהם היו יהיה לגוי גדול V'Avraham hayo yihyeh l'goy gadol. Again the תורה Torah reminds us the problem השם Hashem promise השם Hashem made to him. כי ידעתיו Ki yidativ. Why השם Hashem loves him. There's a whole discussion he brings in אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaot HaTorah, this is the source of leaving an ethical will to children. למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו Lema'an asher yetzaveh es banav v'es beiso acharav. What's אברהם'ס Avraham's greatest legacy? Billions of monotheists, the majority of the globe today, believing in one God? Is that his greatest legacy? No. You know what his biggest legacy is? His children walked in his footsteps. With the big difference we make in this world, with all of our ambition and drive to change the planet, with all that we want to do to leave a legacy, our greatest and our most core responsibility is את ביתו ואת בניו אחריו es beiso v'es banav acharav, our children. It can't be at the expense of or neglecting our children. Because הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu says what do I love about אברהם Avraham? You know what I love about him? Not הנפש אשר עשו בחרן hanefesh asher asu b'Charan. Not that he introduces monotheism to the world. You know what I love about him? למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו Lema'an asher yetzaveh es banav v'es beiso acharav, he puts time into his kids, his family. That's what I love about him. His family, he's a family man, he's a good father. That's what I love about him. למען אשר יצוה Lema'an asher yetzaveh. אברהם Avraham leaves a צוואה tzava'ah. What's a צוואה tzava'ah? He's explicit with an ethical will. And he quotes here many sources, אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Plaot HaTorah, this is the idea and many of our greats, I think there was a book that's a collection of the צוואות tzava'os, of the ethical wills of many גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael, who don't just say, you know, you get the לייכטער leichter, you get the מנורה menorah, you get the property, divide the money equally. You don't just leave a will, a financial will, but you leave an ethical will. Here's what we value, here's what we care about. Here's how I want you to live, here's what I want you to do. Many people in their estate planning actually combine the two because they create conditions within the estate planning that you're only eligible and you only qualify to inherit this if that. You have to be Jewish, or you have to be married to a Jew, or you have to, I know one person who wanted his grandchildren to go on March of the Living. Whatever the, whatever you think will be critically important for you, that your children afterwards will follow in your footsteps, you can either leave a parallel ethical will, or you could intertwine the two by creating conditions of the will on your צוואה tzava'ah, on your ethical will. What you anticipate, what you want, what you promise, what you believe, what you hope and what you dream for them. למען אשר יצוה Lema'an asher yetzaveh. למען אשר יצוה Lema'an asher yetzaveh. It's more than just the property and the assets that you leave and that you divide, but an ethical will, a צוואה tzava'ah. What do you, what matters, what's important, what you care about. One member of our community did something brilliant. He deeply, deeply is committed to his family always getting together. He has a ברוך השם, כן ירבו Baruch Hashem, ken yirbu, a large family, many children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. So he set up a trust, who the sole purpose of the trust, of the money, is to pay once a year for the family to get together. So nobody can claim, I love my cousins, my siblings, my nephews and nieces, but alas, it's expensive, we can't do it. Nobody could benefit from that trust other than the sole exclusive use of getting together once a year. He was essentially using the money to leave a צוואה tzava'ah. We value, we care about, it's important to us that our family is united, is whole, and spends time together, so I'm putting aside this money that you can't use for anything else other than reunion, getting together once a year. And he left one of his daughters-in-law in charge, not any of his sons. Because he knows she specializes in creating these reunions, guilting people, holding them accountable, making sure they show up. So he left several daughters-in-law in charge of that trust to make sure they get together. למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו Lema'an asher yetzaveh es banav v'es beiso acharav. Don't just do estate planning with your assets, do planning with your values. How will you communicate and transmit your values so that they are lived. Okay. So back to הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu who says, so the, the אלתר מקלם Alter miKelm wonders, how did אברהם Avraham know, how does אברהם Avraham react afterwards? השם Hashem says, look, סדום Sdom, bad people, got to wipe them out. Just felt I had to let you know. It's just an FYI for you because of how close I feel to you. And what does אברהם Avraham do? He says, whoa whoa whoa whoa, not so fast, God. Are you kidding? A whole city, five towns you're going to wipe out? Five cities? I made a promise this year I wouldn't make a joke about Five Towns. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, gonna wipe out five cities? No way, not on my watch. How could you? What if there are righteous people? Asks the אלתר מקלם Alter miKelm, how did אברהם Avraham know it was okay to protest? How did אברהם Avraham know it was okay to object? He's objecting and protesting to the רבונו של עולם Ribono Shel Olam, to the Almighty, to the omnipotent, infinite, to the most powerful. He might as well wipe you out too while he's at it. While he's at it, he's going to wipe out five cities, he's going to wipe you out if you try to stand in his way. How would אברהם Avraham know? אלא אברהם למד זאת מעצם העובדה שהקדוש ברוך הוא גילה לו שהוא הולך להפוך את סדום Ela Avraham lamad zos me'etzem ha'uvda sheHaKadosh Baruch Hu gila lo shehu holech la'hafoch es Sdom. You know how אברהם Avraham concluded he had license, why it was okay? Because he asked himself, why is השם Hashem telling me this? Why am I becoming aware of this? Why am I learning about this? Why does השם Hashem feel it's important for me to know? Why did he give me this FYI? Because he was giving me an invitation to protest and to object. Because my role and my purpose right now is to stand up and say no. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, doesn't seem right. I'll accept whatever you say in the end, but I don't think it's right. And this is something that we see, says the אלתר מקלם Alter miKelm, that we're supposed to feel a sensitivity when we learn, when we become aware, when we're told, explicitly or implicitly, that someone is struggling. We don't just say, well, that's the will of השם Hashem. That person is meant to be diagnosed with that. That person was meant to suffer with that. We don't just turn away or passively say, well, I guess that's the will of השם Hashem. Let me go back to what I'm doing. We say, you know why I became aware of that? Because I'm meant to protest and object. I learned about it because I'm told to דאווען daven for it. That's our invitation. That's our invitation. And again, this is not for now, this speaks to a bigger question. Why do we ever דאווען daven? If השם Hashem has determined that in that person's best interest is to suffer in that way, why do we say a מי שברך לחולה Mi Shebeirach l'choleh? Why do we דאווען daven for people to get married, to have children, to draw פרנסה parnasah? If that was what was right for them, השם Hashem would make it happen to them. The fact that it is not happening to them maybe means it's not right for them. Why are we trying to twist השם'ס Hashem's arm? Why are we trying to object or protest? Who are we to tell him what to do? And this is the core text. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu creates the precedent and the license for each of us. And the אלתר מקלם Alter miKelm is telling us, it's in fact even more than that. Not only is it okay, every time that we have sadly had to have a תהילים Tehillim gathering in order to advocate on behalf of of somebody who's going through a terrible, terrible time, I always say, הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want us to passively accept. We are here as a community, as a ציבור tzibbur, to say השם Hashem, this is not okay. It's not okay with us. We object, we protest, we beg, we plead, we're asking you to reconsider. Where do we get the right to do that? Who are we to do it? What is the answer? The answer is, אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. And the אלתר מקלם Alter miKelm says, that's we know about it, we're exposed to it, we learn about someone's problems. Why? Because that's our obligation, that's our responsibility, that's our invitation. But what do we do afterwards? So it occurred to me, this is my own insight. The פסוקים pesukim continue, and what is after אברהם Avraham has this whole negotiation, 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10, there's got to be if there's 10 righteous, השם Hashem, please. And what does he do right after the conversation? What does he say? The פסוק pasuk describes that אברהם Avraham realizes, where is the פסוק pasuk? שני מלאכים shnei malachim come. אברהם Avraham realizes he's עפר ואפר afar va'efer. Where's that פסוק pasuk and why is that right here? Which פסוק pasuk? כ״ז Kaf Zayin. Thank you. ויען אברהם ויאמר הנה נא הואלתי לדבר אל אדני ואנכי עפר ואפר Vayaan Avraham vayomar hinei na ho'alti l'daber el Adonai v'anochi afar va'efer. אברהם Avraham says, behold, I was desired to speak to השם Hashem, but I'm just עפר ואפר afar va'efer. All I am is dust and ash. איך בין אַ גאָרנישט Ich bin a gornisht, I'm a nothing. In other words, object and protest and talk to השם Hashem, and right after you confront השם Hashem and advocate and step up, ויגש vayigash. So one of the three ויגש vayigashs in the תורה Torah. You know my favorite רוקח Rokeach. The רמ״א Rama quotes the רוקח Rokeach, why do we take three steps forward to start our עמידה Amidah? Because three times ויגש vayigash. אברהם ויגש Avraham vayigash, he steps up to fight for סדום Sdom. And אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi ויגש vayigash, יהודה ויגש Yehuda vayigash. We take three steps forward, we begin our עמידה Amidah. We follow in their footsteps. Three steps forward and we say, השם Hashem, I'm here to protest, to object. ויגש Vayigash. אברהם Avraham steps up. And right after he does so, what does he do? Ooh, he recoils. He says, even though I objected and protested, I'm not telling you what to do. That was my job, but in the end of the day, I accept whatever you determine. You're God, I work for you, you don't work for me. אנכי עפר ואפר Anochi afar va'efer. And I'd like to humbly suggest to you, we do the same. When? Every single day. We do the same thing every single day. Why? What do we do? We say the עמידה Amidah. And what is the עמידה Amidah? ברוך אתה Baruch Atah, we talk to השם Hashem first person. You, you, you. אתה חונן לאדם דעת Atah chonen l'adam da'as. אתה Atah, you, you, you. Here's what we want you to do. You do this, you do this, you do this. This is the way we see the world. This is what we're asking you to do. This is what we protest and object about. רפאנו Refa'einu, ברך עלינו barech aleinu. You, you, you, do this, do that. And what do we do right afterwards? We fall down on our arm. We're עפר ואפר afar va'efer. תחנון Tachanun. I'm a גאָרנישט gornisht, I'm a nothing. We're following exactly the precedent of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. Except when I was in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael last week, I דאווענ'ט davened at גער Ger every day. If you ever דאווענ'ט davened at the גער בית מדרש Ger Beis Medrash, it's a huge room and multiple מנינים minyanim everywhere. They never said תחנון tachanun one day. So I asked a חסיד chasid. He said, look around this room, you don't think there's a ברית bris every day here? So they don't say תחנון tachanun ever. It's a ברית bris every day. כן ירבו Ken yirbu, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem. But the text of the תורה Torah, of the סידור siddur, you say שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei, you take three steps forward, ויגש vayigash. With our chest out and our head high and brazenly and boldly, and we protest and we object and we say, השם Hashem, I'm here to advocate and to fight for and to protest. And right afterwards, like אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, עפר ואפר afar va'efer. But I also know my place. I'm a nothing, I'm a no one, I'm dust and I'm ash. We fall right on our arm and we say תחנון Tachanun immediately afterwards. פרק י״ט פסוק כ״ז Perek Yud Tes, Pasuk Kaf Zayin.Page 88. וישכם אברהם בבוקר אל המקום אשר עמד שם את פני השם Vayashkem Avraham baboker el hamakom asher amad sham es pnei Hashem. אברהם Avraham wakes up in the morning and he goes to the place that he stood there. What do we learn from there? אברהם Avraham is going back to the place. What place? That he had passed through before. Says the גמרא ברכות Gemara Brachos, the גמרא ברכות דף ו׳ Gemara Brachos daf vav on this פסוק pasuk. אמר רבי חלבו כל הקובע מקום לתפילתו Amar Rabbi Chelbo kol hakove'a makom l'tfilaso. If a person, what do you learn from this? The fact that אברהם Avraham went back to the same place he was means he has a מקום קבוע makom kavua. קבוע Kavua. He has a set מקום makom. He דאווענ'ט davens in the same place. He doesn't make his way around the שול shul, who do I want to שמועסן shmooze with today, I'll move my seat every day. Which מנין minyan do I want to go to? Which שול shul do I want to דאווען daven at? He has a מקום קבוע makom kavua. This is my place, my set place. Says the גמרא ברכות Gemara Brachos, אמר רבי חלבו כל הקובע מקום לתפילתו אלקי אברהם בעזרו Amar Rabbi Chelbo, kol hakovea makom l'tfilaso, Elokei Avraham b'ezro. Whoever has a set place to דאווען daven, whoever has a מקום קבוע makom kavua, ooh wah. Then you are imitating, you're emulating, you're following the footsteps of אברהם Avraham, and the God of אברהם Avraham will come help you like he helped אברהם Avraham. וכשמת אומרים לו u'keshemes omrim lo, if a person dies, if they had a מקום קבוע makom kavua, you know what they'll say about you at your הספד hesped? אי עניו ואי חסיד מתלמידיו של אברהם אבינו Ei anav v'ei chasid mitalmidav shel Avraham Avinu. Wow, what a humble person, what a pious person, what a student of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. They had a מקום קבוע makom kavua. ואברהם גופא מנלן V'Avraham gufa minan? Where do you know אברהם Avraham had a מקום קבוע makom kavua? דכתיב וישכם אברהם בבוקר אל המקום אשר עמד שם ואין עמידה אלא תפילה Dichtiv vayashkem Avraham baboker el hamakom asher amad sham, v'ein amidah ela tefilah. Because the pasuk says, our pasuk, וישכם אברהם בבוקר vayashkem Avraham baboker, Avraham got up in the morning, he went back to the place that he stood. אין עמידה אלא תפילה Ein amidah ela tefilah, he went back to that place. אברהם Avraham had a מקום קבוע makom kavua. If you have a מקום קבוע makom kavua, God will help you like he helped אברהם Avraham, and when we die they will extol our virtues at our funeral and say, wow, a student of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, how humble, how pious, how righteous, they had a מקום קבוע makom kavua. What's the big deal about the מקום קבוע makom kavua? What's the big deal about a מקום קבוע makom kavua? מקום קבוע Makom kavua can cost you a lot of money. I toured Belz last week in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. 10,000 seats in the main בית מדרש Beis Medrash of Belz. I don't know if you heard that right. 10,000 seats. I was in the arena in Auburn last night, 8,000 seats. Belz בית מדרש Beis Medrash, להבדיל l'havdil, 10,000 seats. How do they afford to build this 100 million dollar building? It's an unbelievable building, Belz. That's the שבת Shabbos בית מדרש Beis Medrash. During the week there are 11 שטיבלאך shtieblach. They're 4,000 people a day that דאווען daven there שחרית, מנחה, מעריב Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv. They serve 12,000 cups of coffee. There are seven men's מקוואות mikvaos, each of they size of half a swimming pool, 40,000 towels. The stats are mind boggling in this building. They sell the seats. Depends, you on an aisle, you in the middle, you're in the front, you're in the back? Where, how far are you, how close are you to the רבי Rebbe? What can you see? So a מקום קבוע makom kavua could be expensive. When we do our expansion, please God soon, we hope to not need to raise money by selling seats because it's complicated when a person sells a seat, owns a seat, their name is on the seat. What does that mean to own that מקום קבוע makom kavua? So is that what the גמרא Gemara means? we're going to say wonderful things about you, the מקום קבוע makom kavua cost you big time. You bought a front leg, extra leg room, comfort plus seat, plush. So that's going to cost you big time. Wow, we're going to say wonderful things about you at your לוויה levaya. That's not what it means. רב וולבה Rav Wolbe says the following, the great משגיח Mashgiach says the following. חז״ל Chazal tell us that אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, his approach was an approach of humility, כמצות תפילה יכנוע ביטול אנוכיות k'mitzvas tefilah yichana bittul anochius. The whole essence of davening is ביטול bittul. Davening is all about, I'm not in charge, I'm not in control, it's not about me. השם Hashem, I submit, I surrender to you. I'm a nothing, you're everything. Davening, the davening is all an exercise in humility. Davening is nullifying our sense of of I, our אנוכיות anochius. And when you do that, you become a חסיד chasid. When you're an עניו anav, when you're humble, when you're humble and you realize I'm not in charge, I'm not in control, I submit, I surrender to you השם Hashem, then you become a חסיד chasid, you become a pious person. So a person who's קובע מקום לתפילתו kovea makom l'tfilaso means that a person continually returns to the same place, and what is that place? It's a place of humility. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu returning to that place is not only a physical, geographical description, it means coming back to a place of humility. And when a person lives with humility, which is the prerequisite to תפילה tefilah, authentic, earnest, heartfelt davening has to be built and founded on a sense of I submit and I surrender to you. You're in charge, you're in control, I am not. I work for you, you don't work for me. And that's what makes a person pious, and we follow in the footsteps by making a מקום קבוע makom kavua. רב שכטר Rav Schechter said differently. A couple weeks ago we had a massive סיום siyum down here. רב שכטר Rav Schechter, רב עמר Rav Amar came, סמיכת חבר Smichas Chaver. It's a beautiful, beautiful event. And there was a question and answer after and someone asked a question about, is it הלכתית halachically permissible to דאווען daven at a breakaway שול shul? To דאווען daven at a breakaway מנין minyan? I did not ask that question. Somebody asked that question. And רב שכטר Rav Schechter answered the following, he quoted this גמרא Gemara. And he said, what does it mean if you have a מקום קבוע makom kavua, you're an עניו anav? So he quoted the צל״ח Tzlach, the נודע ביהודה Noda B'Yehuda on the גמרא ברכות Gemara Brachos. And the נודע ביהודה Noda B'Yehuda says the following. He says, you know what it means to have a מקום קבוע makom kavua? And why does that have to do with humility? So the arrogant person davens and comes before God and feels, I'm so worthy, I'm so capable, my davening is so compelling that השם Hashem is going to answer whatever I want. But the humble person realizes I'm so inadequate, I'm so imperfect, that who am I to ask him and why would he ever answer me? So you know what my best bet is? To complement my תפילות tefilos with those around me. That my תפילות tefilos not just be the one I'm offering today, but I want to compound all the תפילות tefilos I offered in the past with all the תפילות tefilos I'm going to offer in the future, and maybe if you combine all my תפילות tefilos for all time, maybe it'll be a worthy enough תפילה tefilah that it's worth being answered. So how do I do that? I sit in the same seat and I go to the same מנין minyan, and I collect all the תפילות tefilos I've ever offered, mine and all the other people around me in that מנין minyan. אי עניו, אי חסיד Ei anav, ei chasid. That's what it means to be a תלמיד של אברהם אבינו talmid shel Avraham Avinu. That you go into a שול shul that is קדושת בית הכנסת kedushas beis haknesses. You דאווען daven with a ציבור tzibbur who value community. You sit in a מקום קבוע makom kavua, and you collect and you go gather all those תפילות tefilos that you've ever offered and the people around you have ever offered, and so the שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei that you say at מנחה Mincha today is not just that שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei. It's the שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei of every שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esrei that was ever offered in that seat, from that seat, in that row, in that מנין minyan, in that שול shul, in that sanctuary. And that's why the צל״ח Tzlach says that's what it means to be an עניו anav and a חסיד chasid, to have a מקום קבוע makom kavua. I saw another פשט pshat. You know why it means you're a humble person if you have a מקום קבוע makom kavua? Because if you're arrogant, every מנין minyan, every שול shul you go to, you get in a fight with someone. The גבאי gabbai didn't give you an עליה aliyah, they didn't give you enough honor on your יארצייט yahrzeit, they didn't give you פתיחה pesicha, they didn't give you מפטיר יונה maftir Yonah. They didn't give you enough כבוד kavod. So you end up going to another מנין minyan. Then you go end up going to another שול shul and you're constantly running away to different מנינים minyanim, different שול'ן shuls because it's all about you and your כבוד kavod and the מחלוקת machlokes and the fight you get into. A person who could sit in the same seat, in the same מנין minyan, the same שול shul, a מקום קבוע makom kavua over and over and over again, אי עניו, אי חסיד Ei anav, ei chasid. How humble you must be, that you're there to דאווען daven, it's not about you, it's about him. If you have stay, if you have staying power, if you could be in a מקום קבוע makom kavua, then like אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, you're a humble person. It's about that מקום קבוע makom kavua, that is what it is about. פרק י״ט פסוק כ״ח Perek Yud Tes, Pasuk Kaf Ches.ויהי בשחת אלקים את ערי הככר ויזכר אלקים את אברהם וישלח את לוט מתוך ההפיכה בהפוך את הערים אשר ישב בהן לוט Vayehi b'shacheis Elokim es arei hakikar, vayizkor Elokim es Avraham, vayishlach es Lot mitoch hahafeicha, ba'hafoch es he'arim asher yashav bahen Lot. רבי ירוחם Rav Yeruchem says something amazing here. רבי ירוחם Rav Yeruchem says the רמב״ן Ramban tells us לוט Lot. Why is אברהם Avraham feel so compelled to go save לוט Lot? He's fighting for לוט Lot, he advocates for לוט Lot, and he literally saves לוט Lot in the war of the four and the five kings last week's פרשה parsha and now. So says the רמב״ן Ramban, היה זכות להצילו בזכות אברם כי בעבורו הוא גר בסדום Haya zechus l'hatzilo bizchus Avram ki ba'avuro hu gar b'Sdom. השם Hashem is saving לוט Lot in the merit of אברהם Avraham. Why? It's because of אברהם Avraham that לוט Lot is living in סדום Sdom. לולי אברהם עודנו בחרן במולדתו וגם זה ענין ששם אברהם נפשו בכפו לרדוף המלכים בעבורו Lulei Avraham odeinu b'Charan b'moladeto v'gam zeh inyan shesam Avraham nafsho b'chapo lirdof hamlachim ba'avuro. אברהם Avraham feels a personal responsibility for לוט Lot. You know why? Because if not for him, they'd still be living in חרן Charan. אברהם Avraham answered the call from השם Hashem to head for כנען Kenaan, לוט Lot came with him, and only because לוט Lot followed him on that journey did לוט Lot end up in סדום Sdom, so אברהם Avraham feels a personal responsibility for him. Says רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, says the great משגיח Mashgiach of the מיר Mir, says רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, you know what I understand from this רמב״ן Ramban? עד כמה צריך אדם לחוש אחריות על מעשיו Ad kama tzarich adam lachush achrayus al ma'asav. How and to what degree a person must take responsibility for their actions. A person has to realize the consequences of their actions, the responsibility of our actions. The choices we make, the choices we make have consequences for ourselves and people around us. And we can't be flippant or casual and say, well, that's the way השם Hashem wanted it to be. That's just the way it is. That's just the way it happened. If a לוט Lot ended up in סדום Sdom and I can trace that result to my being the cause because we left חרן Charan, then I've got to take responsibility. אחריות Achrayus. If you listen to last week on Behind the Bima, I interviewed Rav Berkowitz, the רֹאשׁ יְשִׁיבָה Rosh Yeshiva of Aish HaTorah. It's an incredible conversation, was such a זכות zechus for me, over an hour interview conversation with him. He's one of the biggest פוסקים poskim maybe of the Anglo community in ירושלים Yerushalayim, in ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael today. רֹאשׁ יְשִׁיבָה Rosh Yeshiva of Aish. Extraordinary, extraordinary person. We had a conversation about this, I asked him about שידוכים shidduchim today. And he said the problem is not שידוכים shidduchim, the problem is even before you get to שידוכים shidduchim, are we teaching young men אחריות achrayus? Are we teaching בני ישיבה bnei yeshiva how to take אחריות achrayus? What it means to be responsible, what it means to be accountable, what it means to take אחריות achrayus. What it means to take אחריות achrayus. Says רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, that's what this רמב״ן Ramban is getting at, that אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu takes אחריות achrayus. If לוט'ס Lot's in סדום Sdom, you don't just say, well, לוט Lot was distracted, לוט Lot was tempted, לוט Lot ended up in the wrong neighborhood, that's his fault, that's his problem. אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu says, well, לוט Lot would be living in חרן Charan if not for me. So if he ended up in סדום Sdom, I've got to step up. אחריות Achrayus. It's the name of the game, it's what it means to be a Jew, extreme ownership, to take אחריות achrayus over our lives, to take responsibility. כ״א ח׳ Kaf Aleph Ches. We're about halfway through what I wanted to share with you today. פרק כ״א פסוק ח׳ Perek Kaf Aleph, Pasuk Ches. יצחק Yitzchak is finally born. ויגדל הילד vayigdal hayeled, he grows up, ויגמל vayigamal, he's weaned, it's the source of בר מצוה bar mitzvah. ויעש אברהם משתה גדול ביום הגמל את יצחק Vaya'as Avraham mishteh gadol b'yom higamel es Yitzchak. אברהם Avraham makes a big party on the day that he weans יצחק Yitzchak. He makes a big party. How do we define a big party? How do we define a big party? This is another רב ירוחם Rav Yeruchem, two רב ירוחם'ס Rav Yeruchem's in a row. How do we define a big party? Was there only chicken or was there a meat option? How big was the שמחה simcha? Was the orchestra? A guy on a keyboard or 20 piece orchestra? Was there one famous singer, two or three famous singers? How many people did you have? How many people were invited? Two video crews or one video crew? The flowers, the חופה chuppah. Our definition of a שמחה simcha. Look at רש״י Rashi. What does it mean? ויעש אברהם משתה גדול Vaya'as Avraham mishteh gadol, he made a big party. משתה גדול Mishteh gadol. וואו! שמחה Simcha spot? It was on all the Instagram. What was it mean משתה גדול mishteh gadol? So רש״י Rashi, שהיו שם גדולי הדור shehayu sham gedolei hador. שם ועבר ואבימלך Shem v'Ever v'Avimelech. You know what made it a משתה גדול mishteh gadol? The גדולי הדור gedolei hador were there. The גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael were there. עד כמה שפת התורה שונה משפתינו Ad kama sfat haTorah shona misfateinu. How different the language of the Torah is different than our language, says רב ירוחם Rav Yerucham. When we think of a משתה גדול mishteh gadol, we think about the orchestra, the menu, the attendance, the venue, the flowers, the photography. When the Torah thinks of a משתה גדול mishteh gadol, you know what it thinks about? Who was there? Were the גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael? Were the צדיקים tzadikim and צדקניות tzidkanios? Were the righteous people? That's what it means to be a משתה גדול mishteh gadol.My friend Lavi Greenspan got married this week. He and I were in ישיבה yeshiva together. He's been blind since he was 20, he went blind, and he got married this week to an extraordinary woman. And there were pictures and videos, I wasn't at the wedding, circulating. Since he went blind at 20, and Lavi can't learn or read on his own, obviously blind, so he asks others to have חברותות chavrusas with him to read with him. So many stories I could tell you, now's not the time. Including, he asks them to learn with him in his ספרים sfarim and to underline certain parts because he's such faith in השם Hashem that he'll see once again, he wants to go to the ספרים sfarim to see what was underlined because he believes that he would, he'll see again. That's his trust, that's in his faith in השם Hashem. And one of the things that he did when he went blind, he got the phone number of גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael, and he calls them all the time for a דבר תורה dvar Torah, for a ברכה bracha. So at his wedding, the pictures and the videos of what came out, from רב שכטר Rav Schechter sitting next to רב ירוחם אולשין Rav Yerucham Olshin and רב מלכיאל קוטלר Rav Malkiel Kotler, רב וואכטפויגל Rav Wachtfogel, all the גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael of America were all at this wedding, were all so happy, were all so joyous, were all so incredibly happy. That's a משתה גדול mishteh gadol. When you look at the videos and the pictures of that incredible שמחה simcha from this week, nobody's looking at the flowers. Who was the singer? What did the bar look like? How well was it stocked? What was the menu? Was there just chicken, or did they also have meat? Nobody's looking. You know what a משתה גדול mishteh gadol is? שהיו שם גדולי הדור Shehayu sham gedolei hador. That's a משתה גדול mishteh gadol. When we have the merit to welcome, to invite, and to make it easy for גדולי ישראל gedolei Yisrael to come. You know, you have people who will spend up the wazoo to impress on the physical part, but to say, you know what, I want this גדול gadol to come, so I'm gonna pay for a car service. I'm going to make it easy for them. That, oh no, I don't have any money for that. That's not important. That nobody will see or be impressed by. So, you see the language, the vernacular of the תורה Torah is very different. Who has another hour? Anyone want to sit for another hour?So much more. Okay. Good news is we're gonna read פרשת וירא Parshas Vayeira next week as well. If you've not yet, take out your phone and go on rabbiefremgoldberg.org/whatsapp and join the פרשה Parsha perspective WhatsApp group. You don't know, maybe one of these extra things I didn't get to, I'll just throw in as bonus material. Maybe, you never know. But if you want to keep up with the schedule of the שיעור shiur, get the פרשה parsha write-up, get some bonus material, join the WhatsApp group. Until next time, first of all, vote today also, by the way. It's election day. Everyone has a responsibility, go vote. Till next time, stay happy.
