Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. This morning, Parsha class is generously sponsored, the series is sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש l'iluy nishmas Dovid ben Menachem Manash. This morning's שיעור shiur has many co-sponsors as well, to whom we're all so grateful. Hillel Shuster in memory of יעקב צבי בן מנשה שוסטר Yaakov Tzvi ben Menashe Shuster, who would have loved and argued with Rabbi Goldberg's Torah insights every week. It's true, he would have. I knew him. And Rabbi Richard and Louise Biller in memory of their beloved mothers, Ethel Raff, איטא בת אריה לייב הלוי Ita bas Aryeh Leib HaLevi, whose יארצייט yahrzeit is tomorrow, and Ella Biller, איידל בת צבי Eidel bas Tzvi, whose יארצייט yahrzeit is on ו׳ ניסן Vav Nissan. Thank you so much. By Sharon Wanger and Jonathan Wanger in loving memory of their dear husband and father, Bruce Wanger, דוב ארי בן ישראל Dov Ari ben Yisrael, on his seventh יארצייט yahrzeit. By Marilyn and Jeremy Strauss, my dear friends, in memory of their dear friend Bruce Wagner, whose יארצייט yahrzeit was yesterday. May his נשמה neshamah have an עלייה aliyah. By Brenda Goldbrenner in memory of her father, משה בן אברם Moshe ben Avram, on his 20th יארצייט yahrzeit. His נשמה neshamah should have an עלייה aliyah. And finally, for a happy occasion, by the Lynn family who sponsored in honor of their dear friends Laurie and Deborah Halpern. Sunday night we had a beautiful, magnificent shul dinner and among our general honorees were Laurie and Deborah, the Halperns are incredible, extraordinary people. The Lynns are so generous in sponsoring, being excited for you to have received this very fitting honor from our shul and community. They lead by example, continue shining the light of השם Hashem on so many and having ברכה והצלחה bracha v'hatzlacha. Thank you to our many sponsors this morning and thank you to all of you who participated in our global campaign. I'm not going to speak about it today because we met 106% of our goal. Unlike the משכן Mishkan, it's not והותר v'hoser, there's nothing extra or leftover. You can still give if you haven't yet. We always welcome more, but tremendous gratitude to all those who made it a success. Thank you. If you benefit from our content, if you listen, watch, or read and enjoy, we are very very grateful for your partnership.We have the privilege this week of beginning a new book in the Torah, the third book of the Torah, ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra. Page 544 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. ויקרא אל משה וידבר השם אליו מאהל מועד לאמר Vayikra el Moshe vayidaber Hashem eilav mei'Ohel Moed leimor. God called, He summoned Moshe from the אהל מועד Ohel Moed, saying, דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם Daber el Bnei Yisrael v'amarta aleihem. Speak to the Jewish people, and tell them, אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן להשם Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem. When an individual offers, when they bring a קרבן korban to השם Hashem, here are the details, here are the rules, here are the laws. My new copy of אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar P'laos HaTorah did not come yet. So I cannot share any insights from it, but I did get another ספר sefer. Good friend Yudi Gross, gratitude for getting me this set. It's an incredible, incredible set of ספרים sfarim called אמרות טהרות Imros Tehoros by the רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka Rebbe. And there are tremendous, tremendous חסידישע Chasidishe insights, beautiful insights into the פרשה parsha. And he starts off, listen carefully, it's a beautiful, beautiful Torah. He says the following. He's quoting from the מאור עינים Meor Einayim of Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, the first of the Chernobyl dynasty, the Twerskis. The מאור עינים Meor Einayim says the following. The אלף זעירא alef z'eira. Open a חומש Chumash, look inside the Artscroll, you'll see the אלף alef is small. We've studied this many, many times, but every year we want to revisit it and offer new insight. There's a tradition, we start teaching children, children start learning חומש Chumash from ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra, the אלף זעירא alef z'eira, the small אלף alef like small schoolchildren, it's a hint, it's an illusion, that's where they should begin. And in the past we've developed that seems like the worst idea ever in all of human history. Start teaching children ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra? The most monotonous, litany, detailed, archaic laws that are not relatable at all today. That's if you want to turn off a generation of children, start teaching them from ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra. So why was that the custom, why was that the tradition? You'll have to listen to previous שיעורים shiurim. We spoke about it in the past. The אלף זעירא alef z'eira. And we spoke about משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu and his humility, ויקר, ויקרא vayikar, Vayikra, wanting to look like it was random, it was chance, it was happenstance. He left off the אלף alef just like the word that appears with Bilam. השם Hashem says, no way, absolutely not. You'll write it the way I dictated. And they compromised. They compromised with the small אלף alef. All this we spoke about in the past. But the מאור עינים Meor Einayim, the טשערנאבלער Chernobler Rebbe, deals with a different question. The הגמרא מביא עניין הכתוב שבתחילה אמר ויקרא אל משה Hagemara mevi inyan hakasuv she'bitchila omer Vayikra el Moshe. It says ויקרא אל משה Vayikra el Moshe. He called to Moshe. סתם Stam. ולא פירש מי הוא הקורא V'lo peiresh mi hu ha'korei. Who called? It's a very odd way to begin a book. It's a very odd way to begin a פרשה parsha. ויקרא אל משה Vayikra el Moshe. He called Moshe. My wife sometimes, we are incredibly aligned and attuned, we're two halves of a whole, we have a beautiful marriage, but she often will start a story or a sentence with, so I said to him, so she said to me, so this is, I said, I'm not in the middle of your thought process. I don't know what we're talking about over here. Beep, beep, beep. Back up the truck and start again. What are we, what story are you telling me? What are we talking about? What are we in the middle of discussing? So ויקרא אל משה Vayikra el Moshe. Third book begins, and He called to, yeah, who? Who called to Moshe? Who's he? Who's he? ואחר כך מסיים וידבר השם אליו V'achar kach mesayem vayidaber Hashem eilav. And then we catch up. So ויקרא אל משה Vayikra el Moshe, He called to Moshe, וידבר השם אליו vayidaber Hashem eilav, and God spoke to him. מי מדבר Mi medaber? Only now do we say who's speaking. ויותר היה ראוי לכתוב V'yoser hayah ra'uy lichtov? What would have made much more sense to write? ויקרא השם אל משה וידבר אליו Vayikra Hashem el Moshe vayidaber eilav. God called Moshe and he spoke to him. השם'ס Hashem's name seems out of place. It shouldn't be ויקרא אל משה וידבר השם אליו Vayikra el Moshe vayidaber Hashem eilav, it should be ויקרא השם אל משה וידבר אליו Vayikra Hashem el Moshe vayidaber eilav. It's a great question, טשערנאבלער Chernobler Rebbe, the מאור עינים Meor Einayim. And he explains at length, we'll try to summarize and only highlight some parts of it. He says הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves all the Jewish people. He loves each and every one of us, he loves all of his creations. And he's מצמצם metzamtzem himself. Even though he is infinite and omnipotent, and he is the source of all, sometimes he constricts and restricts himself in order to have a presence down here on earth, to dwell near and in each and every one of us. In fact, that's one of the names that we have for him. What are we looking for? The end of the book of שמות Shemos, גלות לגאולה galus l'geulah, building a משכן Mishkan was all to give him a dwelling place, השרת השכינה hashra'as ha'Shechinah. We want contact with the divine. One of the names we have for the divine is שכינה Shechinah. Why שכינה Shechinah? What's the root of the word שכינה Shechinah? שכן Shachen, neighbor. Like a good neighbor, השם Hashem is there. השם Hashem is always there. The שכינה Shechinah, he's a שכן shachen. The king, the president, the person in a position of power, they're not your neighbor. They're not available, they're not accessible, they're not next door. But השם Hashem wants to be, he wants a השראה hashra'ah, he wants a dwelling down here, דירה בתחתונים dirah b'tachtonim. He's a שכן shachen. He's a loving neighbor, he's accessible. You could borrow flour from him or a quart of milk, or he has a listening ear. שכינה Shechinah is מלשון שכן mi'lashon shachen. The level of relationship we should have, of course there's awe and admiration and a healthy dose of fear, we're going to get to that today, but also שכן shachen. He is a neighbor, accessible, relatable, loving, close. So אפילו רשע גדול יש לו עדיין הבורא יתברך afilu rasha gadol yesh lo adayin ha'Borei yisborach. Even the most wicked person has access to and a connection with השם Hashem. השם Hashem wants to send us a message. He wants to make his presence known. He wants to invite us to have a relationship. But a בן אדם אינו תופס תכף בתחילה... מאת הקדוש ברוך הוא השוכן אתו ben adam eino tofes takef b'tchila... meisa HaKadosh Baruch Hu ha'shochen ito. Sometimes a person is living life and they don't realize that you know the universe, the almighty, he's calling. He's sending signals. He's sending messages. He's inviting us to have an intimate and affectionate connection. But sometimes we're so caught up in our lives, we're so caught up in getting to the end of each day that we don't hear the signal. We don't hear the message. We don't see him. רק אחר כך כאשר מעורר אותו לשוב בתשובה אל השם יתברך Rak achar kach ka'asher me'orer oso lashuv b'teshuvah el Hashem yisborach. Only later does something significant happen in our life that rattles us or shakes us, that makes us examine our lives and now motivates and stimulates us to do תשובה teshuvah, to come close, to change, to transform. אז מתחיל להתבונן בכל מה שנעשה עמו az maschil l'hisbonen b'chol ma she'na'aseh imo. Only then do we begin to contemplate and look back reflectively, retroactively how he was revealing his hand, he was sending those signals, he was speaking and calling to us all along. ואז בא לו ההכרה אמיתית של אותו הזורע בא לנו מהבורא יתברך V'az ba lo ha'hakara ha'amitis shel oso ha'zore'a ba lanu mei'ha'Borei yisborach. Only then do we realize, I got fired that job, this didn't work out, I was delayed, that flight, this door closed, this door opened, this thing happened, you know that was all from השם Hashem. He was sending me a message, he was sending me a signal, he was trying to wake me up, he was inviting me to have a connection. And that's what it's telling us. וזהו רמז הכתוב V'zehu remez ha'kasuv. Listen to this געשמאק gishmak, beautiful insight. The הייליגע heilige מאור עינים Meor Einayim of the טשערנאבלער Chernobler. ויקרא אל משה, אלף זעירא Vayikra el Moshe, alef z'eira. אלף Alef who לשון אלוף lashon aluf. The letter אלף alef is an אלוף aluf, is the mighty general, רמז על השם יתברך שהוא אלוף של עולם remez al Hashem yisborach she'hu alufo shel olam. This is an allusion to God who is the אלף alef, the one, the only, the singular, who is the אלוף של עולם alufo shel olam. He is the general, he is in charge, he is in control of the entire world. זעירא Ze'ira. כביכול הוא מצמצם עצמו לשכון אצל כל אחד ואחד מישראל K'viyachol hu metzamtzem atzmo lishkon eitzel kol echad v'echad mi'Yisrael. The אלוף aluf chooses to be זעיר, זעירא zair, ze'ira. He constricts himself, he restricts himself, he appears small and hidden and behind the scenes, sending the signal, וקורא לו לשוב אליו יתברך שמו v'korei lo lashuv eilav yisborach shemo. So ויקרא אל משה, ויקרא Vayikra el Moshe, Vayikra. וידבר השם אליו Vayidaber Hashem eilav. Sometimes before God speaks to us explicitly, we can't hear him calling. Sometimes ויקרא Vayikra with a small אלף alef, he's behind the scenes. He's sending a signal, but he's small, he's hidden, he's hiding. The אלף alef, the אלוף aluf is זעירא ze'ira. We're in the last days of אדר Adar. מי שנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה Mi'she'nichnas Adar marbin b'simcha. I quote every year from all the Rebbes, מי שנכנס אדר, אלוף דר mi'she'nichnas Adar, aluf dar. When we enter not the month of אדר Adar, but when the theme that the אלוף aluf, that the one and only God דר dar, he lives in us, מי שנכנס mi'she'nichnas, when it enters us, מרבין בשמחה marbin b'simcha. You want joy, you want happiness, stop thinking you control this world, you even control your life. Stop taking credit, stop taking responsibility, stop taking blame. Let go and submit and surrender to השם Hashem. מי שנכנס Mi'she'nichnas, when it enters you, אדר, אלוף דר Adar, aluf dar, that the one and only God lives in us down here, when we can see him behind all that's happening, then מרבין בשמחה marbin b'simcha. Then you'll be joyous. Rashi says that שמחה simcha goes from the beginning of אדר Adar until פסח Pesach. Six weeks, not just מי שנכנס אדר mi'she'nichnas Adar. It's when you enter אדר Adar until פסח Pesach. So the fact that this week is ראש חודש ניסן Rosh Chodesh Nissan doesn't mean I guess we can go back to being miserable. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem, אדר'ס Adar's over, enough with the smiles, we can walk around פארביסן farbissene and miserable, frowning, negative, hypocritical. ברוך השם Baruch Hashem we can go back to our default. No, מי שנכנס אדר mi'she'nichnas Adar, from when we enter אדר Adar, זאגט דער רש\"י zogt der Rashi, until all the way until פסח Pesach, until פסח Pesach. So again, the אלף אדר alef Adar, אלוף דר aluf dar. ויקרא Vayikra small אלף alef, אלף זעירא alef z'eira, the אלוף aluf appears זעירא ze'ira. וידבר השם אליו Vayidaber Hashem eilav. מכאן ואילך הוא מרגיש בעליל שהקדוש ברוך הוא קורא אותו אליו יתברך שמו Mi'kan v'eilach hu margish b'alil she'Hakadosh Baruch Hu korei oso eilav yisborach shemo. להאיר לו אורו בכל יום ויום לסור מדרך הרע וללכת בדרך הטוב L'ha'ir lo oro b'chol yom v'yom lasur miderech ha'ra v'laleches b'derech ha'tov. Every year, every Jew, no matter how close, no matter how far, no matter how high, no matter how low, no matter what position we are in life, השם Hashem is calling us, ויקרא Vayikra. Sometimes it's an אלף זעירא alef z'eira. The אלוף aluf is זעירא ze'ira. He appears small. Where is he? Is that him? What signal is he sending? And only when we grab on, only when we extend the antenna, only when we pick up the signal, then וידבר השם אליו vayidaber Hashem eilav. Then השם Hashem shows his hand. Now we know he's the one who's speaking to us. So that's how the מאור עינים Meor Einayim says to read the beginning of the פרשה parsha. And that answers the question. ויקרא אל משה וידבר השם אליו Vayikra el Moshe vayidaber Hashem eilav, it should have said ויקרא השם אל משה וידבר אליו Vayikra Hashem el Moshe vayidaber eilav. Why does השם'ס Hashem's name not appear 'til later? Because the אלף זעירא alef z'eira, the ויקרא Vayikra, the calling sometimes seems small and hidden. You have to pick up the signal and only when you do, וידבר השם vayidaber Hashem, now you'll see השם Hashem everywhere. Now you'll hear him calling everywhere. Now you'll be in conversation and dialogue with him all the time. The הייליגע בעל שם טוב heilige Baal Shem Tov, זכותו יגן עלינו zechuso yagen aleinu, had a similar concept and idea. It's quoted by everybody. חז\"ל Chazal tell us, משלי, אבות, זוהר Mishlei, Avos, Zohar says, בכל יום ויום בת קול יוצאת מהר חורב b'chol yom v'yom bas kol yotzes mei'har Chorev, ומכרזת ואומרת שובו בנים שובבים u'machrezes v'omeres shuvu banim shovevim. Every day a heavenly voice goes out from הר סיני Har Sinai and says, return, return my children. And the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov wondered, ממה נפשך mi'mah nafshach? In הלכה'דיג halachic terminology, למדנות lomdus terminology, ממה נפשך mi'mah nafshach? If you could hear the בת קול bas kol, then why don't we hear it? And if you're not capable of hearing it, what's the point of it going out? Every day since הר סיני Har Sinai, a בת קול bas kol goes out, a heavenly voice goes out and proclaims, come home. Come back, return, improve, repair, redeem. Well, if it's capable of hearing it, why don't we hear it? And if we're incapable of hearing it, what's the point of it going out? איזו תועלת יש ממנה במה שיוצאת Eizo to'eles yesh me'menah b'mah she'yotzes? Says the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov, הבת קול היא אותן הרהורי תשובה המופיעים בלב כל אחד מישראל בכל יום ויום Ha'bas kol hi oson hirhurei teshuvah ha'mofi'im b'lev kol echad mi'Yisrael b'chol yom v'yom. You know that little פינטעלע איד pintele yid, that positive spark, that good voice inside you, the positive urge and instinct that you say, you know what? I'm going to make it to minyan today. You know what? I had a good juicy piece of לשון הרע lashon hara. I'm going to keep it to myself. I'm going to show discipline and dignity. You know what? I'm going to go to the שיעור shiur. You know what? I'm going to change, I'm going to grow, I'm going to improve. I'm going to be better. I'm going to try to be mindful and be patient and not get angry. That little פינטעלע איד pintele yid, that little voice that says you can and you should and you will, and this is your year, and we can be better, that's the בת קול bas kol. הן נובעים מכח אותו בת קול הקורא לאדם ואומרת לו שובה אליי Hein nov'im mi'koach oso bas kol ha'korei l'adam v'omeres lo shuva eilay. That's השם Hashem calling, hey, come home. I miss you. Talk to me. Come home to me. Enter this relationship, be invested again with me. That's the ויקרא אל משה Vayikra el Moshe. It's an אלף זעירא alef z'eira. The אלוף aluf is זעירא ze'ira. He appears small. Where is he? Is that him? What signal is he sending? And only when we grab on, only when we extend the antenna, only when we pick up the signal, then וידבר השם אליו vayidaber Hashem eilav. Then השם Hashem shows his hand. Now we know he's the one who's speaking to us. The question is, are we, are we listening? Are we picking up, are we picking up the signal? That is the first idea from the הייליגע heilige רחמסטריווקא Rachmastrivka, whose name is impossible to pronounce, quoting from the מאור עינים Meor Einayim. Then פסוק ב pasuk beis goes on. פסוק ב Pasuk beis tells us, what is the message that God had? דבר אל בני ישראל Daber el Bnei Yisrael. He tells Moshe, speak to the Jewish people, ואמרת אליהם v'amarta aleihem and tell them, אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן להשם Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem. A person offers a קרבן korban להשם l'Hashem, מן הבהמה מן הבקר מן הצאן תקריבו את קרבנכם min ha'behemah min ha'bakar min ha'tzon takrivu es korbancem. Offered from the בהמה behemah, from the בקר bakar, from the צאן tzon. Do you see something strange happening in this פסוק pasuk? Do you pick up on, do you notice a shift? Notice a shift? What shift? Anyone? What's happening here? The אור החיים Ohr HaChaim points out, there's a שינוי לשון shinui lashon. אדם כי יקריב Adam ki yakriv, פתח בלשון יחיד pasach b'lashon yachid. Thank you. We start out with singular. אדם Adam, person, singular, individual. כי יקריב Ki yakriv, when you individually bring a קרבן korban. And then how does the פסוק pasuk end? תקריבו את קרבנכם Takrivu es korbancem. You in the plural offer your קרבן korban. We're meant to read the Torah thoughtfully. We're meant to pick up on these shifts, these changes, and to wonder why, to ask questions. What motivates and stimulates our commentaries, even though in medieval times, their tradition was simply to write the comment. They give answers without the question. But they were moved by a question and we should be too. So why do we start with לשון יחיד lashon yachid, אדם כי יקריב Adam ki yakriv, and we conclude with לשון רבים lashon rabbim, מכם תקריבו את קרבנכם takrivu es korbancem? So he explains the following. He says, לפני כל מצוה צריכים לקבל מצות ואהבת לרעך כמוך Lifnei kol mitzvah tzrichim l'kabel mitzvas v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. A Jew before every מצוה mitzvah needs to think to themselves, I don't live in this world by myself. I'm not alone, I'm not isolated, it's not all about me. How can I live with and connect with and feel united and together with others? We're all part of one big matrix, we're all part of one big community, we're all part of one big עם am. You know the אריז\"ל Arizal is quoted in שער הכוונות Shaar HaKavanos. The אריז\"ל Arizal said, before a Jew begins דאווענען davening every morning, they should say, הריני מקבל על עצמי מצות ואהבת לרעך כמוך Hareini mekabel al atzmi mitzvas v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. I accept upon myself to fulfill the commandment to love a fellow Jew as I love myself. כי על ידי זה יוכל להתפלל בשלמות הראוי אחר שיקשר עצמו עם כל ישראל Ki al yedei zeh yuchal l'hispallel b'shleimus ha'ra'uy achar she'yikshor atzmo im kol Yisrael. You can't get up and דאווען daven for yourself. You can't think only about your needs, your wants, what you're missing. The prerequisite to דאווענען davening, your prayer has to be predicated on, I see and I look and I notice and I care about the people around me. Says the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim, that's the פשט pshat in the shift here. אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן להשם Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem. האיש החפץ להתקרב לפני השם Ha'ish ha'chafetz l'hiskarev lifnei Hashem. The individual who wants to get close to God, what's the root of the word קרבן korban? קרוב Karov. A קרבן korban is not some ancient, barbaric sacrifice. A קרבן korban is the desire, the yearning to come close to God. I once wrote a whole article because there was a, whenever someone says, as an Orthodox rabbi, you should be suspicious. But I once wrote a response, somebody wrote as an Orthodox rabbi why they're against קרבנות korbanos and they're a vegan and they don't long for the return of קרבנות korbanos and trying to explain that קרבנות korbanos won't really return. No criticism of vegans or vegetarians or those who for health reasons or other reasons don't eat. However, we daven every day for the return of קרבנות korbanos. It's not barbaric. It's not something which is archaic or ancient. Its symbolism, it's beautiful. It's what these פרשיות parshios we're about to read are all about. There's an animal in us, and we are human being, but we're also made up of an animal instinct, an animal impulse. And when offering that קרבן korban, we are essentially saying to ourselves and to השם Hashem that we're offering the animal inside ourselves. God, in this incredible battle, in this tension, in this war between the animal in me, the animal in me that wants to eat like an animal and leave my room like a pigsty, and wants to be undisciplined, and just wants to give in to my urge like an animal, I will defeat that animal, I will slaughter that animal, I will sacrifice that animal to you. The fats of indulgences, and the wine of luxury, and the water of simplicity, and every part of the laws surrounding קרבנות korbanos are all symbols of the mindfulness the one bringing the קרבן korban would go through, this education, this curriculum they would go through in order to improve and to better themselves. So the root of the word קרבן korban is קרוב karov. It is a desire, a longing, a yearning. השם Hashem, I want to come close to you. And I know that the barrier between me and you is my animal impulse, what makes me neglect you and to be disobedient to you, what makes me sabotage my own relationship with you is this animal impulse and instinct. So השם Hashem, I'm going to be sovereign. I'm going to reign supreme. My godly soul, my godly spirit, my sense of discipline and dignity will defeat the animal inside me, and that's why I'm offering this sacrifice, this symbol, this statement that I offer that I offer you. Says the אור החיים Ohr HaChaim, that's what's going on over here. האיש החפץ להתקרב לפני השם Ha'ish ha'chafetz l'hiskarev lifnei Hashem. The individual who wants to get close to God, לעמוד בתפילה לפני השם יתברך כראוי la'amod b'tefillah lifnei Hashem yisborach k'ra'uy. Today in lieu of קרבנות korbanos, we have תפילות tefillos. I want to stand up, I want to daven, I want to pour out my heart, I want to confide. העצה לזה שיקשר עצמו עם כללות ישראל Ha'eitzah l'zeh she'yikshor atzmo im klalus Yisrael. In order to do so, you first need to connect with the greater Jewish people. תקריבו את קרבנכם Takrivu es korbancem, לשון רבים lashon rabbim. שיכלול עצמו עם כללות ישראל לקיים ואהבת לרעך כמוך She'yichlol atzmo im klalus Yisrael l'kayem v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha. So now reread the פסוק pasuk. אדם כי יקריב מכם Adam ki yakriv mikem, you the individual want to get close to God, first, first, you have to תקריבו את קרבנכם takrivu es korbancem. You have to connect with the כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. First you have to care about the community. First you have to be part of something bigger than yourself. The prerequisite to connecting to השם Hashem is caring about and connecting with and being part of something bigger than you. The אלשיך הקדוש Alshich Hakadosh has a different interpretation. He says, האמת כי בשעה שאדם מישראל חוטא וחייב להביא קרבן, כל ישראל חייבין גם כן על אותו החטא Ha'emes ki b'sha'ah she'adam mi'Yisrael chotei v'chayav l'havi korban, kol Yisrael chayavim gam kein al oso ha'cheit. So we asked, why do we shift from לשון יחיד lashon yachid to לשון רבים lashon rabbim? Why does the פסוק pasuk go from the singular to the plural? Answer number two, the אלשיך הקדוש Alshich Hakadosh. You know why? Because every time someone in the community makes a mistake, shows poor judgment, has a fail, we're all collectively responsible. כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה Kol Yisrael areivim zeh la'zeh. If we would have reached out, if we would have connected, if we would have inspired, if we would have offered to learn together, if we would have been better role models ourselves, if we would have been non-judgmental and loving and warm and embracing, if we would have acted differently, they wouldn't have felt pushed away or judged, they wouldn't have thought so little of themselves to act in that way. חל חוב גם עליהם להביא קרבן Chal chov gam aleihem l'havi korban. So every individual who makes a mistake, everyone really needs to bring a קרבן korban for the fact that it is an indictment of us that we failed as a community to that individual to have been a better role model, better teacher, better חברותא chavrusa, better host, or better friend. יכלול בזה גם את חטאת כלל ישראל, שעל ידי קרבן זה יתכפר לכולם בפעם אחת, חטא האדם עצמו, והן חטאת כל קהל עדת ישראל Yichlol b'zeh gam es chatas Klal Yisrael, she'al yedei korban zeh yiskaper l'kulam b'pa'am achas, cheit ha'adam atzmo, v'hein chatas kol kehal adas Yisrael. So that's why it says, says the אלשיך Alshich, אדם כי יקריב Adam ki yakriv, לשון יחיד lashon yachid. When an individual has to bring a קרבן korban because they made a חטא cheit, they made a mistake, they came up short, they did something wrong, מכם mikem, לשון רבים lashon rabbim. על ידי הקרבן יביא האיש היחיד לכפר על נפשו, יכפר על כל ישראל Al yedei ha'korban yavi ha'ish ha'yachid l'chaper al nafsho, yechaper al kol Yisrael. The individual is liable, they made the mistake, but it's an indictment of the community and the greater people because we could have been different. It's an enormous insight because it puts enormous responsibility on the community and on the whole, we bear responsibility. It's a total shift and a paradigm shift of how we should look at outliers in the community. Not נעבעך nebach, not with judgment, not with a sense of superiority. We should look and say that's a reflection on us. There are kids in the community who are turned off, who are disaffected, who are making mistakes and poor judgment. We need to look in the mirror. It's a question and we have to take responsibility. That's on us. And that's why, says the אלשיך Alshich, the shift from the singular to the plural. The דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim is a grandson of the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov. The דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim has another insight. When you bring this קרבן korban, where do you bring it from, says the פסוק pasuk? מן הבהמה, מן הבקר, מן הצאן Min ha'behemah, min ha'bakar, min ha'tzon. What does that mean? From the animals, from the cattle, or from the flock. ברוך אתה ד' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. אמן. Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha'olam shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. Amen. So the דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim says, this is an allusion to the פסוק pasuk we recite every Shabbos at מנחה Mincha, except for when we don't. אדם ובהמה תושיע השם Adam u'behemah toshia Hashem. A פסוק pasuk in תהילים ל\"ו Tehillim Lamed Vav. Which the גמרא Gemara in חולין Chullin learns, על אותן בני אדם שערומין בדעת כאדם ומשימין עצמן כבהמה al osan bnei adam she'arumin b'daas k'adam u'mesimim atzman k'veheimah. A person who acts like a בהמה behemah, השם Hashem should save, should intervene and save. What does it mean a person who acts like a בהמה behemah? הבהמה אף שאין לה דעת כלל, יש לה דעה מועטת להכיר איזה דברים יכול להזיק לה Ha'behemah af she'ein lah daas klal, yesh lah de'ah mu'etes l'hakir eizeh dvarim yechol l'hazik lah. An animal is very low level of intelligence, very low level of awareness. The animal is low level. Yet, an animal knows enough to avoid harm. An animal knows enough to recoil and withdraw from that which damaged, that which could injure, that which could harm it. ולהיזהר לברוח מהן U'l'hizaher livroach mei'hen and to run away. It's a natural animal instinct when it engages an animal that's stronger, more dangerous, the animal runs away. ויש לאדם ללמוד הימנה כל שכן V'yesh l'adam lilmod heimena kol she'ken. Says the דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim, so a human being should learn. If we are so much more intelligent, so much more sophisticated, so much further advanced than an animal, and an animal knows how to avoid that which is harmful to it, how could we indulge in that which is harmful to us? שיש לו דעת וצריך להיזהר ולהרחיק נפשו מכל דבר מזיקין לו She'yesh lo daas v'tzarich l'hizaher u'l'harichik nafsho mi'kol davar mazikin lo. וזהו בני אדם שערומין בדעת ומשימין עצמם כבהמה V'zehu bnei adam she'arumin b'daas u'mesimim atzman k'veheimah. וזהו שאמר הכתוב, אדם כי יקריב מכם V'zehu she'amar ha'kasuv, Adam ki yakriv mikem. Says the דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim, אדם החפץ להכניע עצמו להתקרב לשם יתברך לעבדו Adam ha'chafetz l'hachnia atzmo l'hiskarev l'Hashem yisborach l'ovdo. A person whose size says, you know what, I want to dedicate my life to the service of השם Hashem. I want to be mindful and aware and focused. I want to be thoughtful. I want to be invested. I want him to be a שכן shachen, my neighbor. I want a relationship with השם Hashem. הנה בתחילה צריך לחזק עצמו Hinei ba'tchila tzarich l'chazek atzmo. So what's the first thing? Listen to how he reads the פסוק pasuk. This is a חסידישע Chasidishe פרשה Parsha Perspectives. For some of you, you're on, you're in heaven, you're on fire. For others, you've broken out in hives. But too bad, we could all use a little bit more חסידות Chasidus in our lives. So listen to what he says the דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim. Here's how to read the פסוק pasuk. You ready? אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן להשם Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem. If you want to be close to השם Hashem, כי יקריב ki yakriv, if you want to be close מכם mikem of yourself, להשם l'Hashem. So what's the first thing you have to do? מן הבהמה Min ha'behemah. להיזהר ולהרחיק ולשמר עצמו מכל דבר מזיק לנפשו L'hizaher u'l'harichik u'l'shamer atzmo mi'kol davar mazik l'nafsho. Stop being a בהמה behemah. Don't live life like a בהמה behemah. מן Min, rise up, transcend. Stop being a בהמה behemah. Stop eating everything you see. Stop saying everything that comes to your mind. Stop indulging every impulse, every desire, every יצר הרע yetzer hara that you have. אדם כי יקריב Adam ki yakriv. You want to be קרוב karov to השם Hashem? You have a choice. If you're going to indulge the animal in you, if you're going to indulge the basest, the lowest form of who you are, you're going to be distant and far from השם Hashem. If you nourish and nurture the צלם אלוקים Tzelem Elokim inside you, מכם mikem, the צלם אלוקים Tzelem Elokim inside you, מן הבהמה min ha'behemah, you're going to transcend and rise up above and be supreme and sovereign over the animal in you, then you could be יקריב מכם yakriv mikem, then you could be קרוב karov. מן הבקר Min ha'bakar, צורך לעסוק בתורה tzorech la'asok b'Torah. The גמרא Gemara, מנגחים זה זה בתורה menagchim zeh b'zeh b'Torah. The גמרא Gemara in ברכות מ\"ו Brachos Mem Vav likens Torah scholars to oxen that gore one another, that battle with one another in the מלחמתה של תורה milchamta shel Torah. מן הבקר Min ha'bakar, learn from the בקר bakar. מן הצאן Min ha'tzon, יכיר שהקדוש ברוך הוא ושכינתא yakkir she'Hakadosh Baruch Hu v'Shechintei. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the shepherd, see yourself as the flock, as the sheep, and submit and surrender to the shepherd. So homiletically he sees in this פסוק pasuk beautifully, אדם כי יקריב Adam ki yakriv, you want to be קרוב karov, you got to give up yourself. How? Learn מן הבהמה min ha'behemah, learn from an animal, avoid that which is going to harm you. מן הבקר Min ha'bakar, be involved in the מלחמתה של תורה milchamta shel Torah, learn Torah. מן הצאן Min ha'tzon, surrender to השם Hashem as a member of his flock, recognizing he is, he is our shepherd. He is our shepherd, acknowledge and surrender to him. Okay, before we get to the next פסוק pasuk, I'll call Rav Konikov to take over. I'll tell you Rav Shaul Alter, the current גערער Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva. The Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva asks a great question. We're going to get past the second פסוק pasuk of the פרשה parsha. Just bear with me. There's a lot. Everything we've said today is new. We've analyzed these פסוקים psukim every year since I was born. Just joking, since we started the פרשה שיעור parsha shiur. And yet all everything we said this year is new, and there's still you could spend the rest of your life on this פסוק pasuk. But we'll get past it. Just bear with me. The גמרא Gemara tells us, אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן להשם Adam ki yakriv mikem korban l'Hashem. Why does it use the word אדם adam? What other word for man do we have? איש Ish. What else? אנוש Enosh. What else? גבר Gever. What else? We have other words, many synonyms for man, generic man, not gendered man. Everyone relax. We have many words for generic man. אדם, אנוש, גבר Adam, enosh, gever, and more. איש Ish is what the Torah generally uses going forward. Yet here it... Adam. Why? אדם הראשון Adam Harishon, reminiscent, it should immediately word association should take us back to אדם הראשון Adam Harishon. And there's a beautiful כתב סופר Ksav Sofer on why we've quoted that in the past. But חז\"ל Chazal tell us why אדם הראשון Adam Harishon. חז\"ל Chazal say something amazing. That just like אדם הראשון Adam Harishon offered a קרבן korban and it wasn't from stolen goods, so too these קרבנות korbanos. חז\"ל Chazal rule, one one has to be vigilant. Person has to be scrupulous. You cannot bring these קרבנות korbanos from stolen goods. Can't bring them from stolen goods. The רמב\"ם Rambam quotes this הלכות בית הבחירה פרק ב הלכה ב Hilchos Beis Habechirah perek beis halacha beis based on a מדרש Medrash quoted by רש\"י Rashi in the beginning of our פרשה parsha, אדם Adam. Why אדם Adam? Just like אדם Adam didn't didn't bring from something stolen, you can't bring from something stolen.What's the problem with that learning? With that teaching, with that derivation? What's the problem? Just like אדם Adam, so too you. What's the big difference between you and אדם Adam? אדם Adam owned everything in the world. There was no one to steal from. He couldn't have stolen if he wanted. There was no one, nothing to steal from. So what do you mean just like אדם Adam didn't bring from stolen, so too you can't bring from stolen. What kind of an analogy is that? There was no one and nothing for אדם Adam to have stolen from. So to you can't, we can steal from so many. And there are many answers given to that question.But says the גערער ראש ישיבה Gerer Rosh Yeshiva רב שאול אלתר שליט\"א Rav Shaul Alter shlita, says there's a deeper message. In נעילת יום כיפור Neilas Yom Kippur we end off in the נעילה Neilah and we say למען נחתום את ידינו מגזל l'maan nachtom et yadeinu migazel. Let our hands be absolved from theft. This is the culmination of יום כיפור Yom Kippur. The climax of the holiest day of the year, at the holiest point of the year in נעילה Neilah, in the peak of our תפילות tfilos after 25 hours of fasting and we say, let us be absolved of theft. There are people who steal. גמרא Gmara says it's one of the three עבירות aveiros it's hard to not do each and every day. But do we steal? That's what's on our mind? That's our biggest, most egregious mistake? The גמרא בברכות Gmara in Brachos, דף ל\"ה daf lamed-hei tells us, you have to make a ברכה bracha before you eat. Why? Because if you reach into the cabinet, the refrigerator of your own home, food that you previously paid for, and now you're going to eat it without making a ברכה bracha, it is as if you stole from השם Hashem. Stole from השם Hashem. Why is neglecting a ברכה bracha like stealing? Why specifically eating? There are plenty of other sins you could compare it to. So here's what the גערער ראש ישיבה Gerer Rosh Yeshiva רב שאול אלתר Rav Shaul Alter answers.A תלמיד חכם talmid chacham, חז\"ל Chazal tell us, מסכת דרך ארץ maseches Derech Eretz, a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham says, everything I own in the world is not really mine. Everything I own, everything I ostensibly own, everything it appears that I own, everything that's an illusion that I own, it's really השם'ס Hashem's. He lends it to me. He gives it to me to use in service of him. Everyone was put down in this world. We're here for a reason. We're here for a purpose. Each of us has a mission. And all the resources we've been granted and given, and every possession that we have, is not for our personal pleasure. It's all in the service of him. Now sometimes, how do we serve him? Through our personal pleasure of it. Eat and drink and enjoy, get energy and rest to serve and return to our mission. It doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy this world. But that's not the ends, it's a means towards the ends, the service of him. So a person who doesn't say a ברכה bracha before eating, because they lack awareness, such a person is akin to a thief. Maybe civilized, maybe law-abiding, may never take someone else's property, but they're stealing from השם Hashem. Because they think what's in their pantry or cabinet, what's in their refrigerator is theirs. But a ייד Yid, a Jew has to know that even what השם Hashem has given him is not his own. We're here on השם'ס Hashem's expense account. We're here to carry out our assigned task and our mission in this world. We're not trying to accumulate and amass as many things they can be our own. We're not trying to make it on some list of the wealthiest, because everything we have really belongs to him. And we have to ask ourselves between each usage of it, each time we consume it, am I using it properly? Am I using it in the way that gives him נחת nachas? Am I using it to fulfill the mission he has for me here on earth? When we דאווענען daven at the end of נעילה Neilah and we say, we say, let our hands be absolved from theft. What we're saying is השם Hashem, everything you gave me in past year, all that you granted me, all that you gave me, from my health and wellness to the material and physical possessions that I have, to the income that I earned, may I not be guilty of theft. May I not have stolen to use it for my own interests rather than use it in the service of you. That's what we mean. And that's the deeper meaning of the statement here of אדם הראשון Adam Harishon, says the גערער ראש ישיבה Gerer Rosh Yeshiva. So beautiful.How can we learn from אדם הראשון Adam Harishon, there was no one for אדם Adam to steal from? The answer is, there was. אדם Adam could have stolen by using what he had not in the service of השם Hashem. Even in אדם הראשון Adam Harishon, especially in אדם הראשון Adam Harishon, the first created person needed to say to himself, why am I here? What's the purpose of life? What is my mission? How can I use this garden, the גן gan? Why am I in it? בשבילי נברא העולם bishvili nivra ha'olam, but what am I supposed to use it for? And just like אדם Adam asked that question and used it for that purpose, so too we the same need to like אדם הראשון Adam Harishon not bring a קרבן karbon from something which is stolen. That's why we're able to learn one from the other, says the גערער ראש ישיבה Gerer Rosh Yeshiva.Okay. Moving over פרק א פסוק ט perek aleph pasuk tes. Turn the page. I told you we're going to turn the page. 546. וקרבו וכרעיו ירחץ במים V'kirbo v'krov yirchatz bamayim, wash the innards and its feet in water of the animal, of the sacrifice. והקטיר הכהן את הכל המזבחה v'hiktir ha'kohen es hakol ha'mizbecha and the כהן kohen causes it all to go up in smoke on the מזבח mizbeach. עלה אשה ריח ניחוח להשם olah ishe reiach nichoach l'Hashem. It is a fire offering, a satisfying aroma to השם Hashem. A satisfying aroma to השם Hashem. Says רש\"י Rashi, אשה ריח ניחוח להשם ishe reiach nichoach l'Hashem. What does that mean? A satisfying aroma to השם Hashem. זאגט רש\"י Zogt Rashi, פסוק ט pasuk tes, עלה Olah, עלה לשם עלה olah l'shem olah for the purpose of a קרבן עלה karbon olah. אשה כשיישחטנו ישחטנו לשם האש Ishe k'she'yishchatenu yeshachtal l'shem ha'eish, וכל איש עלה של אש v'chol ish aleha shel eish. ניחוח Nichoach, נחת רוח לפני nachas ruach l'fanai, שאמרתי ונעשה רצוני she'amarti na'aseh r'tzoni. When you offer the sacrifice, it will create a pleasant aroma. Hashem enjoys a good smell, a good perfume? My wife got, you can order online. There's some great, I don't get royalties. There's a plugin. Whatever hotel lobby you like the smell of, you can order the insert and your house can smell like the Ritz Carlton, the Four Seasons. If you like the Holiday Inn Express, whatever you want it to smell like, you can smell like. And it puts out a שטיקל שפריץ shtickel shpritz every now and then, a little שפריץ shpritz. And you walk in and you go, wow, I just checked into a five-star hotel. It's געוואלדיג gevaldig. It's an amazing thing. You can order it online. I forgot what it's called. You know what it's called? Scentify. Scentify. Sponsor next week's Parsha Perspectives. Scentify. So, is that the רבונו של עולם Ribono shel Olam, להבדיל l'havdil? השם Hashem says, oh, your קרבן karbon, who doesn't like a good barbecue? The smell of a good barbecue. I have to believe even a vegan likes the smell of a good barbecue. I have to believe. You know how you know someone's a vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you. But you have to believe that even a vegan likes the smell of a good barbecue. So הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that's it? ריח ניחוח להשם reiach nichoach l'Hashem. Offer your קרבן karbon, the עלה olah which is entirely consumed on the altar. The incredible smell, the great smell of the barbecue, it's a ריח ניחוח reiach nichoach. Says רש\"י Rashi, השם Hashem says, נחת רוח לפני nachas ruach l'fanai. Oh, it gives me a נחת רוח nachas ruach, a געשמאק geshmak pride. שאמרתי she'amarti I said נעשה רצוני na'aseh r'tzoni, do my bidding. As the service comes to an end, the aroma goes up in smoke and it pleases השם Hashem. I have spoken and my will has been done. Says the יסוד ושורש העבודה Yesod V'Shoresh Ha'avodah, the whole ספר יסוד ושורש העבודה sefer Yesod V'Shoresh Ha'avodah is based on this רש\"י Rashi, is based on this פסוק pasuk. עיקר כוונת השם בבריאת האדם, בכל מעשי המצוות ובכלל הקרבנות, להבדיל בכל מעשי החול לעשות נחת רוח לפניו. Iker kavanas Hashem b'vrias ha'adam, b'chol ma'asei hamitzvos u'bichlal ha'karbanos, l'havdil b'chol ma'asei ha'chol lasos nachas ruach l'fanav. The core, the essence, the goal of all that we do is to give a נחת רוח nachas ruach to השם Hashem. It's not the smell of the barbecue השם Hashem enjoys. You know what he enjoys? That he asked us to do something and we did it. He enjoys that we're disciplined and that we have self-control and that we want to make him happy and that we give him pride. That's what he enjoys. הקדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu created man that the greatest happiness we can experience is giving נחת nachas to someone we respect. So that when our parent says you give me נחת nachas, or our grandparent, when our boss or our superior at work, when the big rabbi or rebbetzin that we admire say, you know, I'm so proud of you. You give me such נחת nachas. That fulfillment, that satisfaction, that joy is greater than anything else we can experience. In all the management books, in all the productivity gurus and experts they'll talk about how important it is to know, forget Chapman's five love languages, but in motivating employees, you need to know what's their love language, so to say. What motivates them? There is countless research that shows, in fact, many more employees more than preferring a financial bonus if they got acknowledgment from their boss. If their boss would say, you know, you did an excellent job. The שול shul dinner was outstanding, Jeffrey. You did a fantastic job. Best dinner we've had. Thank you. Tali, the global campaign went without a hitch. Thank you. Uta, the teen department. All of I don't want to start leaving anybody out. What you do is fantastic, is amazing. That was an incredible event. Thank you for that. Do you know there's so many studies that show more than, I'm not talking about you giving a million dollar bonus, more than a Starbucks gift card is somebody stopping and saying, thank you, that was fantastic. That was a job well done. And when the source of the entire universe says job well done to us, there's no better feeling in the world. So השם Hashem wants us to know, נחת רוח nachas ruach. You give me נחת nachas. You give me נחת nachas. נחת Nachas is not just something that your באבי Bubby pinches your cheek. נחת Nachas is not just how we end every בר מצוה Bar Mitzvah speech when we're trying to land the plane. נחת Nachas, נחת nachas is הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The ספר יסוד ושורש העבודה sefer Yesod v'Shoresh HaAvodah is based on this רש\"י Rashi that the ריח ניחוח reiach nichoach, the pleasant aroma is השם Hashem says, oh, you give me נחת nachas. I need נחת nachas from you. What does it mean that השם Hashem needs something from us? Can השם Hashem have needs? He's omnipotent and infinite and all knowing and perfect. Can he have needs? Last week's Behind the Bima, a marathon. Is it over yet? Was four hours long. The global edition. We went four hours from 8 p.m. to midnight. Four hours long and we had on countless guests. And if you didn't listen, you could listen in increments. It's divided by chapters. Go listen to who you want. All of our guests were phenomenal. But when רב י.י. Rav Y.Y. came on, Rav Y.Y. Jacobson came on, I asked him this question. Because I said my חב\"ד Chabad חבר'ה chevra, we go back and forth on it. They say השם Hashem needs us. He needs our מצוות mitzvos. השם Hashem needs us. Say, how could the infinite omnipotent being have needs? Need suggests what? Something's missing, something's lacking. He needs. Want, I understand. Need, I struggle with. Now if you say it's anthropomorphism, he doesn't need. But we ascribe a human attribute so we can relate to it. So they say no, no, he needs, actually he needs. Go back and forth and back and forth and I thought who better to be the final word than רב י.י. Rav YY. So listen to last week's Behind the Bima. You can find it on our YouTube channel or any podcast player. Fast forward right to רב י.י. Rav YY. But essentially he explains much better than I'm about to, השם Hashem chooses to need. So yes, as the omnipotent, infinite being, he doesn't need in the sense that we need, but he chooses to have created a world, he chose to have created a world that he needs our מצוות mitzvos. What does that mean? Go listen and go watch. But that, יסוד ושורש העבודה Yesod v'Shoresh HaAvodah understands this רש\"י Rashi. אשה ריח ניחוח להשם Ishe reiach nichoach l'Hashem. That pleasant aroma for השם Hashem is השם Hashem smiling down and saying, you give me נחת nachas. And we need to know he needs our מצוות mitzvos. And every מצוה mitzvah we do, when we don't feel like doing it, when we don't feel like being careful, when we don't feel like going the extra mile to prepare for Pesach. When we don't feel like making that bracha with mindfulness, when we don't feel like being disciplined and not sharing that לשון הרע lashon hara, he needs our מצוות mitzvos and every מצוה mitzvah we do, he has a tremendous נחת nachas. אשה ריח ניחוח להשם Ishe reiach nichoach l'Hashem. That is the whole thesis of יסוד ושורש העבודה Yesod v'Shoresh HaAvodah and a lot more to talk about about that. פרק ב' פסוק י\"ג Perek beis pasuk yud-gimmel. Skip to page 550. Bottom of page 550. כל מנחה אשר תקריבו להשם לא תעשה חמץ Kol mincha asher takrivu l'Hashem lo se'aseh chametz. Any meal offering, a קרבן מנחה korban mincha that's offered, you cannot prepare it with חמץ chametz. כי כל שאר וכל דבש לא תקטירו ממנו אשה להשם ki chol se'or v'chol dvash lo saktiru mimenu ishe l'Hashem. For you shall not cause it to go up and smoke from any leavening. Can't have שאר se'or, no leaven. And כל דבש kol dvash, and you can't have honey. What kind of honey are we talking about? Date honey. Not bee honey, we're talking about date honey, fruit honey. לא תקטירו ממנו אשה, אשה להשם lo saktiru mimenu ishe, ishe l'Hashem. Says רב מרדכי צוקרמן Rav Mordechai Zuckerman, I don't know if I ever told you. רב מרדכי צוקרמן Rav Mordechai Zuckerman was a wonderful ספר לב מרדכי sefer Lev Mordechai. He was one of the last living students of the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. He lived in ירושלים Yerushalayim in גאולה Geulah. When I was younger, Rabbi Brody and I took teen missions to Israel from our שול shul, groups of teens that we would take to Israel. And we went to meet רב צוקרמן Rav Zuckerman and he sat and he told our students stories that he experienced with the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. To be a link in the chain to have met someone who met the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, wah, tremendous. He lived in a little a little, I don't even know how to hobble in גאולה Geulah, most modest, little apartment, humble and modest in name. He wrote a ספר לב מרדכי sefer Lev Mordechai and he says the following. He says the following. He says, ידוע דברי הרמב\"ם yedua dimrei haRambam, the רמב\"ם Rambam in הלכות דעות Hilchos Deos says that the דרך ישרה derech yesharah, the straight path that a person should live is what מידה midah? בינונית Be'nonis. Walk the golden mean, middle of the road. Don't be extreme. Don't be extreme. I was very blessed. I am very blessed to have a Rebbe. מורנו ורבנו רב שכטר שליט\"א Moreinu v'Rabbeinu Rav Schechter shlita and he would say in shiur all the time and he lives his life by the motto, be normal. Be normal. The Torah wants you to be normal. Don't do anything extreme. Be normal. Next week we're coming out with our next episode of Out of the Shadows and it's on OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. And one of the people we interview, an expert on OCD, used to be a chavrusa of mine, he's a rabbi and a doctor, Jonathan Schwartz, Rabbi Dr. Tani Schwartz. He says there's a phenomenon called scrupulosity, which is OCD expressed in religion. So the kid in ישיבה yeshiva who takes 20 minutes to say שמע Shema or 25 minutes to say שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esreh may not be so virtuous and righteous and everyone should praise him. There might be a problem. And the world has come a long way in רבנים rabbayim and משגיחים mashgichim and teachers being trained to be able to identify and step in when you shouldn't be praising and putting on a pedestal but you should be intervening and getting help to someone who might have more of a problem. So I asked him, how do you know? When do you know? Maybe it's righteousness or maybe it's, how do you know when it's something that should be diagnosed? So he came back to, he was in shiur with me, normal. If it's in the realm of normalcy, if it's normal behavior, normal for that community, normal for that culture, then it's healthy. But if something is beyond, it's not normal, it's an outlier to what's normal, it may need help. It may need help. So a person, whether it's כשרות kashrus or טהרת המשפחה taharas hamishpacha or how long they דאווענען daven, and that's OCD in the realm of religion is called scrupulosity. It's an actual psychological diagnosis and it's very dangerous. Because if a person's not sure if they lock the front door or turned off the oven, they wash their hand a million times, everyone knows that that's behavior which perhaps is outlier. But when the person is super scrupulous with כשרות kashrus or טהרת המשפחה taharas hamishpacha or Pesach or takes an hour to say שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esreh, you say, ooh wah, let's honor them at the dinner. That person's unbelievable. And that's when it gets in the realm of danger. And what's the differentiating factor? How do you know? The important word is normal. Is it normal? What's normal? What's normal? I once asked Rav Schechter, you know the הלכות halachos, you're not allowed to walk in front of somebody who is דאווענען שמונה עשרה davening Shmoneh Esreh. You can't become the barrier between them and the Almighty. You can't distract them. You can't walk in front of somebody who's davening. So the davening in the main בית מדרש Beis Medrash of YU is not a short davening. Which explains why the other מניינים minyanim on campus are so heavily populated. The main מנין minyan בית מדרש Beis Medrash is not a short davening. When מעריב Maariv in the main בית מדרש Beis Medrash would end, after a long שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esreh that waited for רב שכטר Rav Schechter or the ראש ישיבה Rosh Yeshiva, there was a guy who used to still דאווענען daven forever. And looking back now in my time in ישיבה yeshiva, there's no question that there was a scrupulosity issue going on. So I asked רב שכטר Rav Schechter, what's the הלכה halacha? Nightseder kept going. A person's still דאווענען שמונה עשרה davening Shmoneh Esreh. It's 10 minutes, it's 20 minutes, it's 25 minutes after everyone else דאווענען מעריב davened Maariv, can you walk in front of him? And he said, if מעריב Maariv is over, he now has the דין din of a piece of furniture. He's no longer a person who's been davening. If it's outside the realm of normal, what is a normal שמונה עשרה Shmoneh Esreh? I'm not saying people who are a little bit longer, a little bit shorter, but normal, normal, a little longer, normal, a little longer. He has the הלכתי halachic status of a piece of furniture, you could walk in front of him. That was his answer. Normal. The רמב\"ם Rambam says the מידה בינונית midah be'nonis, the golden mean. Normal, normal. It's not Rav Schechter, it's not Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Schwartz, it's the רמב\"ם Rambam. And where'd the רמב\"ם Rambam get this from? He quotes from אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu. כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו Ki y'dativ l'maan asher y'tzaveh es banav v'es beiso acharov. The golden mean, the golden mean. And the רמב\"ם Rambam writes even further, אם הרחיק לקצה אחד im hirchik l'katzeh echad, if a person finds themself they've gone to one extreme, they need to go to the other extreme to what? To bring themselves back to the middle. To ground themselves, to bring themselves back to the middle. Says רב מרדכי צוקרמן Rav Mordechai Zuckerman, that student of the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim that I had the privilege to meet with a group of teenagers, that maybe is what the pasuk is telling us. כל שאר וכל דבש kol se'or v'chol dvash. Don't live in the two extremes. What's se'or? What's שאר se'or? What's leaven? Inflated, ego, arrogance. What's דבש dvash? Sweetness. Don't live the extremes, the golden mean. Go in the middle. לא תקטירו ממנו אשה להשם lo saktiru mimenu ishe l'Hashem. The middle is the דרך הישרה derech ha'yesharah. Find that golden mean, walk in that middle, don't live in the extremes. And that, again, the קרבנות korbanos are a curriculum. They're not archaic or ancient or old or outdated. They're not barbaric. Learning ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra is a curriculum. The symbolism, the deeper meaning and the messaging for us, even in this law that seems somewhat bizarre. So that's what Rav Mordechai Zuckerman says.Others look at שאר se'or and דבש dvash as elements of the יצר הרע yetzer hara. Don't contaminate the sacrifices, the קרבנות korbanos, with these elements. So what's חמץ chametz? It's good timing. What's חמץ chametz? Why are we searching and destroying and eliminating and getting rid of all this חמץ chametz? Because שאר se'or חמץ chametz is inflated, it's puffed up. It's חמצדיק'ס chametz tickets, it's haughty, it's גאוה gaiva. It's superiority. It's arrogance. תועבת השם כל גבה לב to'eivas Hashem kol g'va lev. It is an abomination to השם Hashem anybody who's arrogant, who lives a life with hubris. So חמץ chametz has no place in the קרבנות korbanos. The whole purpose of the קרבן karbon is קרוב karov. You want to come close to God. There's not enough room for you and God. If you're going to be arrogant, if you're inflated like חמץ chametz, there's not enough room. What's דבש dvash? דבש Dvash is sweetening, external attempt to sweeten. It represents pretense, that somehow you're trying to soften, cover up, make everything palatable to you. That's also arrogant. It's got to be palatable, it's got to be sweet. You can't deal with it? We're going to speak about, we finally decided our שבת הגדול דרשה Shabbos Hagadol drasha, which sorry if you don't live here, is only on Shabbos afternoon, no longer broadcast. It's for our local community. It's who we are, it's our personal time together. So our topic is מרור maror. And I'm going to I'm going to suggest a thesis that why are we eating מרור maror on סדר Seder night? A night of freedom, a night of liberty, a night of joy, a night of salvation. Why are you eating something so bitter? Because I think that freedom is only when you can experience bitterness. If you need to sweeten your life like this דבש dvash, if you need to make it palatable so that you numb yourself to any pain, you escape every pain, you deny every pain, you're incapable of experiencing and leaning into pain that you're not really free. The role of מרור maror at the סדר Seder is the ability to experience pain. Which we need to talk about. What that means for our community that's still reeling in pain. What that means in the mental health space, what that means in the addiction space. We need to have license and give permission to experience pain. דבש Dvash. דבש Dvash, it's a little preview here for those who can't make it. דבש Dvash, and this is as far as I prepared so far, דבש Dvash is we're trying to sweeten because we're unwilling to experience pain. So you're not allowed to put sweetener into the קרבנות korbanos. The קרבנות korbanos are the way you are, the way you are. Don't try to sweeten, don't try to sweeten. Now, a few פסוקים psukim later, we're going to get to it momentarily. No חמץ chametz and no honey, what do you have to offer every קרבן karbon with? Salt. כל קרבנך תקריב מלח kol karboncha takriv melach salt. We imitate this every day. It's a mistake some people think, Shabbos. When do you dip bread in salt? On Shabbos. That's a mistake. You're supposed to dip your bread in salt every day. Not just on Shabbos. So, no חמץ chametz, no honey, yes salt. Why salt? So the איזביצא Ishbitz, the הייליגע איזביצא Heilige Ishbitz, the מי השילוח Mei Hashiloach, told you it was a חסידישע שיעור Chassidishe shiur today. מי השילוח Mei Hashiloach says salt represents מידת היראה midas ha'yirah. A healthy dose of awe and fear of השם Hashem. How do you know that? He quotes רש\"י Rashi in ויקרא Vayikra. The ברית מלח bris melach was a promise made to the lower waters. When the upper and the lower waters were divided, מלח מורה על יראה melach moreh al yirah. Salt separating the waters was an act of דין din. Salt represents יראה yirah, awe, fear of השם Hashem. So we don't bring a קרבן karbon with ego, with leaven. We don't bring a קרבן karbon with honey, with the need to sweeten everything. But we do have to bring it with salt. Why, says the איזביצער Ishbitzer? Because every מצוה mitzvah we do, every קרבן karbon, every gesture and bid and attempt to draw close to השם Hashem has to be flavored with יראת שמים yiras shamayim. יראה Yirah. As much as the שכינה Shechinah is a שכן shachen, as much as השם Hashem is our neighbor, he also, we have to have awe and we have to have a sense of respect and fear of him. על כל קרבנך תקריב מלח Al kol korbancha takriv melach. Let's skip right to that pasuk. פרק ג' פסוק י\"ג perek gimmel pasuk yud-gimmel. Turn the page 552. כל קרבן מנחתך במלח תמלח Kol korban minchascha b'melach timlach. All your meal offerings have to be salted with salt. לא תשבית מלח ברית אלקיך מעל מנחתך lo tashbis melach bris Elokecha mei'al minchasecha. על כל קרבנך תקריב מלח al kol korbancha takriv melach. All of your offering, every offering, offer with salt. So the איזביצער Ishbitzer said why? Salt represents יראה yirah. You need to sprinkle יראה yirah into everything you do. Even when it's געשמאק geshmak to be a ייד Yid, even when you're פארברענגען fabrengen with השם Hashem, even when everything is so levadik and wonderful, it's got to always be tempered and moderated by a little sprinkling, by the flavor of מלח melach. It's got to have a little, a little dose of יראה yirah. But the תפארת שלמה ז\"ל Tiferes U'ziel, תפארת שלמה ז\"ל Tiferes U'ziel gives a different pshat. הרמז בזה כי כמו שבשעה שאדם מכין איזה מאכל ותבשיל אם ירצה להטיב אוכלו שיהא לו טעם צריך לשים בו מלח המתאים וממתיק את המאכל. Haremz b'zeh ki k'moshe sha'adam meichin eizeh ma'achal v'tavshil im yirtze l'hativ ochlo she'yehei lo taam tzarich lasim bo melach hamatim u'mamtik es ha'maachal. You don't want to serve bland food. When a person cooks, they need to put in spice, because if you don't put any spices, it's going to be bland, tasteless, literally. כמו כן בעבודת השם צריך לשים בו מלח K'mo kein b'avodas Hashem tzarich lasim bo melach. להטעים את העבודה l'hatim es ha'avodah. Says the תפארת שלמה ז\"ל Tiferes U'ziel, beautiful teaching. You can't live a flavorless, tasteless יידישקייט Yiddishkeit. כל קרבנך תקריב מלח kol korbancha takriv melach. Every עבודת השם avodas Hashem you do, every מצוה mitzvah, every יום טוב yontif, every שבת Shabbos, every תפילה tefillah, it's got to be, says the תפארת שלמה ז\"ל Tiferes U'ziel, להטעים את העבודה l'hatim es ha'avodah. You've got to flavor the avodah. עם ההשתוקקות, עם ההתלהבות, עם הבּרען mis ha'hishtoykikus, mis ha'hislayvus, mis ha'bren. You've got to bring a a fire, an energy, a bren. And that's what it says, כל קרבנך kol korbancha, קרבן karbon means כל עניני עבודת השם kol inyanei avodas Hashem. קרבן Karbon is קרוב karov. קרבן Karbon is not just the act of the sacrifice, קרבן karbon is the attempt to be קרוב karov. בין עסק התורה ובין עבודת התפילה Bein eisek haTorah u'vein avodas ha'tefillah, learning Torah, davening, שאר כל מצוות shar kol mitzvos, חסד chesed you're doing, בכולן b'kulan. So every מצוה mitzvah, every part of our עבודת השם avodas Hashem, every part of our יידישקייט Yiddishkeit, תקריב מלח takriv melach. תראה להטעימן בטעם ערב tireh l'hatimon b'taam arev. You have to make it flavored. It's got to have a flavor. It's got to have a joy. It's got to have a spice. עבודת השם דארף זיין מיט א טעם, מיט א חיות, מיט א זיסקייט. Avodas Hashem darf zein mit a taam, mit a chiyus, mit a ziskeit. It's got to have a flavor. It's got to have a life to it. It's got to have a ziskeit. It's got to have a sweetness to it. And that is all alluded to and hinted to in this pasuk. כל קרבנך kol korbancha, every קרבן karbon, every קרוב karov, every attempt to come close, every שבת Shabbos, every יום טוב yontif, every מצוה mitzvah, every דאווענען davening, has to be תקריב מלח takriv melach. Sprinkle in some spice, some flavor. Bring it to life. Make it געשמאק geshmak. Nobody wants to eat a bland food, and nobody wants to live a bland יידישקייט Yiddishkeit. Our job, our mission, our mandate as parents, as educators, as teachers, is flavor the יידיש Yiddish. Make it come alive with a בּרען bren. It's got to be a יידישקייט Yiddishkeit that's spicy, a יידישקייט Yiddishkeit that's flavorful, a יידישקייט Yiddishkeit with a zip to it, with a little something, a little spice to it, a little spice to it. Okay, what shall we end with? We have time for one more, but we have a lot more than one more. Okay, we'll end with Rav Soloveitchik. Rav Soloveitchik says the following. Pasuk tells us, פרק ג' פסוק י\"ז perek gimmel pasuk yud-zayin. Bottom of page 554. חקת עולם לדרתיכם בכל מושבתיכם chukas olam l'doroseichem b'chol moshvoseichem, an eternal decree for all your generations in all your dwelling places, כל חלב וכל דם לא תאכלו kol cheilev v'chol dam lo socheilu. You're not allowed to in a קרבן karbon consume any of the fat or any of the blood. No fat and no blood. Fat we enjoy. Blood we have no interest in. Torah still tells us you can't have blood. It tells us something we're repulsed by, you can't have. All the more so you have to be vigilant with things that we're attracted to. Says Rav Soloveitchik, while detailing the laws of the קרבן שלמים carbon shlamim, we are instructed about the prohibitions of eating fat and blood. The Torah is very concerned about our eating habits. The Torah says next to nothing about the essentials of prayer, but a lot of detail about what a Jew is allowed to eat. Prayer, so fundamental to our religious life, the Torah doesn't even explicitly tell us, and has very few details of, but the laws of eating, we got a lot. A few parshios in the Torah that go through the details of what's kosher, not kosher, what you can eat, what you're not allowed to eat. Why? Says Rav Soloveitchik, apparently, it's easier for a man to pray than abstain from food. It's easier to come to shul and to daven than it is to not eat everything at the kiddush. Even today in modern times, he writes, man finds it easy to apply himself spiritually, much more difficult to regulate what he eats. He does not object to singing hymns or visiting a sanctuary of prayer. He's ready for cultic performance, but he hates to be told that there are laws governing his body. The Torah's opinion it's impossible to hallow and inspire the spirit without including the body. ספר ויקרא Sefer Vayikra is known as the book of קדושה kedusha. It's the book that details eating habits as well as sexual morality. Physical holiness must precede spiritual ascension. Why is the Torah here getting into eating? Because you can't talk about the soul if you're going to neglect and violate the body. A person has to be disciplined in what they eat. That's the whole purpose of כשרות kashrus is to be mindful in what goes in our mouth and what we say before and after, and whether it's good or bad for us. We have absolutely destroyed and perverted the whole laws of כשרות kashrus by producing terribly unhealthy but supposedly כשר kosher foods. If they're unhealthy, they're not כשר kosher. If they're eaten in quantities and at times we shouldn't be eating, it's not כשר kosher. כשר Kosher is not just about the ingredients, it's about whether we should or shouldn't be having it, when and how much, and when to stop, and when is enough. Because part of living a religious life is not just nurturing the soul, but is maintaining a vessel of a healthy body. And that's why the Torah busyies itself with these laws even more elaborately than it does the laws of תפילה tfila, says רבי סולובייצ'יק Rabbi Saloveitchik. Much more, but until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy. Tomorrow, 10 minutes of מסילת ישרים Mesillas Yesharim, living with אמונה emuna. Tomorrow night we're going behind the בימה bima with Eli Beer and רבי נחמן סלצר Rabbi Nachman Seltzer. Artscroll just put out a book on Eli Beer called 90 seconds, the epic story of Eli Beer and United הצלה Hatzalah. It was written by רבי נחמן סלצר Rabbi Nachman Seltzer, the two of them are our guest tomorrow night. Have a phenomenal, fantastic, amazing day. Thank you to those who gave the global campaign, to those who didn't yet give. We're no longer pushing it, so just give so we don't have to push it.
