Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב Boker Tov, welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. As always, we thank our generous Parsha series sponsors, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנוש leilui nishmas David ben Menachem Manush. We're very grateful to the Katzes for their generosity. This week, we have the privilege of reading and studying and learning פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei, page 1,046 in the ArtScroll Stone חומש Chumash. And Moshe's monologue, Moshe's soliloquy, Moshe continues to deliver a very poignant message to the Jewish people as they are on the precipice of entering the land. And he's trying to encourage, trying to position them for success, trying to remind them of what matters, trying to bring out the best of them. And he begins by warning כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך ki seitzei lamilchama al oyvecha, when you will go to war against your enemies, ונתנו השם אלוקיך בידך ושבית שביו unesano Hashem Elokecha beyadecha veshavisa shivyo, and your enemy will fall into your hand and you will capture its captivity. You'll defeat the enemy, you'll take prisoners. And we begin with this description, this very unusual law of the אשת יפת תואר eishes yefas toar, this beautiful woman whom you capture, and the soldier, as many soldiers are, filled with temptation, with desire, with drive. What are the rules? What are the laws? How do you contend with the יצר הרע yetzer hara? Beginning of פרשת כי תצא Parshas Ki Seitzei is a reminder that the Torah is not a part of Utopian literature. Torah is not trying to describe a perfect world of perfect people. Torah is describing a real world of very real people who have real struggles and real temptations and real drives. And how do you navigate it? How do you live morally and ethically in a world where there is temptation, where there is drive? And therefore, it's not a Utopian society in a perfect world. It's a very, it's a very real world. But the commentaries encourage us to look at, we'll begin with the אמרי שאול Imrei Shaul, the רב משיפסקא רבה Rav miShifskah Rebbe. כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך Ki seitzei lamilchama al oyvecha. אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh points out that the רמז על מלחמת היצר remez al milchemes hayetzer. We're not just talking about a war. Very much on our minds right now, of course, the war that has been ongoing almost for a year. Many of us have beloved, dear, all of us. All of us have beloved, dear family members fighting. Some related directly, some related less directly, but as if you remember 11 months ago, when people described they went back to work after October 7th and co-workers asked, \"Do you have any relatives in Israel?\" Only about 8 million. They're all of our relatives. So we think about that war and those front lines. And when we see the word מלחמה milchama in the פרשה parsha, it's a description of that war. But our commentaries tell us, think to peaceful times, please God, they should be upon us quickly, we should defeat our enemies sweepingly. And then we'll have peaceful times, but it's still a war. And there's a למד lamed. כי תצא למלחמה Ki seitzei lamilchama, to the war. When you go to the war, what is the war? The אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh says, the war that we battle, the war that we're part of, whether we're conscripted, whether we're not, whether we're in Israel, whether we're out, whether we've aged out or whether we're in our years of service, all of us are fighting a war. We're all fighting a battle. And that is with the יצר הרע yetzer hara. Again, this is not a utopian world. There's not an expectation that we're perfect. We were not designed and put in a perfect world. The whole notion of אלול Elul that we find ourselves in, one of the things that was created during בין השמשות bein hashmashos, during twilight of creation itself, was תשובה teshuva. That means to say that when God created a world, he created imperfect people in an imperfect world, and he said, here is the formula how to repair. Here's how to come back. Here's how to reconcile. Here's how to repent. He built into the system an acknowledgment, he built in an admission that we are imperfect and gave us the tools and the mechanism to improve. So we live in a world that there's a יצר yetzer. We have a drive and an instinct and an impulse. We are an animal. There's נפש בהמי nefesh bahami, we have a נפש nefesh, the lower level soul of an animal. So much in common with an animal. We're tempted to indulge and to give into that animal instinct, that animal impulse, to do whatever we want, wherever we want, with whomever we want. We just want pleasure and happiness indiscriminately. But we also have a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש chelek Eloka mima'al mamash. We have a godly soul. We're made from a piece of God. We have discipline, we have self-control. And those two parts of who we are are always at war. There is a battle. Did you jump out of bed? Did you hit snooze? Will you eat that second helping? Do you realize that you're full? Will you say that gossip, or will you be able to hold back and say, I don't want to hurt another person. All throughout our day, from when we wake up till we fall asleep at night, will we turn off the device and go to sleep to get all of our hours? We spoke about last night our future self, the studies that all show, if you sleep less than six hours a night, you're 30% more likely to have dementia, neurological, memory loss challenges later in life. The problem is, that's our future self's problem. The current self, the present self, really wants to finish scrolling or watching or emailing or doing whatever we're doing. So how can we have the discipline for the sake of our future self to live a better present self? We spoke about that last night. But the יצר הרע yetzer hara is the one that says this battle, this war that rages inside us. כי כל ימי חיי האדם צריך להלחם עם אויבו הגדול היצר ki kol yemei chayei ha'adam tzarich lehilachem im oyvo hagadol hayetzer. Our whole life we're fighting for our יצר הרע yetzer hara. וזהו כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך vezehu ki seitzei lamilchama al oyvecha. When we go out to war on our enemy, meaning תכף בצאתך לאוויר העולם הזה תהיה מוכן להלחם מלחמת היצר techef betzeischa le'avir ha'olam hazeh tehiyeh muchan lehilachem milchemes hayetzer. כי תצא Ki seitzei, when you're born, למלחמה על אויבך lamilchama al oyvecha. You're born into a world in which you are battling your enemy. And who's our enemy? Ourselves. Nobody, nobody can say they defeated or they conquered. Nobody's done. That יצר הרע yetzer hara gets managed, it doesn't get defeated. So for now we're eating well, for now we're sleeping well, for now we're exercising well, for now we're disciplined in our speech and our relationships and our patience. For now we're managing it well, but we're never done and it's never conquered. And just like in the world of addiction, when one feels that they're finished is when they're most vulnerable, is when they're most in trouble, that's true for every יצר הרע yetzer hara. So the אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, the רב משיפסקא רבה Rav miShifskah Rebbe says כי תצא ki seitzei, when you come out into this world, when you emerge in this world, you do so למלחמה על אויבך lamilchama al oyvecha. We are born into a world, nobody's perfect. Nobody jumps out of bed in the morning and eats perfect and speaks perfect and acts perfect and makes perfect decisions. There are no perfect people. We each have different impulses. We each struggle with different weaknesses and drives, but there's nobody who transcends who is above. All of us, all of us are struggling, all of us are working. The Zohar says that's this enemy. רב צדוק Rav Tzadok brings רב בונים מפישסחא Rav Bunim miPeshischa that while we normally have a פשט pshat and a דרש drash when it comes to the verses of the Torah, there's the simple meaning of the text, and then there are multiple layers of text. But רב בונים מפישסחא Rav Bunim miPeshischa says here the דרש drash is the פשט pshat. Don't read it when you're going to war physically with an enemy. The war with the enemy the Torah here is talking to ourselves, the יצר הרע yetzer hara, the battle within ourselves. And how does this parsha continue? ובכתה את אביה ואת אמה ירח ימים uvachsa es aviha ve'es ima yerach yamim. The Zohar says that this captive spends a month in your home crying for the distance from her mother and father. The father, says the זוהר Zohar, is השם Hashem. And the mother is the Jewish people, כנסת ישראל Knesses Yisrael. And which month is that month that that crying is happening, ירח ימים yerach yamim? What month do we call ירח ימים yerach yamim? ירח האיתנים Yerach Haeisanim. That's the month of אלול Elul. אלול Elul is the time that we want to go home. If you're learning with us and living with אמונה emunah, and I remind everyone, I'm sorry for the confusion of timing this morning, join the what's, there's a פרשה parsha WhatsApp group, and an אמונה emunah WhatsApp group, and the איגרת הרמב\"ן Igeres HaRamban WhatsApp group, סדרה סניפטס Sidra Snippets WhatsApp group, סמיכת חבר Semichas Chaver, every שער shiur ערב שבת erev Shabbos WhatsApp group, every שער shiur we give has a WhatsApp group. We post every week the schedule and bonus material and the link to watch live or later. Join the WhatsApp groups and then everyone will be updated on when and where we are. So the Zohar says, what's the month? What is the month that we miss our mother and our father? What's the month that we want to go home? What's the month תשובה לשוב teshuva lashuv, we want to return to Hashem with open arms, with love? It's the month of אלול Elul. אני לדודי ודודי לי Ani ledodi vedodi li, I am to my beloved, my beloved is to me. Each word in אני לדודי ודודי לי Ani ledodi vedodi li, the acronym of אלול Elul, ends with the letter, אני, לדודי, דודי, לי ani, ledodi, dodi, li, what is the last letter of each of those four words? יוד Yud. Thank you, David. יוד Yud. יוד Yud is the numerical value of 10. 10 * 4 is great, audience participation today off the charts. 40. 40, these 40 days are מסוגל mesugal for אני לדודי Ani ledodi. These 40 days from ראש חודש אלול Rosh Chodesh Elul until יום כיפור Yom Kippur, 30 days of אלול Elul and the 10 first days of תשרי Tishrei, those 40 days, we transform our identity, how we see ourselves, who we are, what we aspire, who we want to be. 40 is always about transformation. The אלשיך Alshich and the כף החיים Kaf HaChaim point out that we see in our tradition whenever you see the number 40, you see rebirth and renewal and transformation. 40 days, יצירת הולד yetziras havlad, the first 40 days of conception, we go from embryonic fluid to the beginning of an embryo of a fetus of life. How long was the flood that was a hard reboot and hard reset on the world? How long was it? 40 days. Moshe climbed on הר סיני Har Sinai, went to go get the Torah, bring it down, most seminal event in human history that transformed the world the way we know it. How long did he go up for? 40 days. We always find that letter 40, 40 is the time period of transformation. So we embrace this time, אלול Elul until יום כיפור Yom Kippur, these 40 days, אני לדודי ודודי לי Ani ledodi vedodi li, יוד yud times four, 40. These 40 days, ירח ימים yerach yamim, ובכתה את אביה ואת אמה ירח ימים uvachsa es aviha ve'es ima yerach yamim. This month, these 40 days, we just want to go home. We want to return to Hashem, we want to reboot, we want to restore, we want to reset, we want things to be bigger and better than ever. And this is the time of year that we have the divine assistance to be able to do it. דרשו השם בהמצאו קראוהו בהיותו קרוב Dirshu Hashem behimatz'o kra'uhu biheyoso karov. The אריז\"ל Arizal says בהיותו קרוב biheyoso karov, call out to God when He's close. When is He close? These 40 days. המלך בשדה Hamelech basadeh, the king is in the field. You're trying to get an appointment, you want to get into the West Wing, you want to get into the Oval Office, you want to get into that person in the position of power, you want an audience with the supreme being, it's hard. Except if the king goes out, the king is in the field, now he's available. Now you can go right up to him. These 40 days, דרשו השם בהמצאו dirshu Hashem behimatz'o, draw close to Hashem when is He found. The אריז\"ל Arizal says בהיותו קרוב biheyoso karov, these are these 40 days. But where do you find him? So the pasuk says, ובכתה את אביה ואת אמה ירח ימים uvachsa es aviha ve'es ima yerach yamim, she cries for her father, for for a month, this month of Elul. והבאתה אל תוך ביתך Veheveisa el toch beisecha, you bring her into your house. How do you get close to Hashem? You got to go into the house. Which house? The אור החיים הקדוש Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh says not just any בית bayis, any house, the בית מדרש beis medrash, the בית כנסת beis knesses. You got to go learn, you got to דאווענען daven, you got to grow, you have to transform your home into a place that God's presence can be felt. There's a godliness and a holiness and a goodness. That's what we're trying to do. כי תצא למלחמה Ki seitzei lamilchama is in the singular. כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך Ki seitzei lamilchama al oyvecha. Our battle, every one of us, כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך ki seitzei lamilchama al oyvecha, we each have our own individual battle. Don't compete and compare to anyone else. Someone else's struggles are their struggles. What they're battling is what they're battling. What they've conquered or what they're making progress on, that's their story. What's your story? What's your story? What's our goal? How will we measure it? How will we succeed in it? Who do we want to be? What's our battle? What's our battleground? Each of us have another front, each of us have another battleground that we are working to conquer and then to be able to maintain. Don't try to make changes or become someone else or decide your value relative to someone else's life. כי תצא למלחמה Ki seitzei lamilchama in the singular, each of us have our own battle. But this is the time of year that we have Hashem helping us to get there. You know, there's this notion that you can get further, you can get further when there is a tailwind, when there's a tailwind. Last year, there was somebody who set a record for the fourth fastest time in the 100-meter dash, but instead of being universally praised, he was criticized because the runner lucked out with a tailwind of 4.1 meters per. And doesn't deserve the record or the recognition because there was a tailwind that assisted. If anyone here bicycles, if you run, you know one direction might be easier than the other. When the wind is helping you, it's fantastic. And for the lazy people, if you've ever flown to Israel, why is it shorter there or longer back? Same with New York. How come you're waiting for the pilot to come on and tell you today it's going to be two hours and 20 up to two hours and 50 minutes. What's the difference? How hard he's pushing on the pedal? Depends whether the wind is carrying you at your back, the tailwind. So this month, these 40 days, we have a spiritual tailwind. It's carrying us. We could go further and we can go faster and we can do more. That's what these days, ימי רצון yemei ratzon, these 40 days are ימי רצון yemei ratzon. Don't squander them and don't waste them. כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך Ki seitzei lamilchama al oyvecha, when we go out, when we go out to battle our enemies during these 40 days, the tailwind is carrying us, it's at our back. He continues, the רב משיפסקא Rav miShifskah, he quotes the דגל מחנה אפרים Degel Machaneh Ephraim. He quotes, כי כאשר האדם מוחזק לצאת למלחמה כנגד היצר הרע Ki ka'asher ha'adam muchzak latzeis lamilchama keneged hayetzer hara, when a person goes out to fight that יצר הרע yetzer hara, הנה אך ורק בזה לבד התעוררות דלתתא, ובזכות זה ודאי יעזור לו השם יתברך, שיוכל לצאת לנצח את היצר הרע לגמרי hinei ach verak bezeh levad hisorrerus diltata, uvezchus zeh vadai ya'azor lo Hashem Yisborach, sheyuchal latzeis lenatzeiach es hayetzer hara legamrei. כי תצא למלחמה Ki seitzei lamilchama, go out and battle. Too many people just wanted to be handed on a silver platter. We're living in a complicated time where we have the gifts of technology, medical breakthrough, pills and shots that can help you lose weight without having to actually work on it, and wish and maybe we will create, we recently had an expert on AI who spoke that Shabbos afternoon and one of the ethical dilemmas he brought up, what if we could create further medicines, software that would eliminate all impulse, so you're no longer struggling with getting angry? Just like you no longer have an appetite to eat or overeat, now you don't get angry. Now you don't want to look at the wrong things. Now you have a pill to not gossip. On the one hand, it's wonderful, it'll create a more beautiful world. On the other, we're meant to be working on these things. So the Torah says, כי תצא למלחמה ki seitzei lamilchama, when you make the effort, you take that first step, when you wake up and say, I want to change. I'm sick and tired of this and I want to radically change it in my life. And if a person does that, they merit divine assistance. הקדוש ברוך הוא HaKadosh Baruch Hu helps us as the מדרש שיר השירים Midrash Shir HaShirim says, פתחו לי פתח כחודו של מחט ואני אפתח לכם כפתחו של אולם Pischu li pesach kechudo shel machat, ve'ani eftach lachem ke'pischu shel ulam. Hashem says, if you make an opening the size of the eye of a needle, I will make it the size of the opening to Yankee stadium. Hashem says you just begin, the eye of a needle, a little effort, a little effort, a little indication, a little step, you begin. כי תצא למלחמה Ki seitzei lamilchama, decide you want to go to war, you want to be a better person, a bigger person, a more generous person, a more kind person, a more patient person, a more sincere person, you want to be more observant of הלכה halacha, of Torah, of Jewish law, a more modest person, whatever you want to work on. כי תצא Ki seitzei, you take that first step and Hashem says, ונתנו השם אלוקיך בידך Venasno Hashem Elokecha beyadecha. How does the pasuk continue? Hashem will put the enemy in your hand. You have to be כי תצא ki seitzei. You take the first step, Hashem will deliver the enemy into our hand, but it begins with our taking the first step. Third idea comes from the רבי מליובלין Rebbe miLublin. הסטרא אחרא נקראת רשות הרבים hasitra achra nikres reshus harabim, והסטרא דקדושה נקראת רשות היחיד vehasitra dikedusha nikres reshus hayachid. ועל זה אמר כי תצא ve'al zeh amar ki seitzei, כאשר תצא מביתך לרחוב וכיוצא בזה ka'asher teitzei mibeischa lerechov vechayotze bozeh, מקום שנקל לבוא לידי חטא חס ושלום makom shenakel lavo lidei cheit chas veshalom, יוצאים מרשות היחיד לרשות הרבים yotzim mereshus hayachid lereshus harabim, תהיה כוונתך לצאת למלחמה על אויבך tehiyeh kavanascha latzeis lamilchama al oyvecha, ונתנו השם אלוקיך בידך venasno Hashem Elokecha beyadecha. Why is the יצר הרע yetzer hara more prevalent and more potent when כי תצא ki seitzei, when you go out? Because where is the יצר הרע yetzer hara? It's in the רשות הרבים reshus harabim. When we enter that public sphere, when we engage and encounter that world, it's filled with invitation, with opportunity, with temptation, with seduction. That's when we have to be vigilant and mindful and careful and committed, and when we are, ונתנו השם אלוקיך בידך venasno Hashem Elokecha beyadecha, Hashem will deliver the enemy into our hand. And the last insight on this, and then we'll move on. Rashi tells us, what war are we talking about? Now we're not talking the war within ourselves, if we're talking about a war, what war is this? The war right now in Israel, in Gaza, and the north. It's not that we're waiting for a war to open up on the north. There's been a war in the north since October 7th. Just ask the residents of the north who are displaced and those those in the building in Nahariya that took a missile direct hit just two days ago. There's a war. What kind of a war is that? It's a מלחמת מצווה milchemes mitzvah. It's an obligatory war to defend the Jewish people against an enemy who want to eliminate, is an obligatory war. A חתן chasan and כלה kallah have to leave their חופה chuppah. My רבי רב שכטר Rebbi Rav Schachter says, we're not exempt just because we live in America, a מלחמת מצווה milchemes mitzvah of the Jewish people, really, technically, all of us are obligated, those who are eligible, young enough, to have to enlist. So Rashi says, but that's not this parsha. This parsha is not talking about a מלחמת מצווה milchemes mitzvah, an obligatory war, but מלחמת הרשות כתוב מדבר milchemes hareshus kasuv medaber. What's a מלחמת הרשות milchemes hareshus? Going back to war, classic war. מלחמת הרשות Milchemes hareshus means the Jewish people want to expand our territory. So we say there's an opportunity to make our boundaries bigger. All the Jews of the world are migrating to Israel. Everybody wants an acre, 15 דונם dunam, everybody wants to spread out. Now all those Jews of Florida want golf courses and country clubs. We're out of room. So we're going to expand the boundaries. So that's a מלחמת הרשות milchemes hareshus. That is a voluntary war, not an obligatory war, and there are different rules of who's obligated to participate in such a war. So Rashi says this parsha, כי תצא למלחמה ki seitzei lamilchama, the pretext is we're talking about a מלחמת הרשות milchemes hareshus. But the sforim say, now applying that to our מלחמה milchama, the war, the battle we're having within ourselves, where is the voluntary battle within ourselves? Because when there's something that is categorically forbidden, of course we have to battle to not do it. Don't gossip, don't eat the non-kosher, don't cheat in business, don't look at the wrong thing, don't lose your temper. Those are מלחמת מצווה milchemes mitzvah that you're obligated to eliminate, to battle. מלחמת הרשות Milchemes hareshus means קדש עצמך במותר לך kadesh atzmecha bamutar lach. We have a whole area of Jewish law, of הלכה halacha, where technically something is permitted, but you should sanctify yourself and make yourself holy. The רמב\"ן Ramban gives the example, don't be a מנוול ברשות התורה menival birshus haTorah. You could be a glutton all within the permission of the תורה Torah. So, and I don't want to offend or hurt anybody right now, but football season has begun. So let's say your entire Sunday, you neglect your family, you don't go to minyan, you don't take care of yourself, you don't do anything noble, you watch the pre-game, then you watch the first game, then you watch three more games, then you watch the late game, then you watch the post-game. You ate an enormous sub, a hero, you went through a keg of beer, you, did you do anything forbidden on that Sunday? 8, 10, 12 hours of football. You went through incredible amounts of food, alcohol, beer. Did you do anything technically forbidden? Can you point to a paragraph in the Code of Jewish law that you did something forbidden? Absolutely not. But the רמב\"ן Ramban would say you're a מנוול ברשות התורה menival birshus haTorah. That's not why God gave us time. Enjoy a quarter of a game, one quarter, half a game. It all comes down to the last quarter, the last field goal in the last few seconds, the Dolphins won. You're allowed to recreation is to recreate. There's nothing wrong with recreation, you need to recreate, take a few minutes. But there's gluttony. There's gluttony. You need to eat in order to live, but you don't have to be gluttonous in what you eat. So you'll say, where does it say what I ate is forbidden? It's all kosher. It's OU and a Star K and a Chof K, and it's Cholov Yisroel and Pas Yisroel. It's got all the humras. Where does it say it's not kosher? But you're a glutton. You're a glutton. So that's the מלחמת הרשות milchemes hareshus that our parsha is talking about. And חז\"ל Chazal are telling us that we have to go out to fight not just in the areas that are technically forbidden. We have to go out and battle and improve ourselves in the areas that technically are permissible, their מלחמת הרשות milchemes hareshus, even in the areas of what's permissible. So we're focused on getting enough sleep. A person has to sleep a minimum, minimum of six hours, and really to function at our best, you have to sleep more. But you don't have to sleep the whole day away. That's a מנוול ברשות התורה menival birshus haTorah. He said, I went to the Rabbi's talk on future self at night at BRS. Go watch it online, you can find it on the YouTube channel. He talked about sleep, I don't want to get dementia. So now I sleep 14 hours a night. I go to sleep early, I wake up late. My boss, my job will wait. If I get fired, I get fired. He spoke about sleep, I want to sleep. And then I wake up and then I take a nap. And then I hop another dremel, another nap. My whole life is now revolving around sleep. I love sleep and I just can't get enough sleep and I just want to sleep and I sleep until I can't sleep anymore. I don't know how the teenagers, I won't say I have many ברוך השם בלי עין הרע Baruch Hashem, bli ayin hara, I won't say which child, I don't want to embarrass them. But there was once a Sunday, it was 3:30 in the afternoon, and everyone said, \"Has anyone seen?\" I said, \"I'll check.\" I went to her bed, fast asleep. That's impressive. קנא עין הרע Kein ayin hara. I don't think we could do that if we had the chance or opportunity. So a teenager you get a pass, a teenager you get an excuse, a teenager you're you're allowed. And then go to sleep that night. But to sleep, that's gluttonous. That's a מלחמת הרשות milchemes hareshus. Where does it say you're not allowed to sleep all day? Where does it say it? It's not in the code of Jewish law. It's not in שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch. That's gluttonous. מלחמת הרשות Milchemes hareshus, we have to be our best selves in that way as well. פרק כ\"ב, פסוק א' Perek Kaf Beis, Pasuk Aleph. Turn the page, new perek, new chapter. לא תראה שור אחיך או שהו נידחים והתעלמת מהם Lo sireh shor achicha o seyo nidachim vehis'alamta mehem. You're not allowed to see the ox of your brother or sheep or his goat, and close your eyes, not help. השב תשיבם לאחיך hasheiv teshivem le'achicha. You're obligated to surely you have to return it to your to your brother. You have to step up and you have to help and you have to care and you have to care. לא תוכל להתעלם lo suchal lehis'aleim, don't close your eyes. לא תראה את חמור אחיך Lo sireh es chamor achicha. A person can't close their eyes. The הייליגע בעל שם טוב heilige Baal Shem Tov says, why the Torah capture this and communicate this as לא תראה lo sireh. You saw, you see, you're driving by. You're driving by. You know, we have an incredible program. I want to give kudos. My wife came out this morning to drive to school and saw she had a tire that was as flat as flat could be. Flat, shebe flat, flat, flat. So we have an incredible organization called חברים Chaverim. חברים Chaverim, if you don't know about it, it's numbers in the weekly. It's a group of volunteers in the community. It's those guys who have keychains and walkie-talkies and equipment in their car, and nothing makes them happier than to change a tire, than to jump-start a car, than to than to, you know, unfreeze an air conditioner, than to, they're amazing people. Amazing, amazing. You call חברים Chaverim, and I'm talking about your neighbor, I'm talking about מחנכים, רבעים mechanchim, rebbeim in schools. They come over and they help you, put on the spare, plug the tire, if you can plug it and save it. Unbelievable. Within a few minutes, Rabbi Wilk was over, helped out, deserves all the credit in the world. Nobody wants a tip, nobody gets paid, they don't want a cookie and a cup of water, they're just grateful to help a fellow Jew. It's unbelievable. But imagine, imagine you're driving, imagine you're driving along, you know the other night, I tell you an amazing story. I went to see Douglas Murray the other night. And Douglas Murray, um, Douglas Murray, non-Jew, but vocal advocate for the Jewish people and Israel as much as anyone. We were so lucky to have him. We had him on Behind the Bima a month ago. You should listen, he's amazing. So he was in Fort Lauderdale, and he told, when he was talking about since October 7th, all of his time in Israel, and he showed footage from there, and he was speaking about that experience, he spoke about his cameraman, Mosha, that he was assigned when he got to Israel to go into Gaza. And he was describing as only an Israeli cameraman Mosha could be. And he said this cameraman, Mosha, not only was in the army, not only was unafraid to take him into Gaza, and not only to to video him while rockets were literally being shot at them, but they're driving out of Gaza and Mosha pulls over. He says, \"What are you doing?\" He says, \"I'm also a member of United Hatzalah and I got an alert, I need to just save somebody's life and we'll get back on the road.\" And Douglas Murray was such a קידוש השם kiddush Hashem. He spoke all about United Hatzalah and this average, anonymous cameraman also pulls over to save a life because someone needs it, because someone needs it. So the Torah here describes לא תראה lo sireh, don't see the donkey. Don't see someone, forget saving a life. You're driving and someone's got a flat tire. You know the story, it's a true story of somebody, a non-Jewish person who kept a yarmulke in his glove compartment. And when asked by his friend why, he said, \"You're not Jewish, why do you have a yarmulke?\" He said, \"Because if I ever get a flat tire or the car dies, I know that if I stand outside next to the car and put that on my head, someone's going to pull over to help me.\" What a beautiful, hopefully, I hope we live up to that to that story. So the Torah says if you see, don't keep driving. Someone's got a flat tire, someone's got a stalled car, someone needs help. So why does it say לא תראה lo sireh, don't see. So the Baal Shem Tov taught, תורה אומרת כלל ישראל נכלל עם שאר כלל ישראל Torah omeres, Klal Yisrael nichlal im she'ar Klal Yisrael. אם רואה בחברו דבר עבירה, אין לו לחשוב מה עסקי לי עם זה Im ro'eh bechaveiro davar aveira, ein lo lachshov ma iski li im zeh. What a Jew sees, they're meant to see, there are no coincidence. מה שהעין רואה Ma sheha'ayin ro'eh, what your eye sees, you were meant to see. What you hear, you were meant to hear. So don't overhear something or don't see something and say, I'm not looking, doesn't apply to me, doesn't interest me, I'm not obligated. If you saw it, you were meant to intervene. You're meant to get involved. You're meant to make a difference. הלא אנכי הולך בדרך ישרה Halo anochi holech bederech yeshara, maybe you'll say, I'm good. All's good with me. My car drives, my air conditioning's working. אני צדיק ani tzaddik, I'm righteous, I'm doing everything right. A person should never say that. Rather, אלא כן, אם רואה בזולתו איזה שהוא חסרון, צריך לדעת שנראה לו זה משמים כדי שיעשה תשובה על עוונותיו ela kein, im ro'eh bezulaso eizeh shehu chisaron, tzarich lada'as shenir'ah lo zeh mishamayim kedei sheya'aseh teshuva al avonosav. And when you see something else, if you see someone transgressing something, this is the real teaching of the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov. If one sees someone transgressing something, they shouldn't say, you know, I'm righteous and that person is irreligious. They should say, if I've been exposed to and I saw something which raises my eyebrow is wrong, how can I find that wrong thing within me? Not how can I sit here in judgment of them, but whatever's bothering me, because we have a principle, כל הפוסל, במומו פוסל Kol haposel, bemumo posel. Our rabbi said very, very insightfully that whenever we invalidate someone else, when we're critical of someone else, we're usually projecting onto them an imperfection, something we're unhappy about within ourselves. The reality of the psyche of people is that whatever we're most highly critical of in others is usually revealing something we're unhappy about in ourselves. So when we see something in someone else that's bothering us, they're immodest, or they're not really scrupulous about Shabbos, or why are they gossiping, or why are they not so careful with business and honesty, we shouldn't sit in criticism of them. Said the בעל שם טוב Baal Shem Tov, we should look where does that appear within us. And that's לא תראה שור אחיך או שהו נדחים והתעלמת מהם lo sireh shor achicha o seyo nidachim vehis'alamta mehem, השב תשיבם hasheiv teshivem. We need to do תשובה teshuva ourselves, to return ourselves, and to return with such a with such a person. פסוק ז' Pasuk Zayin. כי תצא Ki Seitzei is filled with laws, and every law here we can unpack and analyze, and they're all amazing, and they're all so beautiful. So many we have in the past, you could listen to years and years of פרשיות parshiyos already on כי תצא Ki Seitzei. We're trying to cover new ground. פרק כ\"ב פסוק ז' Perek Kaf-Beis, Pasuk Zayin. The Torah here tells us, כי יקרא קן ציפור לפניך Ki yikarei kan tzipor lefanecha, if you happen on a nest, if you happen on a nest, and there is a mother bird sitting on eggs, and it's on the path, בכל עץ או על הארץ bechol eitz o al ha'aretz, it's on the ground, it's in a tree, אפרוחים או בצים והאם רובצת על האפרוחים efrochim o beitzim veha'eim rovetzes al ha'efrochim, the mother's sitting on it, don't take the mother, don't take the eggs from the mother. שלח תשלח את האם Shaleach teshaleach es ha'eim, but rather, שלח תשלח את האם shaleach teshaleach es ha'eim, send the mother bird away, ואת הבנים תקח לך ve'es habanim tikach lach, and only then take the eggs. למען ייטב לך והארכת ימים lema'an yitav lach veha'arachta yamim. One of the unusual מצוות mitzvos in the Torah where the reward is given with the with the commandment itself. The reward is told, if you're careful to send the mother bird before you take the eggs, you're promised longevity, למען ייטב לך lema'an yitav lach, you'll have a good life, and you will have a, and you'll have a long, and you'll have a long life. So this is the obligation of שילוח הקן shiluach haken. שילוח הקן, שילוח הכן Shiluach Haken, Shiluach Hakan, different opinions about how to pronounce it. And this is a מצוה mitzva that we still do today. Couple years ago I did. Allen Berger had it in his front yard, a nest. This is a big discussion in הלכה halacha. Is there a מצוה mitzva if you don't even need the eggs? Should you דוקא dafka look for a nest with eggs or it's only if you happen upon it? Is it only when you need it? But if you don't need it, there's no מצוה mitzva. How do you shoo away the mother bird? And lift the eggs and then and then put them back? A big discussion about how to do this מצוה mitzva. It's considered to be a מצוה mitzva that brings with it a lot of, if you believe in the notion of סגולה segula, it brings a positive energy. There's a lot of encouragement, somebody struggling with infertility should try to fulfill this מצוה mitzva. It's all about maternity and mother instinct and compassion, רחמים and רחם rachamim and rechem. Fulfill this מצוה mitzva and it brings blessing. A lot to say, a lot to discuss. But רב וואלבה Rav Wolbe, the great משגיח זצ\"ל mashgiach zatzal, says in this week's parsha we have juxtaposed two מצוות mitzvos. Sending away the mother bird to take the eggs, and what's the, how does the Torah continue? What's the next pasuk? כי תבנה בית חדש ועשית מעקה לגגך Ki sivneh bayis chadash ve'asisa ma'akeh legagecha. If you build a new house and you have a roof or a רוף roof, you have a staircase, you have a balcony, you have a pool, what do you have to put up around it? A fence. A Torah obligation, and there are הלכות halachos, a ברכה bracha before the מצוה mitzva, a שיעור shiur, a measure of how big the fence has to be. Should you do it yourself? Can you hire the carpenter? Do you get the מצוה mitzva if you pay somebody else to do it? It's a big discussion. And there's an obligation to have a pool fence. Very serious thing in Florida. Unfortunately, our Boca Raton greater community knows all too well. But there's an obligation to have a pool fence and to make sure your staircase is proper fence. your balcony, and so on. So what's the connection between sending the mother bird away and you have a new house? And it doesn't only apply to a new house. We've discussed this in the past. Even if you buy a house that's a hundred years old, if it doesn't have a proper balcony or fence, you have to put one up, a railing. So why is the Torah couch it, כי תבנה בית חדש ki sivneh bayis chadash, only when you build a new house? We spoke about that in the past. But here we have the juxtaposition of these two מצוות mitzvos: sending away the mother bird before taking the the eggs, and the מצוה mitzva to put up a a fence or a or a railing. Rashi explains, what's the connection between the two? זאגט רש\"י Zogt Rashi. אם קיימת מצות שילוח הקן, סופך לבנות בית חדש ותקיים מצות מעקה Im kiyamta mitzvas shiluach haken, sofcha livnos bayis chadash v'sikayem mitzvas maakeh. If you're careful and scrupulous and vigilant to fulfill the מצוה mitzva of שילוח הקן shiluach haken, you'll merit to get a nice house. And it'll have a beautiful balcony, a nice roof. You'll have to put up on the staircase a nice railing. מצוה גוררת מצוה Mitzvah goreres mitzvah, because Rashi says after all, as Rav Nevels teaches, one מצוה mitzva leads to another מצוה mitzva. If you did one מצוה mitzva, Hashem will give you an opportunity for another מצוה, מצוה גוררת מצוה mitzva goreres mitzvah.So Rashi adds that it's for this reason that the prohibition, Torah puts these מצוות mitzvos directly before the prohibition we have sending away the mother bird, then you'll get a house, put up a railing. And then what comes next? If you have a field, you can't plant כלאים kilayim. You can't make a forbidden mixture of seeds. And you're not allowed to wear clothing that has שעטנז shatnez. One of the booths that we had at the Mitzvah market the other day was very full. People were dropping off, you buy a new suit, how do you know the ingredients? It can't have wool and linen. It's a חוק chok. It's a law that we have that we're not exactly sure why, but you're not allowed to plant a hybrid mixture. I once had a question I asked Rav Elyashiv, שליט\"א shlita. He wrote a תשובה tshuva about it. He wrote a responsum about it. Somebody wanted to buy a tree, a sapling, I believe from Home Depot, that was a hybrid. You plant one tree and it would grow oranges, grapefruit, mango, all kinds of fruit would grow from one tree, a hybrid tree. כלאים Kilayim. So, is the prohibition in grafting the tree to create the sapling? Once the sapling exists, you're allowed to plant it? Or no, you're not even allowed to plant it and benefit from it. He wrote a whole תשובה tshuva about it. So you're not allowed to plant כלאים kilayim, a hybrid mixture, you're not allowed to wear כלאים kilayim, you can't wear a hybrid mixture of wool and linen. So Rashi says, if you fulfill the first מצוה mitzva, sending the mother bird away, you'll get a house and you'll build a מעקה maakeh, you'll get a field, be careful not to plant כלאים kilayim. מצוה גוררת מצוה Mitzvah goreres mitzvah. Just get on the train of מצוות mitzvos, start one מצוה mitzva and the momentum, you're gonna be on a מצוה mitzva train. Now we generously, generally understand, what does it mean מצוה גוררת מצוה mitzva goreres mitzvah? One מצוה mitzva leads to the other. So Rav Volbe says, we generally understand it to mean that the performance of one מצוה mitzva earns a person the divine heavenly assistance, the opportunity to do another מצוה mitzva. If I bench, if I say benching after I ate bread, I'll be able to learn. And if I learn well, I'll do my business honestly. And then if I do my business honestly, I'll have a מנחה mincha minyan to attend. And if I do one מצוה mitzva, it's going to lead to מצוות mitzvos. But it's clear from Rashi that the performance of one מצוה mitzva prompts Hashem to allocate to the person additional resources that enable the performance of more מצוות mitzvos. If you do שילוח הקן shiluach haken, Hashem will give you the ability to build a house, and then you'll have the ability to have a field and so on.But there's another aspect, says Rav Volbe, a deeper meaning to this notion of מצוה גוררת מצוה mitzva goreres mitzvah, that one מצוה mitzva leads to another. Rav Dessler explains that every person has what they live with, what's called a נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira. It's a much bigger discussion, we've had it other times. We've tried to really understand Rav Dessler's free will. It's been on my mind for the last two years in particular. I've spoken to great mental health professionals, great rabbis, great philosophers with this notion of נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira. Where does our free will begin and where does it end? If somebody is born with certain psychological predispositions, psychotic predispositions, do we believe they were pre-programmed, or did they have free will and make that choice? If a person indulges certain impulses that sabotage certain relationships, are they chemically programmed, psychologically programmed, or is it free will? Do we hold them accountable, or do they get some leeway because maybe it wasn't all up to them? They had a, they snapped, they had a psychotic episode, their mind broke down. The relationship between those things has haunted me for the last couple of years. And part of the understanding of it is Rav Dessler, the great Rav Dessler, Rabbi Dessler, has an essay called נקודת הבחירה Nekudas Habechira. That there is a point, while so much is predetermined, while so much there is outside, there are outside variables, but there's a נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira. There is a moment that could go this way or that way, and it's in that moment, if we could isolate that moment, we have free will. We didn't have to say or go or do or buy. We did, there's a נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira. There is a point, there is a moment where we can exercise our free will. So there are many מצוות mitzvos and good deeds a person does without choosing at all. They're a function of our upbringing, our intrinsic nature. So some people are naturally more kind. Some people are naturally more disciplined, better behaved. Some people maybe their upbringing conditioned them to do certain things right. If you grew up in a religious home with outstanding, extraordinary religious role models, like I did, so you're halfway, you're on the way. So the fact that you now behave well, what you deserve credit? You don't have a נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira in that. That's how you were raised, that's how you grew up. Many people, not all, you grew up in a יקה'שע Yekkeshe home. חבר'הס Hevras, you grew up in a יקה'שע Yekkeshe home. So the fact that you're punctual and on time, you don't even have a choice not to be. That was like built, programmed into you. You are punctual, you are on time, you are allergic to being late. Real יקה'ס Yekkes will tell you they're allergic being early because early is also not on time. You have to be punkt on time. So, what, you deserve credit that you're so punctual? That was conditioned, that was programmed into you. That's not your נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira. That's not where you have free will. And there are many עבירות aveiros. There are things we do wrong, says Rav Volbe, that we do even without realizing they're wrong. That's how we were raised, that's how we were conditioned, that's how our nature carries us. The נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira, that point, that point of free will which is much more limited than we want to admit, is limited to a specific juncture. A little point, that's where we really have a choice. So one's נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira is not stagnant. It changes and it grows as we live. And that's, says Rav Volbe, he writes this in his שיעורי חומש על פרשת כי תצא Shiurei Chumash al Parshas Ki Seitzei. That's what Rashi was getting at. The נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira grows and changes and evolves and advances. Every time we do a מצוה mitzva, we become increasingly acclimated to doing it, to the point that our יצר הרע yeitzer hara no longer tries to persuade us or is affected to not do that מצוה mitzva.So we condition ourselves. מצוה גוררת מצוה Mitzva goreres mitzva. I become in the habit of that מצוה mitzva, which leads me to having the discipline to do the next מצוה mitzva. If a מצוה mitzva presents itself, grab the opportunity. So that's what, it's not like a cute thing. Oh, you did שילוח הקן shiluach haken well, now Hashem's going to take you to a house and you could build a מעקה maakeh. And then you'll do מנחה mincha and then you'll bench properly and then, oh, it's so cute. Hashem will, no. מצוה mitzva conditioning will change our נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira. So what used to be a struggle is no longer a struggle. It's no longer a struggle. We've changed that pattern and that's what it means מצוה גוררת מצוה mitzva goreres mitzvah. By taking on more מצוות mitzvos, by conditioning and cultivating ourselves to do more proper things, we're no longer struggling in that area and now we can move over and work on the next area. I'm gonna make you fall off your chairs by suggesting I know what I'm going to talk about on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, but I may talk about this on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah, maybe שבת שובה Shabbos Shuva. But the notion of the neuroplasticity of the brain, and the part of the brain that if we leave our comfort zone, challenge ourselves, and succeed, we are growing our ability to challenge ourselves and succeed. We've moved our נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira. I'm into this, everyone around me wants me to stop talking about it, they've heard more than enough about it, but I got an ice bath and I'm in love with it and it's changed my life and it's the greatest thing in the world. And I can't highly recommend it and there is real science and literature about the benefits, about the benefits of it. But part of it is, I at least when timing I do it, I wake up every morning early before the the כולל בוקר kollel boker, before six in the morning and I look at that thing and I don't want to get in it, but I overcome it and I get inside that and I sit in 55 degree temperature water for three minutes with no phone, no device, no distraction, just meditation and breathing your way through it. And your body goes into this fight flight and wants to survive so it releases all these adrenaline and endorphins and wakes you up. And by the time I come to shul at 6:15, it's like I had five cups of coffee. And I feel fantastic and I highly recommend it, at least for now. My family will make fun of me, check back in a month if I'm still doing it. I'm gonna still be doing it. The more they say that, the more I'm motivated to still be doing it. But as I've tried to learn about it and understand the benefits of it, that neuroplasticity, that's what, that's what Rav Volbe is getting. מצוה גוררת מצוה Mitzvah goreres mitzvah. Overcome an impulse, an instinct, grow, and rewire and reprogram your brain. And מצוה mitzva that now leads to another מצוה mitzva. Now you're ready to move your נקודת הבחירה nekudas habechira and take on something else. A lot more to talk about in this area and please God, we will. פרק כ\"ג פסוק ה' Perek Chaf Gimmel, Pasuk Hey. כ\"ג ה' Chaf Gimmel Hey. Turn to page 1054. Here we move over to the realm of relationships. A man is not not allowed to marry the wife of his father, uncover the robe of his father, all of these different prohibitions of interpersonal relationships and so on. לא יבא ממזר בקהל ה', גם דור עשירי לא יבא לו בקהל ה' Lo yavo mamzer bik'hal Hashem, gam dor asiri lo yavo lo bik'hal Hashem. You're not allowed to allow a ממזר mamzer, the result of a forbidden relationship. And then we get to פסוק ד' Pasuk Daled. לא יבא עמוני ומואבי בקהל ה' Lo yavo Ammoni u'Moavi bik'hal Hashem. An Ammonite or a Moabite can't marry into the Jewish people. גם דור עשירי לא יבא להם בקהל ה' עד עולם Gam dor asiri lo yavo lahem bik'hal Hashem ad olam. Not even a 10th generation descendant from עמון Ammon or מואב Moav forever. על דבר אשר לא קדמו אתכם בלחם ובמים בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים Al devar asher lo kidmu eschem balachem uvamayim baderech b'tzeischem m'Mitzrayim. Why not? Why do we exclude them? Why do we not allow them to mingle? Why can their DNA not penetrate into ours? Because they were cruel and unkind. When we were leaving Egypt and we said, not looking to conquer, we're not looking to fight, can we just get some bread and water? Can we just get some shade? Can we just cut through a shortcut? And they said no. ועל אשר שכר עליך את בלעם בן בעור מפתור ארם נהרים לקללך V'al asher sachar alecha es Bilam ben Beor mi'Psor Aram Naharayim l'kalaleka. And more than that, they then recruited, solicited, paid Bilam to try to eliminate us. And because of that, לא יבא עמוני lo yavo Ammoni, an Ammonite cannot enter our people, not 10th generation and not and not ever, and not ever. Says the Rav Steinman, זצ\"ל zatzal. The Ramban on these words, that they're not allowed to enter our people because they didn't, לא דרשו שלומכם וטובתכם כל ימיכם lo dirshu shlomchem v'tovaschem kol yemeichem. They didn't, they didn't come out, they didn't inquire our well-being, they didn't care about us, they neglected us. So says the Ramban, והנראה v'hanireh, והנראה אלי כי הקפידה הרחיק שני אחים האלה שהיו גומלי חסד עם אברהם שהציל אביהם והם ואמם מן החרב והשבי ובזכותו שלחם השם מתוך ההפיכה והיו חייבים לעשות טובה עם ישראל v'hanireh eilay ki hakpida harachek shnei achim ha'eileh shehayu gomlei chesed im Avraham shehitzil avihem v'hem v'imam min hacherev v'hashvi u'vizchuso sholcham Hashem mitoch hahafecha v'hayu chayavim la'asos tova im Yisrael. Says the Ramban, you know why this is particularly egregious? Because who are the predecessors of עמון ומואב Ammon and Moav? Ammon and Moab descend from Lot. And who saved Lot? His uncle, Avram. Avram goes out of his way and risks his life to save his nephew Lot. And Lot ultimately is the progenitor of עמון ומואב Ammon and Moav, they descend. And later, fast forward a few generations, when we needed help, you know what they said? Not interested. No thanks. Won't help. So the Ramban says, particularly egregious, particularly egregious. Not only did they not instinctively help us and take care of us, they had a debt to pay us, and how ungrateful they were. So, הכרת הטוב hakaras hatov is not one of the seven Noahide laws. So why are we punishing them so badly they can't marry into our people? Says Rav Steinman in איילת השחר Ayelet Hashachar. הכרת הטוב לא מחייבים מצד הלכה Hakaras hatov lo mechiyaver mitzad halacha. You don't need gratitude to be one of the seven Noahide laws. Gratitude doesn't have to be one of the seven Noahide laws. הכרת הטוב הוא אחד מיסודי צורת אדם ומי שחסר לו זה אין לו תבנית צורת אדם כלל Hakaras hatov hu echad m'yesodei tzuras adam, u'mi shechaser lo zeh, ein lo tavnis tzuras adam klal. To be grateful, to be a person of gratitude, is what it means to be a human being. And if you're כפוי טובה kfuy tova, if you're ungrateful, an ingrate, is not a person, is not a person. It doesn't have to be listed as a separate law, it doesn't have to be one of the seven Noahide. To be grateful is to be a person, and a person who's ungrateful is forfeiting the very humanity. A person is grateful. That's what חז\"ל Chazal said in גמרא עבודה זרה Gmara Avodah Zarah. מה היא טענה של אדם הראשון בחטא אכילת עץ הדעת ma hi taina shel Adam Harishon b'cheit achilas eitz hadaas? כפוי טובה היה Kafui tova haya. לכאורה צדיק גדול בהרבה מבינינו, שלא שמע בציבוי השם. חז\"ל ראו בזה עניין אחר שטען. הטיעון ראשון היה הכרת הטוב, שמע אדם נסניק בהכרת הטוב חסר בצורת אדם L'chora tzadik gadol b'harbei mibainenu shelo shama b'tzivui Hashem. Chazal ra'u b'zeh inyan acher sheta'an. Hatiaun rishon haya hakaras hatov, she'Adam nisnaig b'hakaras hatov chasar b'tzuras adam. The the complaint on Adam that he ate from the tree of knowledge was not violating the word of God, how ungrateful he was by doing that. God gave him everything. So being grateful is built into the fabric of what it means to be a human being. And somebody who's ungrateful has forfeited their humanity. And that's why עמון ומואב Ammon u'Moav, who are inhuman, are not welcome, are not welcome to join our people. And then the pasuk, the Torah then goes on to say something which is mind-boggling. פרק כ\"ג פסוק ח' Perek Chaf Gimmel Pasuk Ches. Chapter 23, verse 8. A listing the people who are not welcome to join our people. לא תתעב אדומי כי אחיך הוא Lo seta'ev Adomi ki achicha hu. Don't reject an Edomite, he's your brother. לא תתעב מצרי כי גר היית בארצו Lo seta'ev Mitzri ki ger hayisa b'artzo. and don't reject an Egyptian because you were a stranger in his land. Don't reject. So therefore, third generation, בנים אשר יולדו להם דור שלישי יבא להם בקהל השם banim asher yivaldu lahem dor shlishi yavo lahem bik'hal Hashem. Children who are born to them, third generation, they are welcome, they are allowed to join our people. Here we have the notion of לא תתעב מצרי lo seta'ev Mitzri. לא תתעב מצרי Lo seta'ev Mitzri. Be kind to an Egyptian, because true, we had a couple tough centuries there. True, there was some genocide and persecution and oppression, and they threw our babies into the river. But there were also some decent years there. And therefore the Torah tells us, focus on the good years, the decent years there. Rashi here on this pasuk tells us, לא תתעב מצרי מכל וכל lo seta'ev Mitzri mikol v'chol. All in all, אף על פי שזרקו זכוריהם לנהר af al pi shezarku zichreihem l'nahar, even though they threw your babies into the into the river, מה טעם? שהיו לכם אכסניא בשעת הדחק mah ta'am? Shehayu lachem achsania b'shaas hadchak. because also they were host during a time that we needed. When did we need that they played host? Yaakov and his children came down to Egypt. There was a famine. And the only empire that held on, we spoke about last night, your future self, Yosef, who's called a חכם chacham because חכם עיניו בראשו chacham einav b'rosho, he knew, Yosef is called a חכם chacham because he is רואה את הנולד ro'eh es hanolad. He sees what will be born out of today. He creates a saving for the Egyptian empire and the Jewish people came down and were protected there. So don't only focus on the bad years in Egypt, those are the most prominent. Remember there was also a decent time there, decent time there as well. When we did our Poland trip several years ago, the first day when we landed, we went to a museum in Warsaw. The museum in Warsaw, I found very startling because we went to Poland to tour Majdanek and Treblinka, Auschwitz-Birkenau. And if you remember that museum in Warsaw, it was about the golden age of Jews in Poland and the the centuries of the Jews in Poland, which we flourished, which we thrived, which we were represented in Polish parliament and leadership. And it was so incongruous with when we say Poland or Germany and we think Holocaust, we don't remember any good time. It sort of supersedes or nullifies the memory of any good time. And similarly, לא תתעב מצרי lo seta'ev Mitzri. It's similar, it's the Egyptian museum. The Egyptian museum certainly tells the story 210 years of slavery, but before that, it tells the story of our living and thriving and surviving and being hosted in Egypt. The נצי\"ב in העמק דבר Netziv in Ha'amek Davar says what's the reason? כי גר היית בארצו ki ger hayisa v'artzo. גם זה מתכונת הנפש המעלה לגמול טובה ולהיות כפוי טובה ונקרא נוול Gam zeh m'tichunas hanefesh hama'aleh ligmol tova v'lihiyos kfuy tova v'nikra naval. The purpose of the mitzvah is to cultivate an elevated soul, to always be grateful. Be grateful to Egyptians? Be grateful even to Egyptians. Be grateful to Poland and Germany because we had some good years there? Yeah, be willing to even maintain a kernel of gratitude even as you also maintain the other emotions and feelings, that superhuman capacity to also maintain a kernel of gratitude, that's what this מצוה mitzva says the Netziv is all about. The Malbim similarly, גם עשה מה ינחם על הטובה מגרה היית בארצו Gam osem ya'nacham al hatova mager hayisa v'artzo. It would be worthy of hating them, but you have to remember dating back, you were also a guest in their in their country. And you can't ignore, you have to be grateful for that. How far does that go back? All the way, gratitude to the Egyptians dates back to the time of Yosef. תרגום יונתן Targum Yonasan says this, Yosef's mass land purchase at the end of ספר בראשית Sefer Bereishis. ספר חסידים Sefer Chassidim tells us from here, ואשר אמרנו על חרבונה זכר לטוב v'asher amarnu al Charvona zachur l'tov, שאם אדם מדבר בשבח צדיקים בן יהודי בן גוי she'im adam medaber b'shevach tzadikim bein yehudi bein goy, כגון עשה פלוני לישראל טובה יאמר זכרונו לברכה k'gon asah ploni l'Yisrael tova yomar zichrono livracha. Interesting. Says the ספר חסידים Sefer Chassidim, יהודה החסיד Yehuda HaChasid, in the 12th century, if a righteous Gentile did something nice for you, when you invoke their name, you say, זכרונו לברכה zichrono livracha. זכר לטוב Zachar l'tov. The memory should be a blessing. I've never heard a Jew do that. Where do you see that? וגם חרבונה זכור לטוב V'gam Charvona zachur l'tov. In our song, we sing it on Purim. אז כך ספר חסידים Az zach d'Sefer Chassidim. So much so that we maintain that we maintain that gratitude even that far. The כתב סופר Ksav Sofer goes further. The כתב סופר Ksav Sofer explains why at ים סוף Yam Suf, why didn't the Jews just defeat the Egyptians? Why did God have to eliminate the Egyptians through this convoluted miracle of a sea splitting and then closing in and drowning the Egyptians? The כתב סופר Ksav Sofer says, because for the Jews to directly defeat the Egyptians would have been ungrateful for the good years they gave us in Egypt. Ah, the last 210 years they tried to exterminate us. True, but the years before that, they hosted us. So God wanted to eliminate and pay them back, but he did it in the indirect fashion of the drowning in the sea, because it would have been ungrateful for the Jews themselves to be able to do it. It's unbelievable. Does this law apply today? Do we fulfill this mitzvah? The Torah says the מצוה mitzva in our parsha. לא תתעב מצרי Lo seta'ev Mitzri. Don't be unkind to an Egyptian because true the Egyptians persecuted us, but they also before that were kind to us. So the Rambam in ספר המצוות Sefer HaMitzvos, מצוה mitzva number 54, the חינוך Chinuch, the סמ\"ג Smag, they say there's no מצוה mitzva to marry them, but a מצוה mitzva not to not marry them. If you are refusing to marry an Egyptian because you say, I have no interest to being connected with an Egyptian after what you did, that's a violation of לא תתעב מצרי lo seta'ev Mitzri. A person shouldn't intentionally, if the שדכן shadchan says, I have a wonderful Egyptian girl for you, third generation removed, convert, essentially. תרגום יונתן בן עזיאל Targum Yonasan ben Uziel says if you refuse to accept conversion, you violate a biblical prohibition. It's a separate איסור עשה issur aseh to not marry until three generations, but there's a prohibition to not marry a convert, an Egyptian convert three generations removed, because לא תתעב מצרי lo seta'ev Mitzri, we're not supposed to. The רשב\"ש Rashbash says, you can't fight a war or conquer territory from Egypt. Interesting, the Sinai. The whole relationship we have with the Sinai, should we conquer when we gave it back? Maybe this prohibition לא תתעב מצרי lo seta'ev Mitzri connects to this. שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch records it in הלכה halacha, the code of Jewish law. אבן העזר סימן ד' סעיף ג' Even Ha'ezer Siman Daled, Seif Gimmel. מצרי ואדומי אינם אסורים אלא שלושה דורות, אחד זכרים ואחד נקבות, שאחר שנתגייר הוא ונושא אישה לא יהיה לו אחר שנתגייר אסורים. ובן בנו מותר. Mitzri v'Adomi einam assurim ela shlosha doros, echad zcharim v'echad nekeivos, she'achar she'nisgayer hu v'noseh isha lo yihyeh lo achar she'nisgayer assurim. U'ven beno mutar. If an Egyptian converts three generations later, you are allowed to marry them and if you refuse, you're violating this prohibition לא תתעב מצרי lo seta'ev Mitzri. You should not hold a grudge against an Egyptian, because while true they were bad to us, before that they were they were good to us. Gratitude. Rav Shach has an essay, it's in a sefer, מחשבת מוסר Machsheves Musar, where he says, you see how far gratitude goes. The ability, even within someone who was bad to you, someone who injured you or harmed you, interpersonally. There are people who hurt us, our relationships, family, friends, there are people who hurt us. Are we able to say, you know what, they hurt me, they have to reconcile, they have to apologize, they have to take responsibility. I want to withdraw, I don't want to be close or have a relationship with the person who hurt me, but I'm able to still find a place where I can be grateful for the good times, for the kindness, for the generosity. Can we maintain that dual attitude? That's what this מצוה mitzva is about. That even when there are harsh memories, even when someone has hurt us, even if we withdraw from a relationship, can we also still maintain the gratitude within that relationship? That's what this pasuk's talking about. חשוקי חמד Cheshukei Chemed, Rav Zilberstein has a fascinating תשובה tshuva. We know that in benching, there's a יהי רצון yehi ratzon. You say for the בעל הבית baal habayis. We offer a prayer expressing gratitude to the host who had us. If somebody, Rav Zilberstein was asked, somebody got thrown out of a house, they were invited over for a meal, they misbehaved in some way and the host threw them out. Now when they're benching outside on the curb, should they say the יהי רצון yehi ratzon for the host? They got kicked out of the house. Should you still bless the host? And he quotes this pasuk, לא תתעב מצרי Lo seta'ev Mitzri. Yes, you got kicked out, but they still fed you. You got to be able to be grateful even within having gotten kicked out. This applies, I spoke about this at Shabbos Hagadol 2022, because this applies, Spain. Did we take a promise, an oath? Do we have an edict not to return to Spain after we were expelled? Do we bear a grudge against Spain? What about the Ukraine? When the Ukraine war, I don't know if you know there's still a war in Ukraine. We don't even talk about it, we don't think about it, but remember when it broke out, so there were many Jews who said, I have no sympathy or pity for Ukraine. Innocent people, of course we care about, but Ukraine has a history of persecuting Jews, so do we bear that grudge against Ukraine? Do we not buy German products and so on? There was a תשובה tshuva, there was a Nazi who wanted to convert. A Nazi who part of their remorse and repentance, a person who was a member of the Nazi party who wanted to convert to Judaism. Doesn't say anywhere in שולחן ערוך Shulchan Aruch they can't, but do we deny them? Or לא תתעב מצרי lo seta'ev Mitzri? How do you apply all of this is very fascinating. פרק כ\"ג פסוק י' Perek Chaf Gimmel Pasuk Yud. כי תצא מחנה על אויבך ונשמרת מכל דבר רע Ki seitzei machaneh al oyvecha v'nishmarta mikol davar ra. When a camp goes out against your enemies, you shall guard against anything evil. ונשמרת. כי יהיה בך איש אשר לא יהיה טהור ממקרה לילה v'nishmarta. Ki yihiyeh b'cha ish asher lo yihiyeh tahor mimikreh layla. How do we maintain that our camp is holy? You know, soldiers at war who confront their mortality, often a lot of moral boundaries are blurred. Interpersonally, soldiers smoke, even if they know it's bad for them, but they're confronting their mortality. It's a stress release. So often in a camp, in an army encampment in war, it's easy to blur boundaries and the Torah says no. מחנך שהיה קדוש. כי תצא מחנה על אויבך Machanecha she'yihiyeh kadosh. Ki seitzei machaneh al oyvecha. A person has to be careful, a person has to be strict. Our מחנה machaneh has to be, has to be something which is which is different. ונשמרת מכל דבר רע V'nishmarta mikol davar ra. Safeguard yourself against something which is bad. So the the אמרי אמת טהורה Amrei Emes Tahara, the רחמסטריווקא רבי Rachmastrivka Rebbe says on this, הרמז על ראש השנה haremez al Rosh Hashanah. When are we going out? He's quoting the תפארת שלמה Tiferes Shlomo, שלמה מרדומסק Shlomo m'Radomsk. We're talking about ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. שרקמה מחנה של שלוחים סטן אחר יוצאים וכמה עם האדם לקטרג עליו she'rakma machaneh shel shluchim satan acher yotzim v'kama im ha'adam l'katreg alav. Many camps of our enemies are coming against us on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. עיקר הכנה קודם בוא יום הדין להתאחד באהבה ואחוה ושלום וריעות כל כלל דעת ישראל Ikar hachana kodem bo yom hadin l'his'ached b'ahava v'achva v'shalom v'reus kol klal daas Yisrael. So what does the Torah say? בחצוצרות וקול שופר הריעו לפני המלך השם Bachatzotzros v'kol shofar hari'u lifnei hamelech Hashem. Pasuk in Tehillim. בחצוצרות b'chatzotzros with the trumpets and the sound of the שופר shofar, הריעו hari'u, create a blast before Hashem. הריעו לפני המלך השם Hari'u lifnei hamelech Hashem. הריעו Hari'u, תרועה trua is מלשון ריעות m'lashon reus. What's a ריע re'a? What's a רעות reus? is friendship. How do we battle and fight on ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah in our favor? רעות Reus, friendship, connection, unity, community. When when we're being attacked from all sides, we have to unite and we have to unify. We can't be divided. We're sadly seeing and we're playing entirely into our enemies' hands. They could not have written up this playbook any better, that they would kill us and execute our people and maintain a war and hide behind civilians and we would blame and rally and protest against each other. And I don't mean to simplify. There are strong feelings on all sides. I don't know the answer, but we have to be able to debate and argue, we have to be able to fight an enemy with still a sense of unity. הריעו לפני המלך השם Hari'u lifnei hamelech Hashem. בחצוצרות וקול שופר b'chatzotzros v'kol shofar, הריעו hari'u would have to be with a רעות reus, it has to be with a unity and a community and a friendship. It is the only way which we'll be able to defeat our enemies, defeat our enemies. וזכרת V'zacharta. Rav Soloveitchik tells us, פרק כ\"ד פסוק י\"ח Perek Chaf Daled Pasuk Yud Ches. Chapter 24 verse 18. Page 1060. לא תטה משפט גר יתום Lo tateh mishpat ger yasom. Don't pervert justice, judgment against a convert or an orphan. ולא תחבול בגד אלמנה v'lo sachbol beged almana. Don't take the garment of a widow as a deposit. וזכרת כי עבד היית במצרים V'zacharta ki eved hayisa b'Mitzrayim. Remember you were once a slave in Egypt. ויפדך השם אלוקיך משם Vayifd'cha Hashem Elokecha misham. God redeemed us from there. על כן אנכי מצוך לעשות את הדבר הזה Al kein anochi metzavcha la'asos es hadavar hazeh. God says, be kind, be compassionate, be good to others, because remember, you were once a slave in Egypt. And writes Rav Soloveitchik, \"Whenever the Torah wishes to impress upon us the mitzvah of having compassion and sympathy for the oppressed, it reminds us of our similar helplessness and lowly status during our bondage in Egypt. The most defenseless elements in society are usually the slaves, the converts, the widows, the orphans. And we are repeatedly enjoined by the Torah to be sensitive to their plight. The stranger in particular personifies the helpless one who has no family or friends to intercede on his behalf. For this reason, as the Talmud indicates, the Torah exhorts us in 36 places to treat the stranger kindly.\" בבא מציעא נט Bava Metzia Nun Tes. The most repeated mitzvah in the Torah, ואהבתם את הגר v'ahavtem es hager. In 36 separate places the Torah says, when there's a convert, when there's a stranger, and this stranger and the convert doesn't only mean the legal definition of a convert. It means the single parent, the divorcee, it means the person who's never married, it means the one who's lonely, outcast, the one who's struggling with depression, solitude, loneliness. It means the person who's an outlier, who's on the outskirts. We have a special mitzvah to love and be kind and welcome and invite. The Egyptian experience may therefore be regarded as the fountainhead and moral inspiration for the teaching of compassion, which is so pervasive in Jewish law. It sharpened the Jew's ethical sensitivity and moral awareness. The Midrash says this explicitly. The Egyptian bondage was of great value to us. It served to implant within us the quality of kindness and mercy. Ours is a singularly ethical culture, which expresses itself through a heightened regard for human rights and dignity. To this day, even Jews who are alienated from religious practice, seem more responsive than non-Jews to causes which affect mankind. Why is it? Whatever cause is all about caring about others, sometimes noble, sometimes misguided, but always almost driven by a noble care, justice, social justice, concern, love, Jews are at the forefront. Jews are founders, Jews are leaders. Why? Because we know what it was like to be in Egypt, and part of our entire experience and national mission is to help make sure no one else feels that way. Continues Rav Soloveitchik, we'll end with this. \"There are crimes which come harder to a Jew than to others. It may sound chauvinistic, but it is statistically true. Murder and physical violence were unheard of among Jews in the past, and still proportionally rare among those who have roots in their heritage. Embezzlement and cheating in financial matters, that entices Jews vulnerable to the temptations of money and riches. But rarely homicide, which occurs so frequently in other cultures. To the extent that a Jew becomes estranged from Jewish values, he begins to behave...\" in a manner prevalent in the dominant culture. Our sages regard compassion as the distinguishing characteristic of the Jewish people. The Egyptian experience sought to transform the Jew into a people to whom compassion would be a necessity, not merely a capacity. There are two words which are often used interchangeably, but they are not synonymous: מרחם merachem and רחמן rachman. מרחם Merachem is a verb in form, a participle, and accordingly places emphasis on the deed. The person described as a מרחם merachem is one who performs many charitable acts. He may at times be cold and unfeeling. In each situation, he hesitates deliberately whether to respond compassionately or not. He does nevertheless manage to perform many deeds of compassion. רחמן Rachman, on the other hand, is an adjectival form describing an attribute, a characteristic. The רחמן rachman is a person who has only one choice: to act compassionately. His attitude flows naturally from his personality. Are you a cold-hearted person who's just doing kind things? Or you have molded and shaped and transformed yourself to be kind? The Jewish people are רחמנים בני רחמנים rachmanim bnei rachmanim. A people from whom compassion and communal responsibility flows naturally. In its detailed legal development, the הלכה halacha is the embodiment of this sensitivity. A person who is uncertain how to act in the face of human need may readily engage in rationalization and be diverted by self-serving considerations. But the הלכה halacha directs him to act with compassion and gradually transforms him into a רחמן rachman, a person who spontaneously responds with compassion. In retrospect, it seems to be the dominant lesson to be derived from the Egyptian servitude. It taught the Jew ethical sensitivity, what it truly means to be a Jew. It taught, sought to transform the Jew into a רחמן rachman, one possessing a heightened form of ethical sensitivity. That's what it means. Don't just observe הלכה halacha, Torah law. It's not only about the strict fulfillment of the הלכה halacha, but molding ourselves not just into people who perform compassion, but compassionate people. The whole Jewish people are meant to be a compassionate people. That's what the Torah here is emphasizing, זכרת zacharta, remember where we come from and therefore be at the forefront of helping those around us. May we hear בשורות טובות besorot tovot, please remain for תהילים Tehillim. If everyone stays, it will take just a few minutes to complete all of ספר תהילים Sefer Tehillim. May we hear בשורות טובות besorot tovot, ישועות yeshuot.
