Transcript
Good morning, Boker Tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. As always, we are enormously grateful to our incredibly generous series sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman. Our learning as always is לעלוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנשה Le'iluy Nishmas David ben Menachem Manash. Tremendous gratitude to the Katz family. Today's shiur is also sponsored in memory of Moshe ben David, Chana bas David, Avner ben Avraham HaKohen, may the נשמות have an עליה neshamos have an aliyah. Anonymously for the רפואה שלמה of יהודה לייב בן מלכה Yehuda Leib ben Malka. By Eli Mendelbaum in memory of Gary Terkel, חיים יוסף בן אפרים חנוך הלוי Chaim Yosef ben Ephraim Henech HaLevi, friend who is truly missed but never forgotten and that is for sure. I agree. So thank you so much to our generous sponsors. We have the privilege this week of learning פרשת נשא Parshas Naso, the longest parsha in the Torah, page 748 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash. Before we dive in, it's not a coincidence that we read פרשת נשא Parshas Naso on the Shabbos after Shavuos. The חידושי הרי\"ם Chiddushei Harim, the great חידושי הרי\"ם Chiddushei Harim pointed out, the most Medrash that we have, the most insight of חז\"ל Chazal on any parsha is on the parsha of Naso. If you open the Medrash, the rabbis have the most to say on Parshas Naso, and that is not a coincidence. That is because the Shabbos after Shavuos, after we stood at the base of that mountain, after קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah, that we re-received the Torah, we re-invest ourselves in the learning and study of Torah, and therefore there is the most תורה שבעל פה Torah sheba'al peh on Parshas Naso, because that is the way that we commemorate, we celebrate the holiday of Shavuos is continuing to learn. Indeed, many of the צדיקים tzaddikim and many חסידים chassidim called the Shabbos after Shavuos, שבת נאך שבועות Shabbos nach Shavuos, which means the Shabbos after Shavuos. It means that Shavuos didn't end with Shavuos. You don't put מתן תורה Matan Torah, קבלת התורה Kabbalas HaTorah in the rearview mirror. You don't put תלמוד תורה Talmud Torah in the rearview mirror. It's not the end of something, it's only the beginning. This is our reinvigorated commitment to תלמוד תורה Talmud Torah, to the learning of Torah, to the study of, to the study of, of Torah. Life is not slowing down, life is speeding up. And indeed, you know this, להלכה l'halacha, we're not saying Tachanun in these days, for six days following, at least the second day of Yom Tov, seven days in Israel following the first day of Yom Tov. For one week, we don't say Tachanun because these are days of תשלומין tashlumin. Shavuos has no Chol HaMoed, the makeup days to bring the korban if you missed it, one has a week after Shavuos. So it maintains the sanctity, the holiness, the אורות oros, the light of Shavuos. It means that we're still בבחינת שבועות b'bchinas Shavuos, we're still receiving the Torah, we're still learning Torah, loving Torah, growing from Torah. The משנה בפרקי אבות Mishna in Pirkei Avos tells us הלומד תורה לשמה ha'lomed Torah lishma, זוכה לדברים הרבה zocheh l'dvarim harbeh. A person who learns Torah לשמה lishma with a געשמאק gishmak, with a ברען bren, with an excitement, with a fire, if you learn Torah, not to superimpose on Torah your preconceived notions, but to listen and hear what Torah has to save to engrave on your heart, Torah לשמה lishma, you're זוכה לדברים הרבה zocheh l'dvarim harbeh, which is a very peculiar promise. We find a lot of things in the Torah, a lot of meritorious, virtuous deeds whose reward is spelled out as זוכה לעולם הבא zocheh l'olam haba. You merit גן עדן Gan Eden, you merit all kinds of ברכה bracha. Here the ברכה bracha, זוכה לדברים הרבה zocheh l'dvarim harbeh? דברים הרבה Dvarim harbeh is the most generic ברכה bracha. Imagine you go to a גדול gadol, you go get a ברכה bracha and they say, should be זוכה zocheh to many things. שכויח Shkoyach. You can't specify any? Good health, פרנסה parnasah, נחת nachas, something specific? דברים הרבה Dvarim harbeh? So Rav Itche Meir Morgenstern in his B'yam Derech Chochah, the new sefer that came out this year on Shavuos, he says דברים הרבה dvarim harbeh, maybe it's an allusion, דברים dvarim דיבור dibur, עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros, עשרת הדברים Aseres Hadvarim. בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם Asara ma'amaros nivra ha'olam, Hashem created the world with sayings, with speech, with words. Hashem created the world with the letters of Torah, with the alphabet of Torah. And a person who learns Torah לשמה lishma, you are creating and recreating, you are sustaining the world, you are continuing the conversation of the עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros, you're זוכה לדברים zocheh l'dvarim. You're זוכה zocheh to many דברים dvarim, דיבורים dibburim, you're זוכה zocheh to many of the עשרת הדברים Aseres Hadvarim. The conversation continues. So Shavuos is not the end of the conversation, Shavuos is just the very beginning. And a person who learns Torah לשמה lishma זוכה לדברים הרבה zocheh l'dvarim harbeh, you're זוכה zocheh to continuing this conversation that began with the עשרת הדברים Aseres Hadvarim, עשרת הדברות Aseres Hadibros, and continues every time we open Torah. So our learning of Torah is the continuation of הר סיני Har Sinai. It is the continuation of the experience of הר סיני Har Sinai. With that we begin. פרק ד', פסוק כ\"א Perek Daled, Pasuk Chaf Alef. Parshas Naso begins וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם לבית אבתם למשפחתם naso es rosh bnei Gershon gam heim l'veis avosam l'mishpechosam. The census continues or the census of the tribe of Levi who were counted separately than the rest of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. And we shared the inside of רב חיים שמואלביץ Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz why that is, because if they were counted among כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, they would bear the burden of the mistake of כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael with the חטא העגל Cheit Ha'eigel. Ah, Hashem can't count them together, but not hold them accountable, he can. We spoke last time about the idea that our value, our worth, is intertwined with the sector that we identify with. That's the significance of the community, the minyan that we choose to identify with, the significance of the friends that we choose, our stock, so to say, rises, independent of our own individual value, but who we identify with. So Levi needed to be counted separately. We go through some of the responsibilities of Levi, and of course again here, even though we have many words, למנות, לספור limnos, lispor, we have many Hebrew words we could have used to count. Instead we use the word נשא את ראש naso es rosh, to lift the head. As we also said previously, when you count and you make someone feel counted, you lift them. You lift their spirits, you make them feel valued. We live in a world where too many people feel invisible and inconsequential and unimportant. And we need to count them and make them feel counted. We need to need to make them feel heard, they mean something, they matter. And we lift a person's head, we lift their spirit, we count them, and we make them feel, and we make them feel counted. But moving over to פרק ה' Perek Hei, at the bottom of page 750. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר צו את בני ישראל וישלחו מן המחנה כל צרוע וכל זב וכל טמא לנפש Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor tzav es bnei yisrael v'yishalchu min hamachaneh kol tzaruah v'chol zav v'chol tamei l'nefesh. The purification of the camp, maintaining a pure and a holy and a sacred space, a sacred and safe camp. Command the people and they should expel from the camp anyone who has צרעת tzara'as, anyone who is a זב zav, וכל טמא לנפש v'chol tamei l'nefesh, anyone who is contaminated by exposure to a, to a corpse. All of these people need to be outside the camp. מזכר עד נקבה תשלחו אל מחוץ למחנה תשלחום Mi'zachar ad nekeivah teshal'cheihu el michutz l'machaneh teshal'chum. They belong outside the camp. ויעשו כן בני ישראל וישלחו אתם אל מחוץ למחנה כאשר דבר ה' אל משה כן עשו בני ישראל Vayasu kein Bnei Yisrael v'yishalchu osam el michutz l'machaneh ka'asher diber Hashem el Moshe kein asu Bnei Yisrael. The Jewish people followed. And this is of course, I think in our time, a very powerful reminder or message and difficult balance to strike. How do we on the one hand make our camp, our community, warm and welcoming and have a place for everybody, but how do we also protect and preserve and secure it from being contaminated and corrupted in its ideas and values and practices? How do we strike that balance of the environment? And that world has changed with the internet and a global community and technology where you cannot keep out the world. You cannot protect and turn entirely insular. So here the Torah is telling us that there is a value and a notion to maintaining the purity of a camp. We don't just in the name of making it welcoming and warm for anyone say anything goes. There is a balance between the two and how do we find and strike that balance is a very, very important and a very difficult conversation. But the next section, דבר אל בני ישראל Daber el Bnei Yisrael, is really where I want to begin. דבר אל בני ישראל איש או אשה כי יעשו מכל חטאות האדם למעל מעל בה' ואשמה הנפש ההיא Daber el Bnei Yisrael ish o isha ki ya'asu mikol chatos ha'adam lim'ol ma'al baShem v'ashma hanefesh hahi. Torah tells us Hashem tells Moshe, speak to Bnei Yisrael and tell them a man or a woman who commits any חטא cheit, מכל חטאות האדם mikol chatos ha'adam. What is a חטא cheit? A חטא cheit is a miss. The proper definition of חטא cheit is not sin. Sin is a Christian, a Catholic word, it's not a Jewish word. I don't know what the word sin means. A חטא cheit is a miss, is a missed opportunity. The Torah is 613 invitations from Hashem, connect. It's 613 opportunities to live our best selves. And when we don't take advantage of that invitation or that opportunity, when we violate that invitation and opportunity, we have violated a חטא cheit, חטא cheit means a miss. In Tanach the word חטא cheit, החטיא hechti is to miss, to miss the mark, to miss the target. It's a miss. So a man or a woman who misses the mark, למעל מעל lim'ol ma'al. And when a person misses the mark, then they've become guilty. They've performed מעילה me'ilah, treachery against Hashem. We'll have to see what that means. ואשמה הנפש ההיא V'ashma hanefesh hahi, such a person is guilty. והתודו את חטאתם V'hisvadu es chatasam. So what does one do when they miss the mark? A person has to confess. Person has to make an admission. You can't grow and improve if you don't make an admission. You have to be willing to say, I failed, in order to be able to say, I got better. So for example, I hope the entire Celtics franchise last night was saying, we failed miserably, the number two seed, we were supposed to win, we won three games and came back, and we lost in game seven. We didn't even show up. We gave in. Boston. The best two words in the entire English language, beat Boston. It's the best two words in the whole English language. So Boston lost, failed. I wrote an article that it's amazing how much, amazing how much feedback this article got about Yannis after the Bucks were all but swept in the first round when they were the favorite to win it all. And his press conference, a person has to והתודו את חטאתם v'hisvadu es chatasam. You have to say I missed. I came up short. You know what? That doesn't define me. I am not a failure. My life is not a failure, but in this particular goal or ambition, in this particular test, I failed, I came up short, and I'm going to learn from it, and I'm going to improve from it, and I'm going to get better from it. But if a person just wants to give a TED talk instead of a press conference and say, you know, life is one big, and it's fun, and there's ups and downs, and that's just the way it goes, and everybody enjoy the off season, then you're not going to improve, you're not going to grow, you're not going to get better. You're not taking responsibility, you're not taking ownership, you're not taking accountability. So the Torah says והתודו את חטאתם v'hisvadu es chatasam. It shouldn't define us and it doesn't limit us, and we shouldn't beat ourselves up, and we shouldn't be riddled with shame, but we cannot improve and grow, we cannot bounce back, we cannot get better if we don't identify where we went wrong, how we came up short, and if most importantly, we don't take responsibility and ownership. והתודו V'hisvadu, there has to be an admission, there has to be a confession. את חטאתם Es chatasam, that I missed. Miss is another word for I failed. אשר עשו והשיב את אשמו בראשו וחמישתו יסף עליו Asher asu v'heishiv es ashamo b'rosho v'chamishiso yosef alav. You have to pay the principal amount and add a fifth and give it to the person you're indebted to. ואין לאיש גאל להשיב האשם אליו האשם המושב לה' לכהן V'im ein la'ish go'el l'hashiv ha'asham eilav, ha'asham hamushav laShem laKohen. We're talking here about גזל הגר gezel ha'ger. Someone stole from a convert and the convert's no longer here and whom do you return it to? Because he has no offspring or progeny, you give it to the kohen. מלבד איל הכיפורים אשר יכפר בו עליו וכל תרומה לכל קדשי בני ישראל אשר יקריבו לכהן לו יהיה ואיש את קדשיו לו יהיו איש אשר יתן לכהן לו יהיה Milvad eil hakipurim asher yechaper bo alav, v'chol truma l'chol kodshei Bnei Yisrael asher yakrivu laKohen lo yihiyeh. V'ish es kodshav lo yihiyeh, ish asher yiten laKohen lo yihiyeh. So here on this, on this, on this pasuk, Rav Soloveitchik has a comment. איש או אשה כי יעשו מכל חטאות Ish o isha ki ya'asu mikol chatos. Listen what the Rav says. The concept of ownership as it applies to man differs fundamentally from how it applies to Hashem. If an object belongs to someone, he can grant permission for others to use it. In the case of items that belong to Hashem, however, another factor comes into play. The object is considered הקדש hekdesh. The use of the dative case in the phrase לה' הארץ ומלואה LaShem ha'aretz umlo'ah, to Hashem is the whole earth and everything in its fullness. Till this day, I learned this when I was young, every sefer I buy or I'm gifted, every sefer I write inside not only my name, but on top I write לה' הארץ ומלואה LaShem ha'aretz umlo'ah. There is such a minhag to suggest it's even though I'm writing my name, if it gets lost or I left it somewhere, please return it, but it's not mine. And why is it not mine? Because לה' הארץ ומלואה LaShem ha'aretz umlo'ah. Really everything belongs to Hashem, the whole earth and everything in it. Instead of the possessive, the earth and its fullness are Gods, signifies that God not only owns the world in the juridic sense, but that the world is consecrated to him as well. He doesn't just own the world, but the world is dedicated, devoted, consecrated, its purpose, its mission is to serve him. Note the grammatical construction לה' הארץ ומלואה LaShem ha'aretz umlo'ah is similar to the standard formula for consecrating an animal, לה' חטאת LaShem chatas. When one sins, says the Rav, he violates the prohibition of מעילה me'ilah of illicit use of consecrated items. Hashem is not only the creator of the universe, he is the master of everything including man. Thus we say in pleading in the סליחות Slichos, the soul is yours, הנשמה לך והגוף פעלך haneshama lach v'haguf pa'alach. The הנשמה neshama is yours והגוף שלך v'haguf shelach. Everything in this world belongs to Hashem. Man's powers are to speak on loan, temporarily leased to him by Hashem. Hashem endows man with life for a certain period of time. He allows man ownership over himself for the allotted period. The ownership over man by him is utilized by the individual in a number of ways, through free will, through the exercise of intellectual powers, through his potential ability to create and so on. By sinning man loses the rights and privileges that were given to him. In other words, the Rav is bothered, why in the context of stealing are we invoking the term מעילה me'ilah? מעילה Me'ilah is a term for הקדש hekdesh. מעילה Me'ilah is a specific term used when it comes to the Beis HaMikdash, the Mishkan. If you dedicate, you gift a chair, to Beis Knesses Knesset, you say this chair, I hereby dedicate, I donate to the Beis HaMikdash, you can't sit on that chair. You can't get personal benefit from the chair. It's a holy chair. It's a sacred chair. It's a consecrated seat. You can't get a personal benefit. You violate מעילה me'ilah. To pay back the principle and a fifth with מעילה me'ilah. So why are we utilizing the term מעילה me'ilah, a specific term that has to do with that which is consecrated, in the context of stealing in general from this world? And the Rav so brilliantly and beautifully says, because the world and everything in it should and must be consecrated to Hashem. We and our lives, what we own, everything in it, it is all devoted in the service of Hashem. It is all there and is granted to us. We are stewards of it to help us pursue our mission to serve him. And when we use it not for its intended purpose, when we violate its consecrated responsibility, and we steal from it. So when we waste time, and we squander time, and we spend time on narishkeit, we've stolen that time from Hashem. Time is a gift from Hashem. Just ask someone who's running out of it. Time is the greatest gift, the greatest commodity. You can't slow it down and you can't get it back. You can't replace it if you've killed it. It's an act of murder. And if you waste it and you squander it, we've stolen. And worse, more than stolen it from Hashem, it's an act of מעילה me'ilah. We have violated the consecrated nature of time to be used for a holy purpose, to be used well, to be used purposefully. And the same is true for our property and our assets, for all the material gifts we've been given, if we use them for personal benefit, if we use them not to advance the agenda of Hashem, which includes our pleasure. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy your house and your car and your clothing and a good meal. Hashem wants us to enjoy those things but under his rules and under his regulations and in the context of enhancing our life so we can best represent and be as ambassadors and serve him. And when we don't, when we use it in the service of ourselves, when we use it for our own ego, it's an act of מעילה me'ilah. And the Rav brilliantly and insightfully says, that's why the Torah is invoking the term מעילה me'ilah, even though we're just talking about stealing. At the conclusion of Yom Kippur, in the נעילה Neilah, we say you extend your right hand, your hand to the transgressors, and your right arm to the outstretched to receive repentance. You taught us Hashem to confess our transgressions before you. One may well wonder, why thievery, right, the end of that נעילה Neilah we say, so that we might cease from the thievery of our hands, so that we might cease from stealing. One may well wonder, says the Rav, why thievery is the one and only sin for which the Jew brings himself before Hashem and knocks in the gates of mercy and pardon at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is ending, a seret yemei teshuva, Rosh Hashanah, Elul, and here we are at the pinnacle, the peak, the climax, the very end, נעילה Neilah. We say, Hashem, forgive us. Grant forgiveness for our hands that steal. That's the thing? I didn't, I didn't break into anyone's bank account. I didn't put my hand in anyone's wallet or pocket or pocketbook. That's what I have to confess in this great moment, in the last moment of נעילה Neilah, that's what we're admitting to? Aside from theft, another 44 transgressions are enumerated in the על חטא Al Cheit. Why is stealing singled out with a special emphasis in the נעילה Neilah? Says the Rav, theft actually encompasses all types of חטא cheit. With every sin he commits, the Jew forgoes his right of possession over his own life. A Jew who studies for intellectual enjoyment is utilizing his power of wisdom, which belongs to Hashem and is only temporarily placed at his disposal. The moment intelligence is contaminated by impure intent, Hashem's right to this God-given attribute expire. Any further exercise of it is a form of theft. The same applies to all the other transgressions which can deprive man of ownership and the right to use his own physical and spiritual faculties. Through sin, man destroys his right to live, to life with his own hands. Through sin, man forgoes his right to control the physical forces which vitalize the body. When he goes on living a life of sin, it is outright theft. When a man repents and regrets, it is as if a new transaction has taken place and the contract of ownership has been renewed between him and his creator. And that's why we mentioned theft, because חטא cheit, the חטא cheit of stealing is the overarching, all of the חטא cheit is underneath it. We stole time, we stole possessions, we stole the breath in our life, in our lungs, we stole our life by misusing and misapplying it. So theft is the overarching theme, everything else is included under it. A very beautiful insight. פרק ה' פסוק ט\"ו Perek Hei, Pasuk Tes Vav, moving along, the סוטה sota, those who just learned מסכת סוטה Maseches Sota in the דף יומי Daf Yomi, are holding by the story of the סוטה sota, the wayward woman, the woman who is acting somewhat loosely, promiscuously, flirtatiously, her husband warns her, says, I see you talking to that man, don't seclude yourself with him. Don't seclude yourself. She goes and secludes herself and there are witnesses who testify, she was alone with him. And now he challenges, he brings her to the kohen in the Beis Hamikdash. She drinks from the מים המרים mayim ha'marim, they test her whether in fact she was guilty behind closed doors of infidelity, of violating their sacred vow of their marriage, in which case she dies a horrible death, as does he, the man with whom she had the affair, or if she's innocent, she merits the ברכה bracha of Hashem. She is incredibly fertile, she conceives, and she has a beautiful little צדיק'ל tzaddik'l, a beautiful little baby. והביא V'heivi. Pasuk tells us, פרק ט\"ו Perek Tes Vav. פרק ט\"ו Pasuk tes vav. What happens? והביא האיש את אשתו אל הכהן V'heivi ha'ish es ishto el haKohen, the man brings his wife to the kohen. והביא את קרבנה עליה עשירית האיפה קמח שערים לא יצק עליו שמן ולא יתן עליו לבונה כי מנחת קנאת הוא מנחת זכרון מזכרת עון V'heivi es korbanah aleha asiris eifas kemach se'orim, lo yitzok alav shemen v'lo yiten alav levona ki minchas kna'os hu minchas zikaron mazkeres avon. He brings his wife to the kohen, he brings her offering for her, a tenth of eifas of barley. Does not pour oil over it, does not pour frankincense, it's a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of remembrance, a reminder of the iniquity of her egregious error and of her mistake. Says the Otzar Pli'os HaTorah, why is she bringing a korban of שעורים se'orim? Most of the korban is flour, flour of wheat. This is flour not of wheat but flour of barley. Why of barley not of wheat? He quotes the Sefer Toldos Yitzchak. Eight reasons why this promiscuous woman, her carbon is of barley, not of wheat. Number one, she attracted this man, her husband with sweets. Her meal is מאכל בהמה ma'achal behemah, שעורים se'orim. She is a carbon. She, man eats wheat. Why do we eat bread, flour of wheat? Because you have to plant it and harvest it and grind it and knead it and it has to rise. Bread is uniquely manipulated and baked by man. Animals can eat barley, barley ground into flour. So barley is the food that we give an animal, מאכל בהמה ma'achal behemah. She acted like an animal. She gave into her animal impulse, animal instinct. She acted like an animal, we give her a carbon like an animal. Number two, שעורים se'orim yesh lahem azus panim, she'hacheit mechuse b'kabbalas anovim v'has'orim megula k'azus panim. Number two, שעורים se'orim is brazen, עזות פנים azus panim, there is no shell, there's no outside peel. It's exposed and she's exposed, her brazenness, her חוצפה chutzpah, her temerity. Thirdly, ha'se'orim ma'ad zman yoni tachas ha'aretz v'chein ha'isha hazos einena b'veisah pnimah, ella pa'am b'chutz pa'am b'rehovos b'veisai leishk'no ragleha. Similarly the wheat, the barley rather, is only underground for a very short time until it grows on top of the ground, and she, where she could have been, should have been living modestly within her home, she was out about on the street, flirting, she was a woman of the street. Number four, zos nefah b'noif m'tzad choma yaitzer hara, v'hacheitah chama, tovi se'orim she'hem karim l'karer choma. The heat and the cold and the passion and the lust. Number five, lashon nofel al lashon, she'lo sama l'ta'avasa shiur. She didn't give her taiva, her lust, had no measure. שעורים Se'orim sounds like שיעור shiur, a measure. Just like her brazenness, her lust, her promiscuousness, her licentiousness had no measure, similarly, the שעורים se'orim has no measure. Shishi, number six. Number seven, number eight. He has eight reasons why you got the gist, the majority of them. She's brought to the kohen where she is tested. פרק ה' פסוק כ\"ד Perek Hei, pasuk chaf daled. Continuing in the story of the sota. והשקה את האשה את מי המרים המאררים V'hishkah es ha'isha es mei hamarim ha'me'orerim, she's given to drink from this bitter water. ובאו בה המים המאררים למרים u'vau vah hamayim ha'me'orerim l'marim, and the pasuk says, פרק ה' פסוק כ\"ד Perek Hei, pasuk chaf daled, turn the page 756. He causes her to drink the bitter waters that cause curse, and the waters that cause curse shall come into her for bitterness. The Zohar Kadosh tells us something amazing. Why is she drinking this bitter water? Torah wants to punish her and him. If she's guilty, she's אסור לבעל ואסור לבועל assur l'ba'al v'assur l'boel. A woman who practices infidelity is forbidden to return to her husband and she's also forbidden to be with the man with whom she had the affair. She's forbidden to both. She should not think, she'll divorce her husband, but she'll begin a new life with the man with whom she cheated. She's forbidden to both, אסור לבעל, אסור לבועל assur l'ba'al, assur l'boel. And there are all kinds of halachic, very complicated questions, unfortunately, I've had to deal with of if a man knows, accepts that her his wife cheated, אסור לבעל assur l'ba'al, they can't be together. How can they restore, how can they save their marriage? There has to be some doubt, some question of in fact how far her his wife went with another. So much so that perhaps she's even coached not to be entirely transparent in a way which will preclude the ability of the future of this marriage to heal. But how unhealthy is that to not be transparent after there's been an act of unfaithfulness. It's a very, very complicated, very complicated question. So why does the Torah, why does Hashem insert the מים המרים mayim ha'marim? So unlike what we think, it's to catch her, it's to get her, it's to prove her wrong, it's exactly the opposite. It's brought down by many, the reason is to exonerate her. Hashem allows his name to be erased because in the ingredients in this mixture that she's going to drink is Hashem's name. It's written on the cloth that's placed in the water and Hashem's name is erased because even though there's a tremendous prohibition to erase Hashem's name, מחיקת השם mechikas hashem, Hashem says I'd rather my name be erased for the sake of שלום בית shalom bayis. To preserve the unity and harmony in this home, to keep this couple together, I'd rather my name be erased. Hashem is willing to allow his name to be erased. Why? So that this husband can finally overcome his suspicion. You see, it's only natural to be suspicious. And the man here has reason to be suspicious. She has secluded herself and you have two witnesses, kinui v'stirah, you have two witnesses who testify she in fact secluded herself with a man. So when he's suspicious of what happened behind those closed doors, it's for very good reason. How will he ever overcome it? How will he ever trust her? How can they ever rebuild and restore? How can she ever earn his trust again? Hashem says, I'll let my name get erased. Let her drink the מים המרים mayim ha'marim. And the intent and the purpose, the goal of it is not to find her guilty, to catch her, to hold her accountable, though it serves that purpose, but the intent is in fact the opposite. Hashem needed to go to great measure to restore faith and remove suspicion. So the Otzar Ploas HaTorah quotes an amazing Zohar. The Zohar in our parsha says, a davar pele. The Mitzrim wanted to do... they would say to the Bnei Yisrael, she'noldum mehem, u'v'nei zenunim heim v'einam r'uim she'tishreh haShechinah aleihem. Among the way the Egyptians tortured, if you want to torture someone, tell them that you cheated with their wife, that their children are not theirs, that in fact you are the father. I'm not actually making a suggestion how to torture someone. But you want to torture someone, all you need to do is sow the seed of suspicion. All you need to do is plant the smallest suspicion. By the way, your wife cheated and your children aren't your own, you might want to do a paternity test. Have a great day. So the Mitzrim, as part of the way they oppressed and tortured the Jewish people in Egypt, was to regularly taunt the Jewish men and said, we cheated with your wives and those children aren't yours and there were no paternity tests in Egypt. V'hayu kam m'Bnei Yisrael she'gam choshtu b'neshoseihem shema b'emes nitmu. And there were many men who couldn't overcome such suspicion once it's planted, it's hard to overcome. Ma asa haKadosh Baruch Hu l'hashtik es ha'mekatrigim, what did Hashem do to silence these instigators, to silence these prosecutors? Hevi osam l'Mara, she'sham mayim marim. Says the Zohar, an entirely new reading on the story, when the Jewish people came to the place that was ultimately called מרה Mara, because the מים mayim was מים marim, there was bitter water and they complained of its bitterness, why did Hashem give them bitter water? And why did he name the place bitterness? Says the Zohar, because this was a big mei sota. All the bitter water was so that all the women would drink it, and the men could now say, they didn't mean it, they were taunting me, they were torturing me, I have no suspicion, we can move on. Amar l'Moshe Rabbeinu, she'yichtov shem ha'Vayeh haKadosh Baruch Hu v'yashlich l'mayim she'yirchek sham, ki ein shem haKadosh she'nirchak b'Megillas Sota. And Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu to write His name in the Mei Mara, at the place called Mara. This was an early enactment of the mei sota, so that the men could be freed of their suspicion miyad. Hishlich Moshe l'mayim es Hashem, v'sham nivdeku kulam, v'nimtzu kol Yisrael tehorim me'arayos, and all the women were proven innocent, shelo hayah echad me'hagvarim she'nitma b'neshosam shel haMitzrim, v'lo haisa achas mi'nashos Yisrael she'nitma. None of the men cheated, none of the women cheated, kulam kedoshim u'tehorim r'uim she'tishreh haShechinah aleihem, and all of them were worthy, and this wasn't because Hashem needed to prove it. Hashem knows what happens behind closed doors. It was all so that with harmony and peace and shalom bayis, they could go into the desert and march to Sinai and march to Eretz Yisrael suspicion free. Isn't that amazing? It's a whole new reading of Mei Mara. That the mayim ki marim heim, was really not something negative that they should have complained about, was a gift from Hashem to prove the innocence and exonerate all of the, all of the women. Amazing, amazing. Shem did it again after the ma'aseh eigel, there's evidence. Was there ever a sota in history? Otzar Pli'os HaTorah has pages and pages, everything you could want to know of this and more. But here are some interesting ones. Pasuk chaf vav, you gotta love the Otzar Pli'os HaTorah. I do. וקמץ הכהן מן המנחה את אזכרתה והקטיר המזבחה ואחר ישקה את האשה את המים V'kamatz haKohen min ha'mincha es azkarasah v'hiktir hamizbecha, v'achar yashkeh es ha'isha es hamayim. He brings the korban, you have the whole process, and then the kohen gives her the water to drink. Now, when you and I drink water, Gordon's sipping on his coffee. Before he drank his coffee, what did he do? Now that our cups have been sponsored the next batch, please God, you have on your cup, caffeinate with כוונה kavanah, שהכל נהיה בדברו shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. Each cup will remind us to live with אמונה emunah, to caffeinate with כוונה kavanah, to remember and make that ברכה bracha with כוונה kavanah. So, Fregt the... plause our Torah. ואחר ישקה את האישה את המים V'achar yashkeh es ha'isha es hamayim, you give the woman the water to drink, does she make a ברכה bracha? Does the מי סוטה mei sotah get a ברכה bracha? יש לחקור בסוטה כשמשקה אותה הכהן במים המאררים, האם היתה מברכת על שתיה זו ברכת הנהנין Yesh lachkor b'sotah k'shemashkeh osa ha'kohein b'mayim ham'ararim, ha'im haisa mevareches al shtiya zu birchas ha'nehenin? Does she make a שהכל shehakol? Or maybe not a שהכל shehakol, maybe what should she make? אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציוונו על מצות שתית מי סוטה Asher kidishanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu al mitzvas shtiyas mei sotah? Maybe a ברכת המצוה birchas hamitzvah? Assuming it's a מצוה mitzvah to drink the מי סוטה mei sotah in this circumstance, does she make a ברכה bracha? I never would have thought to ask that question. But the author of the אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pla'os HaTorah did. And then he says when I went to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael in the month of אייר תשנ\"ה Iyar Taf Shin Nun Hei, I went around asking the גדולים gedolim this question. וכולם השיבו בסגנון אחד V'kulam heishivu b'signon echad and all of them answered the same. That the woman does not make a ברכת הנהנין birchas ha'nehenin, and why? Because the שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן ר\"ד Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim siman Reish Daled tells us.You know, what if you're not thirsty, but before you go to bed you have to take medicine. So you take a sip of water to take your medicine. Do you make a ברכה bracha on that sip of water? No. שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. שכל דבר שאין טעמו טוב ואין הכרח נהנה ממנו, אינו מברך עליו Shekol davar she'ein ta'amo tov v'ein hechrech neheneh mimenu, eino mevarech alav. You're not thirsty or it doesn't have a good taste, you don't enjoy it. It doesn't matter that you're putting it in your mouth and swallowing it, that is not the definition of eating and drinking. The definition of eating and drinking is enjoyment, pleasure. And what precipitates a ברכת הנהנין birchas ha'nehenin is the pleasure and is the enjoyment. At 2:00 on שבועות Shavuos night in סמיכת חבר Smichas Chaver we gave a שיעור shiur on this topic on the מחלוקת רמב\"ם ראב\"ד, ר\"ש, רבינו יונה machlokes Rambam Raavad, Rosh, Rabbeinu Yonah. It's a big, big מחלוקת machlokes. Do you make a ברכה bracha on איסור issur food? Person is eating non-kosher food, do they make a ברכה bracha? If you're eating on a fast day, not because you need to to live, but because you don't care that it's a fast day, do you make a ברכה bracha? Do you make a ברכה bracha when you're violating something in eating? מצוה הבאה בעבירה Mitzvah haba'ah b'aveira? Is it you should make the ברכה bracha anyway because you're getting pleasure? Is that not called pleasure?We spoke about, let's say you have a home where three people who need to eat on יום כיפור Yom Kippur, not שיעורים shiurim, they need to eat outright. And they ate bread. Do they bench זימון zimun on יום כיפור Yom Kippur? Do you make קידוש kiddush, do you say יעלה ויבוא ya'aleh v'yavo and do you bench בזימון b'zimun on יום כיפור Yom Kippur? Big discussion. 2:00, 3:00 in the morning שבועות Shavuos night. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. So the שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch here says that if you're drinking because you want a sip of water for medicine, you don't make a ברכה bracha. You don't make a ברכה bracha. So, because of that, similarly here, לא היתה מברכת על שתית מי סוטה המרים Lo haisa mevareches al shtiyas mei sotah hamarim. מי מרים Mayim marim, they were bitter, they weren't pleasurable, shouldn't enjoy drinking them at all, and therefore, there's no ברכת הנהנין birchas ha'nehenin. She wasn't drinking because she was thirsty. She wasn't drinking because she craved a nice diet peach Snapple. She was drinking because she was forced to. What about a ברכת המצוה birchas hamitzvah? So רב חיים קנייבסקי זצ\"ל Rav Chaim Kanievsky zatzal, she would not make a ברכת המצוה birchas hamitzvah. Why? Because the גמרא בברכות Gemara b'Brachos says אין מברכין על כוס של פורענות ein mevar'chin al kos shel puranus. סוטה שזינתה מתה מכך Sotah shezinsa meisa mikach. פשוט שלא יברך על כוס פורענות Pashut shelo yevarech al kos puranus. You don't make a ברכה bracha on a כוס של פורענות kos shel puranus of sadness or tragedy. She would suffer a horrible death if in fact she was guilty, and therefore she does not make a ברכה bracha.Now, what about a סוטה sotah who knows she's innocent? So maybe now it's a כוס של ברכה kos shel bracha, why? It's not a כוס של פורענות kos shel puranus. If she says I don't remember, or I'm guilty but I hope they won't figure it out, or it was borderline, why that is I'll tell you when the camera's off. But if she knows she's innocent, she says we play chess, we play checkers, he helped me figure out Wordle. We didn't do anything. There was no physical contact, there was no affection, there certainly wasn't a violation of the fidelity of our marriage. She knows she's innocent. So now, she gets all excited, why? Because now when she drinks the מי מרים mayim marim, what's going to happen? She's going to get pregnant. In fact, who threatened God with this? חנה Chana. חנה Chana was her עזות דקדושה azus d'kdusha, חז\"ל chazal say she had a holy חוצפה chutzpah. What was her holy חוצפה chutzpah? It was also a יידישע קאפ Yiddishe kop. A holy חוצפה chutzpah with a יידישע קאפ Yiddishe kop. She said השם Hashem, give me a baby. Because if not, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to seclude myself with a man and I'll be taken to the משכן Mishkan and I'll be forced to drink the water and you'll have no choice but to make me pregnant. So let's skip all that and just make me pregnant to begin with. A holy חוצפה chutzpah and a יידישע קאפ Yiddishe kop. So, so this woman who's innocent and she knows it's not a כוס של פורענות kos shel puranus, it's a כוס של ברכה kos shel bracha. She's going to have a baby. So maybe she should make a ברכה bracha אשר קדשנו במצותיו וציונו asher kidishanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu. She wants to drink this water. It's going to yield a baby.The גמרא Gemara says if she was barren, she'll get pregnant. If she has only girls, she'll have a boy. If if they're short, her children will be tall. If they have a bad complexion, they'll have a beautiful complexion. Okay, whatever it is. So everybody wants to upgrade somehow. It's a כוס של ברכה kos shel bracha. So he says he heard from רב חיים קנייבסקי Rav Chaim Kanievsky the following, and then he found it in the ספר טעם הדבר Sefer Ta'am HaDavar. האם סוטה מברכת על שתית מים? Ha'im sotah mevareches al shtiyas mayim? ברכת הנהנין פשיטא דלא מברכת Birchas ha'nehenin pshita d'lo mevarchas. ברכת המצוה אם היא טמאה בוודאי אינה מברכת Birchas hamitzvah im hi t'meiah b'vadai eina mevareches. אין מברכין על העונש Ein mevar'chin al ha'onesh. Like you wouldn't make a ברכה bracha if you're being if you're being taken out to be executed, חייבי בית דין chayavei beis din, מיתת בית דין misas beis din. You don't make a ברכה bracha אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציונו על הסקילה she'kidshanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu al ha'skilah. Then start throwing stones, push me off the off the off the of the building. You don't make a ברכה bracha on death, מיתת בית דין misas beis din. You don't make a ברכה bracha here. But what about if she's טהורה tehorah? כיון שתחילת ענינה בעבירה אינה מברכת על דבר שבא בעבירה Keivan she'tchilas inyana b'aveira, eina mevareches al davar sheba b'aveira. Said רב חיים קנייבסקי Rav Chaim Kanievsky, but remember, true in the end she's innocent, she's exonerated, she gets a ברכה bracha. How'd she get into this circumstance? It wasn't the husband noticed the wife at the קידוש kiddush, at the שמארג shmorg, at the wedding. He said to her, don't seclude yourself. And she secluded herself and witnesses saw and testified. That's the woman who drinks the water. So it's true in the end she gets a ברכה bracha, but how did she get into that circumstance? Because she did an עבירה aveira. She violated the prohibition of יחוד yichud. Even Mike Pence knows you can't be alone. And she was alone. כמו שכתב הרשב\"א בתשובה אין מברכין על השבת גזילה ואחזרת ריבית k'mo shekasav ha'Rashba b'tshuva ein mevar'chin al hashavas gezeila v'hachzaras ribis. Let's say you stole and you return what you stole, do you make a ברכה bracha? Let's say you charged ריבית ribis, or you paid ריבית ribis and you refund it, interest, do you make a ברכה bracha? No. Says the רשב\"א Rashba, why not? There's a מצוה mitzvah, השבת גזילה hashavas gezeila. Why not? Because you don't make a ברכה bracha on an עבירה aveira. The only way that you got into that circumstance for the מצוה mitzvah was through an עבירה aveira. Since you had to do the עבירה aveira to get to the מצוה mitzvah, you don't make a ברכה bracha. Said רב חיים קנייבסקי Rav Chaim Kanievsky, the same thing was true over here. The same thing was true over here. Fascinating. Do you make this ברכה bracha, not make this ברכה bracha? By the way, it's left with the question we mentioned previously, but I won't make you listen to a previous year for this. You got to wonder, based on that calculation, she violated something to get in that circumstance, that position that she got the ברכה bracha. Why'd she get a ברכה bracha? She'd say, okay, you know what, the water tested her, you're innocent, you were right. You were correct. You were honest, you didn't do anything. Now, quickly, go while you can, get back to life, get back with your husband, go out on a date night, get away for a little bit, but just escape while you can. Instead she gets a ברכה bracha? By what does she get a ברכה bracha when she had to do something bad to get there to begin with?So there are beautiful insights that say we need to know, even if we've done something wrong, but if we could have continued that which we did which was wrong, השם Hashem holds precious every moment we choose to do something right. Every moment matters. So someone spent three hours looking at the wrong images online, but after three hours and a minute they say, you know what, I'm bigger, I'm better than this, I'm bigger than this, enough, I'm turning it off. השם Hashem says, give me a hug. You're precious, you're dear. We have to have a talk about the three hours. Some consequences to the three hours, but we don't ignore the minute that you found the courage and conviction to now stop. You said all this juicy לשון הרע lashon hara and the last little tidbit you held back because you felt a little guilty. השם Hashem says, no, give me a big hug. It matters, it means something. Even when we find the will, even for that little bit, it means something, it matters. We need to know that even if you're not on the highest level, no matter how far you've fallen, no matter how distant you are, no matter the mistakes that we've made, every little bit matters. השם Hashem needs it. He cares about it. It means something to him, it makes a difference to him. פסוק כ\"ח Pasuk Chaf Ches. Moving along in our story of the סוטה sotah. ואם לא נטמאה האישה וטהורה היא ונקתה ונזרעה זרע V'im lo nitm'ah ha'isha u'tehorah hi v'niksa v'nizra'ah zara. If she's innocent, then she's blessed. Now, what happens if she's pregnant? The promise and the ברכה bracha for being innocent is what? She gets pregnant. But what if she's already pregnant? Can she bank it? Does it roll over the ברכה bracha? The רש\"י ותוספות במסכת סוטה דף כ\"ו Rashi and Tosfos b'maseches Sotah daf kaf vav have a מחלוקת machlokes. A pregnant woman, do you give her to drink or not? Why? According to רש\"י Rashi, משקין אותה אף על פי שהיא מעוברת ושלא תאמר mashkin osa af al pi shehi me'uberes v'shelo tomar, if she's pregnant but she's guilty, she's a particularly bad woman if she was pregnant and promiscuous. But if she's pregnant and she's guilty, and she drinks this water, what will happen? רש\"י Rashi says the baby will die with her. וכן פסק הרמב\"ם בהלכות סוטה פרק ב הלכה ז V'chein pasak ha'Rambam b'hilchos Sotah perek beis halacha zayin. מעוברת ומניקה כמו שהיא Me'uberes u'meinika k'mo shehi. Even if she's nursing and the baby relies exclusively on her, but she mistakenly secluded herself and is accused, and if she's guilty of infidelity, too bad, the baby goes with her. תוספות Tosfos disagrees. תוספות Tosfos says אין משקין אותה בעוד מעוברת ein mashkin osa b'od me'uberes. Why? למה לנו להרוג את העובר Lama lanu laharog es ha'ubar? What did this fetus, what did this baby do wrong? You're going to kill this fetus, this baby, because the mother acted promiscuously? Wait until she gives birth and then give her to drink, says תוספות Tosfos. Then says תוספות Tosfos. And תוספות Tosfos bases it on a on a ספרי זוטא Sifri Zuta on our פרשה parsha. ונקתה ונזרעה זרע פרט לזרועה לאמר אין עוברה שותה V'niksa v'nizra'ah zara, prat l'zru'ah, lomar ein ubrah shosa. That he derives from the פסוק pasuk only if she is not pregnant does she drink, if she's pregnant first she gives birth, and then we give her to drink afterwards. So, based on this פסוק pasuk and based on this מחלוקת רש\"י תוספות machlokes Rashi Tosfos, I don't want to take the time because there was a lot more I wanted to get into, but he quotes here the הלכתית halachic literature, the בן איש חי Ben Ish Chai in his ספר רב פעלים Sefer Rav Pa'alim, the חזון איש Chazon Ish, the יעב\"ץ Ya'avetz, ultimately the מהרי\"ט Maharit, רב משה Rav Moshe has כתבתי כזה לענין kasavti k'zeh l'inyan he invokes this מחלוקת רש\"י תוספות machlokes Rashi Tosfos when it comes to which question? Abortion. If you hold this fetus is not a baby, has no identity, has no value of a human life, then why is תוספות Tosfos trying to preserve the עובר ubar? Why can't she drink? Just like her heart, her lungs, her kidney, and her liver, her organs all go down with her if she's guilty, so her uterus and the uterine blob inside can go down with her. It's just an organ of hers. Right, is it her body, her choice, her organ? Or, no. It happens to be gestating inside her, but it's not her choice. It's not her organ. It has a value of a life or at least of a potential life. And having the value of a potential life, says תוספות Tosfos, how could you end or extinguish this potential life that will grow into a life when it, he or she, didn't do anything wrong? So the פוסקים poskim in discussing and addressing the question of abortion, invoke this מחלוקת רש\"י תוספות machlokes Rashi Tosfos in trying to identify what prohibition do you violate. רב משה Rav Moshe was the strictest. חזון איש Chazon Ish said abortion is just a prohibition of שפך וזרע לבטלה shefach v'zera l'vatala. That was the חזון איש Chazon Ish. Others say it's a prohibition of חבלה chabalah. רב משה Rav Moshe held its רציחה retzicha, it's murder. It's murder of life or potential life. This תוספות Tosfos is part of the evidence. And רב משה Rav Moshe writes כתבתי כל זה לענין הפרצה גדולה בעולם kasavti kol zeh l'inyan ha'pirtza gedolah ba'olam, and I write what I write as intensely as I write, said רב משה Rav Moshe, because in our world שהמלכיות התיר לארצות המדינות she'hamalchiyos hitir l'artzos ha'medinos, he tear a lot of עוברים וסופם גם ראש המדינה מדינת ישראל ubrim v'sofam gam rosh ha'medina medinas Yisrael. Because now abortion is so popular, not only in the diaspora but even in Israel. וכבר נהרגו עוברים לאין מספר u'kvar nehergu ubrim l'ein mispar. And so many thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of babies have been murdered. שבזמן הזה עוד יש צורך לעשות סייג לתורה she'bazman ha'zeh od yesh tzorech la'asos siyag la'Torah, we have to go above and beyond to make a fence. Of course there are circumstances. We don't believe abortions ever permissible, we believe termination is not only at times permissible, but it's הלכתית halachically required. It's not a show on abortion, we don't have time. But we should use our language carefully and distinguish between abortion, which is prohibited, and terminating a pregnancy, which הלכה halacha not only allows but requires at times. If the mother's life is threatened, if you have to do fetal reduction, to multiple pregnancy where one threatens the other, there are circumstances, even some פוסקים poskim will allow resulting from rape or incest, or certain terminal illnesses that that fetus might have. There are circumstances that הלכה halacha might allow termination, but not abortion. So רב משה Rav Moshe is railing against not termination, but abortion, because abortion, abortion wantonly is is an act of murder. It's not elective, it's not a woman's choice, it's not her body. Termination at times, specific circumstances permissible, and he writes, עושה בדין רציחה ממש oseh b'din retzicha mamash, בין כשר בין ממזר בין שאר עוברים bein kasher bein mamzer bein sh'ar ubrim, it is a prohibition. So, from this פסוק pasuk, from this זרע zara, her reward, רש\"י תוספות Rashi Tosfos is where the פוסקים poskim invoke this this this question. Okay, moving right along. I think we're moving on from the אישה סוטה isha sotah.פרק ו פסוק ב Perek Vav, Pasuk Beis. 7:58. What comes after סוטה sotah? למה נסמכה פרשת סוטה לפרשת נזיר Lama nismicha parshas sotah l'parshas nazir? נזיר Nazir comes after it in in the תורה Torah. Page 758, פרק ו פסוק א Perek Vav Pasuk Aleph. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor. דבר אל בני ישראל ואמרת אליהם איש או אשה כי יפליא לנדור נדר נזיר להזיר להשם Daber el Bnei Yisrael v'amarta aleihem ish o isha ki yafli lindor neder nazir l'hazir l'Hashem. If a man or woman, יפליא yafli, wondrously makes a vow to be a נזיר nazir to השם Hashem. If the individual wondrously makes this vow to השם Hashem. So first of all, you know when you take the בחינה bechina to get into the כולל kollel at רב יצחק אלחנן Rav Yitzchak Elchanan, University. And רב שכטר Rav Schechter, I don't know if he's still giving the בחינות bechinos to get into his כולל kollel, if he specifically. One of the questions that he would ask is, can a woman be a נזיר nazir? Can a woman be a נזיר nazir? Why did he ask that question? Because a lot of ישיבה yeshiva guys will say, סתם נזירות שלושים יום stam neziros shloshim yom, is it a מצוה שהזמן גרמא mitzvah shehazman grama? Are women involved, not involved? It's a פסוק pasuk in the תורה Torah. איש או אשה כי יפליא לנדור נדר Ish o isha ki yafli lindor neder. רב שכטר Rav Schechter in שיעור shiur all the time would emphasize, you got to know the פסוקים psukim. Then you get to know the משנה Mishna and the גמרא Gemara and the הלכה halacha, you got to go back to the basics, you got to know the פסוקים psukim. איש או אשה Ish o isha, it begins with the פסוקים psukim, איש או אשה ish o isha, a man or a woman who vows to not drink, who vows to become a נזיר nazir. מיין ושכר יזיר חומץ יין וחומץ שכר לא ישתה Mi'yayin v'shechar yazir chometz yayin v'chometz shechar lo yishteh. Can't drink wine or grape product, can't cut their hair, and can't be exposed or contaminated to a corpse. Why does נזיר nazir appear right after סוטה sotah? So חז\"ל chazal tell us למה נסמכה lama nismicha, because כל הרואה סוטה בקלקולה יזיר עצמו מן היין kol ha'roeh sotah b'kilkulah yazir atzmo min hayayin. Whoever sees a סוטה בקלקולה sotah b'kilkulah, if you see what happened, what promiscuity leads to, what living with no boundaries leads to, what following your urge and your impulse leads to, then you better you better vow not to drink wine. So לשיטת עליון בספר לחורב מה תועלת פרישה מן היין L'shitas Elyon b'sefer L'chorev mah to'eles prisha min hayayin? Okay, so you won't drink wine. You're still going to go to the party and club, you're still going to flirt, you're still going to be promiscuous, licentious, you're still going to be lewd. Not drinking wine is only part of the solution. Why don't we give a more whole-cell approach to how to live a more modest and virtuous life? We specifically only say lay off the alcohol, not all alcohol, lay off the wine, the grape product. And he answers, because הרי הוא משפט בכל תהלוכות עולם הזה, שכדי להשתנות צריך להחליט בפעם אחת שמכאן ואילך אין לי שייכות לכל העבר, אלא רק בקבלה אחת. Harei hu mishpat b'chol tahaluchos ha'olam ha'zeh, she'kedei l'hishtanos tzrich l'hachlit b'pa'am achas she'mikan v'eilach ein li shaychus l'chol ha'avar, ela rak b'kabbalah achas. When you want to make a change in life, don't try to take on too much, take on one thing. Make a קבלה kabbalah and let the קבלה kabbalah that you make become the reminder that you need to do things differently. So every time you grab the לחיים l'chaim, every time someone invites you to make a לחיים l'chaim, every time you feel like throwing back a nice ice-cold beer, the beer you could have the נזיר nazir, just the wine. Every time you feel like a nice glass of wine, you remind yourself, you know what, I'm a changed person. I'm working on myself, I'm a different person. So you're right, the wine alone is not enough, but you can't take on too much. The message to the נזיר nazir is take on one thing and through the one thing you will grow and you will change and you will become and you will become better.רב פוטנר Rav Hutner made the following comment. What do we call in עניני הדיבור inyanei ha'dibur? Torah calls them הפלאה hafla'ah. The רמב\"ם Rambam in his משנה תורה יד החזקה Mishneh Torah Yad HaChazakah, all the הלכות halachos that have to do with speaking, taking vows and the like, appear in the volume that the רמב\"ם Rambam called ספר הפלאה Sefer Hafla'ah. And where do you get that from? Our פרשה parsha, our פרשה parsha. So רב פוטנר Rav Hutner based on the רמ\"א Rama. The רמ\"א Rama in אורח חיים סימן ו Orach Chaim siman vav says the following. The ברכה bracha אשר יצר Asher Yatzar, person relieves themselves, the world's greatest factory called the human body executed properly, held back the nutrients and and eliminated the waste, incredible factory. You come out, you make a ברכה bracha, אשר יצר Asher Yatzar. And what do we end the ברכה bracha? ומפליא לעשות u'mafli la'asos. What does that mean ומפליא לעשות u'mafli la'asos? עוד יש לפרש שמפליא לעשות מה ששומר רוח אדם בקרבו וקושר דבר רוחני בדבר גשמי Od yesh l'fareish she'mafli la'asos mah she'shomer ruach adam b'kirbo v'kosher davar ruchani b'davar gashmi. The מפליא mafli, פלא pela is a wonder. פלא Pela is a wonder. You know what a wonder it is that השם Hashem is able to house our spirit, our soul in this body? The soul and the body are opposites, they're in conflict. How do they integrate? How do we have this hybrid? How do they live together and cooperate and collaborate? How do they work together? It's a פלא pela. It's a פלא pela. And that's ומפליא לעשות u'mafli la'asos, that's the פלא pela. The משנה ברורה Mishnah Berurah says the כוונה kavanah of the רמ\"א Rama is הנשמה נהנית מרוחניות המאכל, והגוף נהנה מגשמיות המאכל, ומכח זה קשורים זה בזה על ידי המאכל ha'neshama nehenis mei'ruchniyus ha'maachal, v'haguf neheneh m'gashmiyus ha'maachal, u'mikoach zeh k'shurim zeh b'zeh al yedei ha'maachal. The food, food can be a physical, hedonistic act of indulgence. That's the animal part of us eating. But eating can also be a very spiritual thing. Eating is what sustains us, gives us life. Every time we eat, we're connecting to השם Hashem who is the sustainer of life through eating. And eating can be a very holy activity. And the fact that we can achieve both a holy activity and a mundane, hedonistic activity through the same thing called food connects them. ולפי זה ביאור של אחי נקרע כל ענייני הדיבור הפלאה, הרי הנשמה והגוף קשורים זה בזה בכח הדיבור V'lefi zeh be'ur shel achi nikra kol inyanei ha'dibur hafla'ah, harei ha'neshama v'haguf k'shurim zeh b'zeh b'koach ha'dibur. That's why speech is called הפלאה hafla'ah, because speech is the bridge that unites the spiritual world and the physical world. When we speak, we bring ideas and thoughts and emotions and feelings and dreams into the physical world and the physical reality. הרי זה מוציא לחוץ רוח אדם ורוחניות שבאדם לנפש חיה לרוח ממללא, שם מקום המפגש של הגוף והנפש Harei zeh motzi l'chutz ruach adam v'ruchniyus sheb'adam l'nefesh chaya l'ruach memalela, sham makom ha'mifgash shel ha'guf v'ha'nefesh. ומי כאן החומרא הגדולה של כל חטאי הלשון כבחינה מסוימת זה החלק הקדוש גדול ביותר U'mikan ha'chumra ha'gedolah shel kol chatei ha'lashon k'bechina mesuyemes zeh ha'chelek ha'kadosh gadol b'yoser. So that's why כי יפליא לנדור ki yafli lindor. A נזיר nazir, יפליא yafli, this נזיר nazir used the power of speech to take upon himself this new identity of a נזיר nazir. תורה Torah doesn't demand someone be a נזיר nazir. How does one get that identity of a נזיר nazir? Because they vow. Through a vow, through words, we change reality. It's the bridge between the spiritual and the physical, we transform reality. And that's the meaning of the ברכה bracha ומפליא לעשות u'mafli la'asos. And where did the רמב\"ם Rambam get that from? That הדיבור hadibur is הפלאה hafla'ah, and ומפליא לעשות u'mafli la'asos is the bridge of speech, physical and the spiritual? From this פסוק pasuk, כי יפליא ki yafli, כי יפליא ki yafli.אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pla'os HaTorah also has something to say about this. And about everything else. It says the following. He says נזירות neziros is an ענין פלא inyan peleh. The אבן עזרא Ibn Ezra יפליא מלשון פלא yafli milashon peleh. רוב העולם מוכנים בשורש ליבם אחר תאוותם Rov ha'olam muchanim b'shoresh libam achar ta'avasam. Most of the world say, that looks good. I want to drink that, I want to eat that, I want to try that. I want to enjoy that. ופליאה ונסגבה היא כי מי שנודר על עצמו מנזירות, שלא ליהנות אף מה שהתירה תורה U'fli'ah v'nisgavah hi ki mi she'noder al atzmo m'neziros, shelo lehanos af mah she'hitira Torah. התורה Torah doesn't give us enough restrictions? התורה Torah doesn't eliminate enough options for us? And yet this נזיר nazir went ahead and made it even more narrow, made it even more restrictive. That's a פלא pela. What a wonder that a person could transcend their תאוה ta'ava, their their impulse and eliminate options and have even more narrow choices. That's nothing short of a פלא pela. And that's why it's להפליא כי יפליא l'hafli ki yafli. What a פלא pela, what a wonder someone could be on that on that high level, on that high level.יביא אותו Yevi oso. פרק ו פסוק יג Perek Vav, Pasuk Yud Gimmel. The נזיר nazir, he's at the לשכת המצורעים. וזאת תורת הנזיר ביום מלאות ימי נזרו V'zos toras ha'nazir b'yom melos y'mei nizro what happens? A נזיר nazir can't take a term of less than 30 days. סתם נזירות Stam neziros is 30 days. He could take on a term for the rest of his life. But when he concludes his term, יביא אותו אל פתח אוהל מועד yevi oso el pesach ohel moed, bring him to the entrance of the אוהל מועד ohel moed. That's a funny way to describe it. Who's bringing whom? Bring him to the entrance of the אוהל מועד ohel moed. Who's bringing whom? יביא אותו Yevi oso. So, רש\"י Rashi says יביא אותו yevi oso, who's bringing him? He is. He's bringing him. יביא אותו זו דרש\"י, יבוא את עצמו Yevi oso zu d'Rashi, yavo es atzmo. Brings himself, meaning he should be so changed, so grown, so different, so elevated from this experience, that he is internally self-motivated, יביא את עצמו yavi es atzmo, he brings himself. The ספורנו Sforno says כי ענין כל המתחדש דבר מעצמו נאמר שהוא מובא אל המתחדש בו על ידי נכבד ממנו Ki inyan kol hamischadesh davar mei'atzmo, ne'emar shehu muva el hamischadesh bo al yedei nichbad mimenu. When you are moved and inspired to do something new, we describe it as you brought yourself. ולזה נכתב במצורע בטומאתו ובטהרתו והובא אל הכהן V'lezeh nichtav b'metzora b'tumaso u'v'taharoso v'huva el ha'kohen. בסוטה והביא איש את אשתו אל הכהן B'sotah v'heivi ish es ishto el ha'kohen. וכן בעבד הגישו אדוניו אל האלהים V'chein b'eved higisho adonav el ha'elohim. בנזיר שהחידוש בו גילוח ובא יפה להיות איש אחר אין נכבד ממנו שיביאו אבל הוא יביא את עצמו B'nazir she'hachidush bo gilua u'va yafeh l'hiyos ish acher, ein nichbad mimenu sheyevi'u, aval hu yevi es atzmo. In the other cases it's someone else who brings that deficient person, but here in the case of the person who's grown from the experience, he brings himself. So said ר' יוסף דב סולובייצ'יק Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, the רב Rav of טלז Telz, כל אדם שרוצה לעלות למדרגה יותר גבוהה, הוא זקוק לחניכה כדי שמוקשה להשיג אותה kol adam she'rotzeh la'alos l'madreiga yoser gevoha, hu zakuk l'chanicha kedei she'muksheh l'hasig osa. חניכה זו לא תעשה על ידי אדם עצמו היות והוא עדיין לא הגיע עדיין אליה Chanicha zu lo te'aseh al yedei adam atzmo, heyos v'hu adayin lo higia adayin eileha. שכן אין חבוש מתיר עצמו מבית האסורים Sheכן ein chavush matir atzmo m'beis ha'asurim. והוא יודע מהסורים ואיך להתיר עצמו V'hu yode'a mah ha'isurim v'eich l'hatir atzmo. כמו כן כשהאדם צריך לעלות ולעבור למעלה גבוהה יותר, יותר ביראת השם k'mo chein k'sheha'adam tzrich la'alos v'la'avor l'ma'alah gevoha yoser, yoser b'yiras Hashem, כל זמן שלא הגיע אליה לא יוכל להרגיש שהוא נכון kol zman shelo higia eileha lo yuchal lehargish shehu nachon. If you want to grow and you want to improve, you cannot do it on your own. It's a mistake. No matter how proud, no matter how independent you think you are, until you're on the level of doing it, you can't be יביא את עצמו yevi es atzmo. It's only the נזיר nazir at the end of his term who can bring himself. All the other, according to the ספורנו Sforno, all the other people, the מצורע metzora, the סוטה sotah, the עבד eved, when a person wants to transform and grow, when you want to take a major step, you need help, you need assistance, you need support, you need someone to bring you. It's only the נזיר nazir at the end of his term, it's old term, it's only when he's already experienced the inspiration, only now can he bring can he bring himself. פרק ו פסוק כ\"ג Perek vav pasuk kaf gimmel. We move on from the נזיר nazir to the ברכת כהנים birkas kohanim. I don't even know if we're going to get to the נשיאים nesi'im. All the repetitive נשיאים nesi'im that we read on חנוכה Chanukah. Oh, so much to say. פרשת נשא Parshas Nasso, the longest פרשה parsha in the תורה Torah. So much to say, so much we should have a double פרשה parsha class. Should have been. But alas, ברוך השם Baruch Hashem another שמחה simcha, I got to get to the airport. פרק ו פסוק כ\"ג Perek vav pasuk kaf gimmel. וידבר ה' אל משה לאמר דבר אל אהרן ואל בניו לאמר כה תברכו את בני ישראל אמור להם Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, daber el Aharon v'el banav leimor, ko sevarchu es bnei Yisrael, amor lahem. Speak to אהרן Aharon to his sons saying, thus shall you bless my children, speak, say to them, כה ko. כה תברכו אמור להם Ko sevarchu, amor lahem. Where do they get this ברכה bracha from? So אוצר פלאות התורה Otzar Pla'os HaTorah quotes a מדרש medrash. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave אברהם Avraham a ברכה bracha he said והיה ברכה v'heyei bracha. The ברכות brachos are in your hand. You אברהם Avraham are the steward of of ברכות brachos, of blessings. You have the key, you have the power to bless. אברהם Avraham gave it to יצחק Yitzchak, יצחק Yitzchak gave it to יעקב Yaakov. יעקב Yaakov gave it to the twelve שבטים shvatim, and then it was given to the כהנים kohanim. מכאן ואילך הברכות מסורות לכם Mikan v'eilach ha'brachos mesuros lachem. הכהנים יברכו את בני ישראל כשם שאמרתי לאברהם אביהם והיה ברכה כה תברכו את בני ישראל Ha'kohanim yevarchu es bnei Yisrael k'shem she'amarti l'Avraham avihem v'heyei bracha, ko sevarchu es bnei Yisrael. Where did the כהנים kohanim inherit the power to give the ברכה bracha? From אברהם Avraham who got the original power, והיה ברכה v'heyei bracha, who gave it to יצחק Yitzchak who gave it to יעקב Yaakov, who gave it to the כהנים kohanim. This may be the מוקד moker why some אשכנזים Ashkenazim have the מנהג minhag of mumbling a פסוק pasuk after each of the ברכת כהנים birkas kohanim. כן יהי רצון בזכות אברהם אבינו Ken yehi ratzon b'zchus Avraham avinu. כן יהי רצון בזכות יצחק אבינו Ken yehi ratzon b'zchus Yitzchak avinu. כן יהי רצון בזכות יעקב אבינו Ken yehi ratzon b'zchus Yaakov avinu. The origin might be this מדרש medrash, because where did the כהנים kohanim get this power? The ברכה bracha that we are receiving comes originally from אברהם Avraham who gave it to יצחק Yitzchak who gave it to יעקב Yaakov who gave it to the שבטים shvatim who handed that key exclusively to the כהנים kohanim who give it to us and that's why we say בזכות b'zchus. בזכות b'zchus, יהי רצון בזכות אברהם אבינו yehi ratzon b'zchus Avraham avinu, יצחק אבינו Yitzchak avinu, יעקב אבינו Yaakov avinu, because that was the chain through which it came to us. This might be alluded to in the פסוק pasuk itself. Why? כה תברכו את בני ישראל Ko sevarchu es bnei Yisrael. בכח הברכה שהיה בידי אבות הקדושים, כה דוקא b'koach ha'bracha she'haya b'yedei avos ha'kedoshim, ko davka. ברכה זו ממש מסורה בידי הכהנים, וכשהם מברכים את ישראל הרי הם מברכים באותו כח של ברכת אבות הקדושים Bracha zu mamash mesurah b'yedei ha'kohanim, u'k'shehem mevar'chim es Yisrael, harei hem mevar'chim b'oso koach shel birchas avos ha'kedoshim. So כה ko, תברכו sevarchu. Take this power. Where did it come from? Came from אברהם Avraham. Where did אברהם Avraham get it from? He doesn't mention this, but maybe when השם Hashem told אברהם Avraham go outside, כה יהיה זרעך ko yihyeh zar'echa. So the כה ko of כה יהיה זרעך ko yihyeh zar'echa and ואני והנער נלכה עד כה v'ani v'hana'ar neilecha ad ko at the עקידה akeida is the כה תברכו את בני ישראל ko sevarchu es bnei Yisrael that the power of the כהנים kohanim came from אברהם Avraham, יצחק Yitzchak and came from יעקב Yaakov. It's a beautiful... What does it come? The כהנים kohanim have to give the ברכה bracha באהבה b'ahava. Why do כהנים kohanim have to give this ברכה bracha באהבה b'ahava? I don't have to shake the לולב lulav באהבה b'ahava with love. I don't have to blow the שופר shofar with love, light the חנוכה Chanukah candles with love, keep שבת Shabbos with love. Here it has to be לברך את עמו ישראל באהבה l'varech es amo Yisrael b'ahava. And this is פוסק pasken in the שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן קכ\"ח Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim siman kuf kaf ches. The מגן אברהם Magen Avraham says באהבה b'ahava, כל כהן דלא רחים לעמא או עמא לא רחמין ליה לא יפרוס ידיו לברך עמא kol kohen d'lo rachim l'ama o ama lo rachmin lei, lo yifros yadav l'varech ama. The מגן אברהם Magen Avraham quotes from the זוהר Zohar, the כהן's in a bad mood, כהן's angry, negative, miserable, פאַרביסן farbissen. The כהן kohen doesn't get along with somebody who's in the ציבור tzibbur, then the כהן kohen can't דוכנ'ן duchan. Can't כהן kohen can't do it באהבה b'ahava, they can't דוכנ'ן duchan. Where do they get this באהבה b'ahava? Why דוקא davka this ברכה bracha has to be באהבה b'ahava? So the בן איש חי Ben Ish Chai says וציוונו לברך את עמו ישראל באהבה v'tzivanu l'varech es amo Yisrael b'ahava, על ידי שמקיים את מצות נשיאת כפים באהבה רק באופן זה יכול לברך ישראל בברכה משולשת al yedei shem'kayem es mitzvas nesias kapayim b'ahava, rak b'ofen zeh yachol l'varech Yisrael b'bracha meshuleshes. Why? The אהבה ahava is not just אהבת ישראל ahavas Yisrael, it's אהבת השם ahavas Hashem. The כהן kohen has to be in a good place with a relationship with השם Hashem to be his ambassador, his steward, to be his transfer agent to take the ברכה bracha from השם Hashem and to give it to to give it to כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael. It has to come from a place of love. A ברכה bracha can't come from a negative place. It has to come. has to come from a place of love, באהבה b'ahavah. And humility. And the person who's giving it is also representing Hashem. בקול רם B'kol ram, Yerushalmi says, בקולו של רם b'kolo shel ram, with the voice of the most exalted. שהקדוש ברוך הוא משמיע קולו עמהם Shehakadosh Baruch Hu mishameia kolo imahem. Hashem mixes his voice in with the Kohanim, when they give their ברכה bracha, Hashem is blessing with them. And maybe that's the reason נוהגים הכהנים לברך את הציבור כשהם עומדים ליד ארון קודש nohegim haKohanim l'varech et hatzibur k'shehem omdim l'yad aron kodesh. לרמז על ענין זה שהקדוש ברוך הוא שוכן אתם L'ramez al inyan zeh shehakadosh baruch hu shochen itam. Hashem is dwelling with them and giving the ברכה bracha with them from that platform. I really wanted to get to. Maybe we'll end with this a beautiful... We spoke on שבועות Shavuos. It's been a big talk lately in our shul and elsewhere. Does Hashem need us? Does he need our מצוות mitzvos? Does Hashem need us? If omnipotent and infinite perfect all knowing, he has no needs. To need is to mean you lack. If you lack, you're not perfect and omnipotent and omniscient. So we spoke about Hashem chooses to need us. He's not like AI or a robot. He's not an algorithm or programmed or coded. Hashem chooses to need us. He gets a נחת רוח nachas ruach from us. And we went through many, many, many sources. So here, the Gemara in Sotah says, מנין שהקדוש ברוך הוא מתאוה לברכת כהנים minayin shehakadosh baruch hu misaveh l'virkas kohanim? How do you know HaKadosh Baruch Hu wants, needs the ברכת כהנים birkas kohanim? ושמו את שמי על בני ישראל ואני אברכם V'samu et shmi al bnei Yisrael v'ani avarchem. Rashi. תלה הכתוב הדבר בכהנים להיות ברכה זו שימת שמו על עמו, ולא עשה צורך ישראל אלא צורך מקום Talah hakasuv hadavar b'kohanim l'hiyos bracha zu simas shmo al amo, v'lo asah tzorech Yisrael ela tzorech makom. Rashi. Rashi on the Gemara Sotah למד ח lamed ches and our פרשה parsha. It's not צורך ישראל tzorech Yisrael. The ברכת כהנים birkas kohanim is not satisfying a need that we have, though we need and desperately want those ברכות brachos. Rather it's a צורך מקום tzorech makom. Ay, how could you talk about צורך מקום tzorech makom? Hashem has needs? There's so much to say but we're out of time. What need does Hashem have? He needs the... How does it help him? ברכת כהנים Birkas kohanim helps him? It's a need that he has. How does it help him? What is it his need? Next year, פרשת נשא parshas Nasso. We'll pick up over here, אם ירצה השם Im Yirtzeh Hashem. Till next time, stay happy, stay healthy, stay...
