Transcript
Good morning, בוקר טוב boker tov. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. After a very difficult day for כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael yesterday, we certainly דאַווען daven, we continue to דאַווען daven for the families of those who lost loved ones, for those who were injured, they should have a speedy recovery. The families of the soldiers who were lost in Gaza, as difficult as a day was yesterday, just got news, Israel eliminated some Hamas leadership in Qatar and Doha. Finally, about time, must have gotten a green light to let our enemies know wherever they are, they are fair targets, and it should just continue please God to bring about a return of the hostages and a lasting peace. Our Parsha series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת l'iluy nishmas Becky's father, דוד בן מנחם מנש David ben Menachem Manesh, whose נשמה neshama should have an עליה aliyah. We're on page 1068 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash and this morning we have the privilege of learning פרשת כי תבוא parshas Ki Savo. We are well on our way in our march towards the completion of חומש Chumash, of תורת משה Toras Mosha, of the five books of Mosha, as we continue his soliloquy, his monologue, his message to the people on the cusp of entering the land. והיה כי תבוא אל הארץ V'haya ki savo el ha'aretz, it will be when you will enter the land, which Mosha must have uttered those words each and every time with a little bit of a sense of bittersweetness, when you enter the land, you and not me. The fulfillment of all of his dreams, of all of his ambition, of all of his career, of all of their purpose, of our mission here. עם ישראל, ארץ ישראל, תורת ישראל Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, Toras Yisrael, and Mosha says when you enter the land, not me. But in any case, אשר ה' אלוקיך נותן לך נחלה asher Hashem Elokecha nosein lecha nachala, that God gives you נחלה nachala as your inheritance, וירשתה וישבת בה v'rishta v'yashavta bah, you'll possess it and you'll dwell in it. You'll conquer it, you'll live in it, and you'll possess it. ולקחת מראשית כל פרי האדמה V'lakachta me'reishis kol pri ha'adama. And when you conquer land, you're going to need to eat. How did you eat then? You didn't go to the supermarket. You didn't order Uber Eats. How did you eat then? You farmed. It was an agricultural, agrarian society. You set up and opened up fields, you plowed and you planted, you harvested and you ate. So since you are new to the land, it'll be your first time doing it, Mosha says, there is a law associated with the firsts. And what is the law associated with firsts? You'll take the first of your fruit that you bring from your land, נותן לך nosein lach, ושמת בטנא v'samta ba'teneh, you'll put it in a basket. והלכת אל המקום v'halachta el hamakom אשר יבחר ה' אלוקיך לשכן שמו שם asher yivchar Hashem Elokecha l'shakein shmo sham. And you'll take that basket with that first fruit to the place that God will designate. Interesting, very ambiguous, doesn't give us coordinates. נו Nu, what address should you put in Waze? What address do you put in Google Maps? How do you know where to go? Interestingly, the Torah leaves it as a mystery. You're going to take the first fruit, you're going to bring it to the place that God has chosen for him to dwell, to be accessible, to be most intensely felt. Where is that? We know the answer, it's ירושלים Yerushalayim and בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, but why is it missing from the text? We've spoken about that in the past. ובאת אל הכהן U'vasa el ha'kohen אשר יהיה בימים ההם asher yiheyeh ba'yamim ha'heim, you'll come to the Cohen in that time and you'll say הגדתי היום לה' אלוקיך כי באתי אל הארץ Higadeti hayom la'Hashem Elokecha ki vasi el ha'aretz, I came to the land God promised my forefathers. He'll take the basket from your hands, he'll take it and wave it in front of the מזבח mizbeach, the altar. וענית ואמרת V'anisa v'amarta, you will answer and you will call out before God, ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi, a passage we're all familiar with from סדר Seder night, from the הגדה Haggadah, from פסח Pesach, from Passover. There was an Aramean who tried to destroy my father. Who is this Aramean? לבן Lavan. לבן Lavan, יעקב Yaakov's father-in-law, cousin, יעקב Yaakov tried לבן Lavan tried to destroy our people. There's only one problem. Flip back four books, go to בראשית Berashis, point to the פסוק pasuk that tells me לבן Lavan tried to obliterate our people. ביקש לעקור את הכל Bikesh la'akor es hakol we say in the הגדה Haggadah, he wanted to uproot it all. He wanted to reboot, he wanted to set us all the way back. Where does it say that? Did he trick יעקב Yaakov? Absolutely. He took advantage, he was conniving, he tricked him, he was manipulative, 100%. He tried to destroy us. Where? When? Why do we accuse him of that? Why do we say he was worse than פרעה Paro? פרעה Paro wanted to get rid of the males, לבן Lavan wanted to get rid of everyone. Therefore, he's the worst. Where does it say that? We talked about that in the past. וירד מצרימה ויענונו Vayared Mitzrayma v'ya'anunu. And the Mitzrim aggravated us. ויתנו עלינו עבודה קשה v'yitnu aleinu avodah kasha. They gave us tremendous work. We cried out to God, he heard our cries, our pleas, saw our work, the pressure we were under. He took us out of Egypt with an outstretched hand. All of this we recite many years later when we're delivering the first fruit to the Cohen in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash in the holy temple. He brought us to this place, a land filled and flowing with milk and honey. And now here I am, ועתה הנה v'ata hinei. הנה הבאתי את הארץ Hinei heveisi es ha'aretz, and now הנה הבאתי hinei heveisi. Here I am telling you this whole story, this whole background, all to tell you I'm delivering you my first fruit. I tied a ribbon around the first fig that was growing. I made sure to save it. I took a great expense and great effort and great risk to bring it to you, ירושלים Yerushalayim. I've placed it before God. I bow down. ושמחת בכל הטוב V'samachta b'chol hatov. Now the farmer is told, rejoice in all the good that God has given you, you and your house, you, the לוי Levi, and the stranger אשר בקרבך asher b'kirbecha who are in your midst. Let's start out with אך פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tvuah. Who is the אך פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tvuah? Please tell me you haven't forgotten since last week. I introduced you to the ליסקא רבה Liska Rebbe, the ליסקא רב Liska Rav, who was the Rebbe of רבי ישעיהלה מקרעסטיר Reb Shayala of Kerestir. ליסק Lisk, one of the places I visited this summer, I told you I bought all the ספרים sfarim, the אך פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tvuah, a תלמיד talmid of the ישמח משה Yismach Moshe, the founder of Satmar, the אך פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tvuah, the ליסקא רב Liska Rav. And he says the following. There's one word superfluous in this פסוק pasuk. We should read the text very carefully, mindfully and ask ourselves every vowel, every letter, every word, is anything extra? Why is it there? What is it telling me? ולקחת מראשית v'lakachta meireishis take from the first כל פרי האדמה kol pri ha'adamah of all of your fruit. פסוק ב Pasuk Beis, ולקחת v'lakachta take, מראשית meireishis from the first, כל פרי האדמה kol pri ha'adamah of all the fruit of the ground. The first of every fruit Artscroll translates it. התיבה כל Hateiva kol, הוא מיותר hu miyutar, the word all, כל kol, is extra. ויש לומר V'yeish lomar, says the הייליגא ליסקא רב heiliga Liska Rav, הנה מבואר בספרים הקדושים hinei mevoar b'sfarim hak'doshim על ידי שאדם נותן מעשר כראוי al yedei she'adam nosein maaser k'rauy, הוא מכניס כל החלקים בקדושה hu machnis kol hachalakim b'kedusha. We have an obligation, one has to separate and give different parts, tithe, different amounts of their produce directed towards different people. מעשר ראשון Maaser rishon, 10% goes to the לוי Levi. תרומה Trumah, depending on your level of generosity, there's some flexibility here, either a 40th, a 50th, or 60th goes to the כהן Kohen. Then there's מעשר שני maaser sheini is brought to ירושלים Yerushalayim depending on the year, otherwise מעשר עני maaser oni, it goes to a poor person. Meaning not everything that we harvest, not all of our income is ours. השם Hashem who is the senior partner in everything we take in says, you keep most of it, but I gotta take care of my other children. So I'll tell you what. Instead of giving me my part, even though I'm the senior partner and all the success is because of me, I'm going to tell you how to allocate really what I should get. And it's minimal compared to what you get to keep, Mr. Farmer. So you or Mrs. Farmer, you farmer, who get to harvest your field and bring in your income, sell it, live off of it, know you have it, a little bit of it, make sure the people around you are taken care of too. Your teachers. The כהנים Kohanim and the לויים Levi'im didn't have their own territory, they didn't have their own farm, they had no source of income. They were the designated community כולל kollel. They were the teachers of the community. So what did they live off of? It wasn't a financial stipend they shopped in the supermarket. As we said, in those days, there were no supermarkets. So what did you do? You gave a tithe. And when they took a little from each person, they were sustained so they could be dedicated exclusively, entirely focused on teaching. So you gave away a tithe. And our rabbis tell us, the ספרים הקדושים sfarim hak'doshim say that when a person properly tithes, then they actually not only did a מצוה mitzvah, not only the part they separated and gave, did they elevate, but they actually elevate everything they keep. They give purpose and meaning, they designate sanctity to not only what they gave, but now everything they keep has a whole other meaning. ומבואר בספר כלי יקר על הפסוק U'mevoar b'sefer Kli Yakar al hapasuk, ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah. Go back to the book of שמות Shmos, Exodus, on the פרשה parsha תרומה Trumah, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, ויקחו לי תרומה v'yikchu li trumah, God says, take for me a donation, שעל ידי הנתינה הוא לוקח sha'al yedei ha'nesinah hu lokeach. ויקחו V'yikchu, it should say ויתנו v'yitnu, give. Why does it say יקחו yikchu, take? We studied this then, the כלי יקר Kli Yakar says, because when you give properly, you've taken something for yourself. You know how good it feels? You know how meaningful and fulfilling? You know what purpose you give to all of your possessions? All of your material wealth, all of your resources, all of your possessions, they take on new meaning when you designate and you give, when you allocate part of them to make a difference. So when you gave, you did indeed give, but you also simultaneously, you took. And that's why it's ויקחו v'yikchu. על ידי הנתינה הוא לוקח Al yedei ha'nesinah hu lokeach, זוכה לשפע רב zocheh l'shefa rav. And for that you merit tremendous blessing. וזהו V'zehu, says the אך פרי תבואה Ach Pri Tvuah, the Liska Rav, that's what it means, ולקחת מראשית v'lakachta meireishis, when you take, ולקחת v'lakachta, when you take from your first fruit, על ידי הראשית שתתן אתה al yedei hareishis she'titen atah, because you're not taking the first fruit. What are you doing with it? You're giving. So why does it say taking? תקח כל פרי אדמה Tikach kol pri adamah, שתכניס הכל אל הקדושה she'tachnis hakol el hakdusha. The farmer harvests a whole field. A lot. I'm not a farmer, I don't even know what example to give you as a measure of what he harvest. A דונם dunam? In Israel you'd say a דונם dunam. In America you'd say several acres. I don't know how you translate to how many silos, how many truckloads, how many, I have no idea how to measure what a farmer harvests. That's how pathetic I am. But whatever he brought in, he gives away part and in this case we're talking about ביכורים bikurim, the first fruit is brought to God. Why? Because we know we're most connected, we're most attached to the first. What we poured our heart into, and the first harvest, the first thing we take, we love it. And the willingness to give it away is the recognition that none of it belongs to me. Any and all of its success in getting it is only the graciousness and the goodness of God. So God, the first belongs to you. I recognize, I recognize the first belongs to you. I don't tape the first dollar on the wall, I take the first fruit and give it to you. And what happens when someone does that, says the אפרי תבואה ach pri tevuah. When you take the first fruit and you recognize Hashem, everything I harvest, all of my income, all that I have is only because of you. All the blessing in my life is because of you. So I designate the first, I dedicate it to you. I've now transformed everything that I keep and everything that I have. So yes, I gave something small, but I got so much more because I've elevated everything I've held on to. They're not physical possessions, they're not mere material things, but they all are gifts from you, God. And they're all part of my mission to serve you, God. And they're all ways I transform and elevate myself in the way I interact with them. ולכן תבא הוא אותיות אבות V'lachein tavo hu osiyos avos. It says the פסוק pasuk says, when you come, תבא tavo, when תביא tavi, bring, and תביא tavi are the same letters as אבות avos, our forefathers. על ידי שהם הראשית נתקדש כל ישראל שבשבילה זכו ישראל לארץ Al yedei she'heim ha'reishis, niskadash kol Yisrael, she'bishvilah zachu Yisrael l'eretz. In this merit we inherited the land. ולכן נסמך לפרשת עמלק שהוא גם כן ראשית V'lachein nismach l'parshas Amalek she'hu gam kein reishis. ראשית גוים עמלק אחריתיו עדי אובד Reishis goyim Amalek, achriso adei oved. The the first of the nations is Amalek. Amalek attacks and goes after our sense of first. What are they attacking and going after? What are you designating anything to God? What did he have to do with what you have? What you have is because you worked hard. Either what you have is you deserve the credit or what you have is just a coincidence. It's random. You happen to pick the right stock. So you did well. You have a good portfolio. Or because you're smart and you joined Congress where there are no rules, so you had inside information and you became very wealthy. And you deserve the credit. But what are you giving your first to God? What does God have to do with anything? Either you deserve the credit or it was random. But who's God? What's God? That's Amalek. Amalek attacks our sense of first. And that's why the end of last week's פרשה parsha was Amalek, and the beginning of this week's פרשה parsha is ביכורים bikurim. Our antidote, our answer to Amalek is we are a people of firsts. ראשית Reishis. We're נקרא ראשית nikra reishis, the Jewish people are called ראשית reishis. We're called his first. We're his בכור bechor, we're his eldest children. He loves us, and we're a people who designate the ראשית reishis, the first, we give it to God and we recognize. He continues, I I want to spend all day on the אפרי תבואה ach pri tevuah I fell in love with because I went to the middle of nowhere to his קבר kever. So you attach, you feel connected when you do that. You bring people back to life or you recognize they never ever died. They're still very much alive. When you hold the ספר sefer and it's on the same פרשה parsha that you're learning 150 years later, you realize he never died. It's amazing. It's amazing. אמרו חז\"ל הרבא אמר דב ברכות ולרבי ירמיה כתיב להשם הארץ ומלואה Amru Chazal, a Rabbah said in Gemara Brachos v'l'Rebbe Yirmiyah, ksiv l'Hashem ha'aretz u'meloah. The פסוק pasuk says the world belongs to God everything in it. וכתיב u'chsiv and yet another verse until him says השמים שמים להשם והארץ נתן לבני אדם ha'shamayim shamayim l'Hashem v'ha'aretz nasan l'vnei adam, the heavens belong to God and he gave the earth to man. So which is it? Do the earth and everything in it belong to God or are the heavens God and the earth he gave to man? Says the גמרא לא קשיא gemara lo kashya. It's not a contradiction. כאן קודם ברכה כאן לאחר ברכה Kan kodem bracha kan l'achar bracha. Before you make a blessing, the earth and everything in it belongs to God. But once you make the blessing, that is the currency with which you pay God, then now you bought it, now it's yours. When we make a blessing on the food we eat, we can't walk out of Publix without paying. Can't walk out of the Grove or Aroma KC, I don't want to get in trouble. You can't walk out without paying at the cash register. You're a thief, you've stolen. You have to pay in order for it to be yours, in order to benefit, in order to have the pleasure of it. And this world is God's. And if you want to enjoy, oh, the currency with which you pay God is a blessing. He doesn't need your money. He doesn't need your things. What he wants is a connection, is a relationship. And how do we get it? How does he get it? When we make a blessing. When you hold up that cup of coffee, when you hold up that cup of water, when you hold up that diet peach snapple and you say שהכל נהיה בדברו she'hakol nihiyeh b'dvaro. השם *Hashem*, this world and everything in it, it all belongs to you. Thank you for this coffee. The coffee bean, the farmer who plowed and planted it, the one who harvests it, the one who collected it, the one who shipped and trucked those beans, whoever ground it, the one who packaged it, the one who put it in a pod, the one who put it in this cup of coffee, and the one who's giving me life from it. All of that's in the שהכל נהיה בדברו *shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro*. That's why in our shul, we have merch, our caffeinate with כוונה *kavanah* cups. I make a, my first cup of coffee every day is in a caffeinate with כוונה *kavanah* cup. It has caffeinate with כוונה *kavanah*, the ברכה *bracha*. It reminds you, be mindful, שהכל *shehakol*, everything. You're alive, you're awake, you can drink, you get the aroma, the steam, the emotional connection, it awakens us, everything about it. I could speak romantically about a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee. If you think you don't need it, תשעה באב *Tisha B'Av*, יום כיפור *Yom Kippur*'s coming up. See what a person who needs a cup of coffee looks like if they don't get it, the withdrawal from it. That's a שהכל *shehakol*. So the גמרא *Gemara* says it's not a contradiction. The whole world and everything in it is God's. And until you pay with the currency of a ברכה *bracha*, only with the ברכה *bracha* does it become yours. ומובא גם כן בירושלמי *um'uva gam kein b'Yerushalmi*. תלמוד ירושלמי *Talmud Yerushalmi* has similarly, ברכות פרק ו' הלכה א' *Brachos Perek Vav Halacha Aleph*. The פסוק *Pasuk* says אמרתי להשם, השם אתה טובתי בל עליך *Amarti l'Hashem, Hashem ata tovati bal alecha*. אם אני מברך על הטובה, אז הטובה נחשבת לשלי *im ani mevarech al hatovah, az hatovah nechsheves l'sheli*. If I make a blessing on the good, then the good is considered to be me to be mine. And that's the פסוק *pasuk* עבדו את ה' מאימתך *ivdu es Hashem m'eimosecha*. And the מדרש רבה *Medrash Rabbah* says, אל תקרי מאימתך אלא מגרונך *al tikri m'eimosecha elah mi'gronecha*. ואם אתה מברך לה אז הוא נחשב מאימתך *v'im ata mevarech lah az hu nechshav m'eimosecha*. When is it yours? When can you derive benefit? When you make a ברכה *bracha*, when you make the blessing on it. כבר זכינו *kvar zachinu*. Says the הילולי גאון ר' לייבוש קרוב *Hilulei Gaon R' Leibush Karov* in אח פרי תבואה *Ach Pri Tevuah*. המצוה הזו רומזת על הכנעה *hamitzvah hazu romezes al hachna'ah*. לכן כתבה התורה ולקחת מראשית *lachein kasva haTorah velakachta me'reishis* שעל ידי זה תיקנה הפירות להיות שלך *she'al yedei zeh tiknah hapeiros l'hiyos shelcha*, על ידי שתקבל עליך עבודת שמו יתברך *al yedei she'tekabel alecha avodas shmo yisbarach*. So when a person realizes it's all yours and I'm here to serve you and this is just my allowance, it's what I need to fulfill my mission. When a person travels for business, there's an allocation for their meals. Why? Because there's an understanding, if you're going to fulfill the purpose of your business trip, you need to nourish, you need to nurture, you need to eat, you need to fuel up. So if I recognize that food is the fuel so I serve השם *Hashem*, it is a means and not an ends, then I've transformed everything that I have. So that's ולקחת *velakachta*, I may be giving my first fruit, but it's really ולקחת *velakachta*, I've taken something, what I've taken is I've transformed everything that I have and everything that I am. And then what do we say? וענית ואמרת *v'anisa v'amarta*. This farmer answers and proclaims before God. He goes back in time and back in history. ארמי אובד אבי *Arami oved avi*. Let's quickly go through three תפארת שמואל *Tiferes Shmuel*. ר' שמואל בירנבוים, ראש ישיבה *Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, Rosh Yeshiva* of the Mir. And he says the following. למה מצות הבאת ביכורים מצוה נוספת של מקרא ביכורים *lama mitzvas havas bikurim mitzvah nosafes shel mikra bikurim*. We don't only have the מצוה *mitzvah* to bring the first fruit, but parallel and along with it, we have a מצוה *mitzvah* of מקרא ביכורים *mikra bikurim*. What's the מצוה *mitzvah* of מקרא ביכורים *mikra bikurim*? I don't just deliver my first fruit to the כהן *kohen* in ירושלים *Yerushalayim*. I have a whole recitation, a whole proclamation. I've got a whole text I have to recite when I deliver it. And what's the story I tell? Let's go back to the beginning of time. History of the world part three. Let's go back to the beginning. There was an Aramean, he tried to kill my father, but I survived and here I am, and God took me out of Egypt and he brought me to the land, and I planted this farm and I and I was able to harvest this fig, this fruit and here it is. Just say here's the fruit. Why do I have a whole מקרא ביכורים *mikra bikurim*? לומר פרשת ההודאה להקדוש ברוך הוא *lomar parshas ha'hoda'ah l'Hakadosh Baruch Hu* in order to give gratitude for the fact that we survived לבן *Lavan*, we survived Egypt, we inherited the land, we conquered it successfully, we divided it, we inhabited it, all the goodness until now, I got a farm, it rained, I grew things, I have, okay, I got it. מדברים שאין להם שיעור *mi'dvarim she'ein lahem shiur*. וביכורים *u'vikurim* is one of the things we say every morning in our דאווענען *davening* is that you have to bring, there's no שיעור *shiur*. There's no minimum measure. Whatever it is, you bring it. So what do I need this whole recitation? This whole pomp and circumstance? This whole story? This whole text? This whole history of the world? What do I need it for? Just come and deliver the first fruit and say thank you God, even though I'm emotionally connected and attached to the first, here it is, I'll give it to you. It's amazing because I've told you this story different different contexts. It's amazing how the memories of our youth stick with us, and what things our parents did for us or with us leave such indelible impressions. But I remember as a kid, my father worked hard, wasn't around that much, but I still remember Sundays, he took upon himself, we planted a tomato vine in our backyard. For some reason he became determined to grow tomatoes. And in the Sundays when he was around, you know, as it grew, we we tied it to a a rod in the ground so it would grow up. And we checked on it, and we made sure there were no bugs that were and I still remember the first tomato that he plucked, that he plucked. And I remember he brought it to the שבת *Shabbos* table. Became part of our שבת *Shabbos* meal, that first tomato. It was tiny, it grew, it was green, it changed to red. He brought it to the table with love, affection, care, concerned. Now if we were in Israel at a time of a בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, that's exactly what he would have had to bring to ירושלים Yerushalayim, because it was the first, the most connected with, the return on all that investment, all that effort, all that toil.It's also a lesson in the other context I've quoted it in is the notion of love. That love doesn't come from getting, love comes from giving. And that's why we don't only love people, we can love things that are an extension of us. And that's why we just read, the three who are exempt from war, are the person who built a new home and didn't live in it, the one who married a woman but hasn't had a year with her, and the person who grew a vineyard but didn't yet harvest the grapes and produce wine. What are we likening marriage, a woman, a spouse is now like a house or a grape? Of course not. God forbid. What we're saying is the love of having invested, having taken risk, having given, and yet not yet not getting the return on it yet. So in any case, here in ביכורים bikurim, so just take that first tomato, FedEx to ירושלים Yerushalayim to the כהן kohen. שוין Shoin. וייטער Veiter, move on with life. You have to go to ירושלים Yerushalayim, you have to say this whole recitation, this whole proclamation, this whole parade, this whole basket, this whole pomp and circumstance. What is going on over here?Says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum the following: הוצאת הפירות מיד מזל מונח בהצלחה וברכה בכל מה שהשקיע אדם עד שזכה לראות פרי עמלו Hotzaas hapeiros miyad mazal munach b'hatzlacha u'vracha b'chol ma shehishkia adam ad shezacha liros pri amalo. Because the Jewish notion of gratitude is not only zoomed in on this moment. This is a lesson and message about gratitude. I love it. Gratitude is not only about this moment, right now, this fruit. Gratitude demands that we zoom out the lens with scope and perspective of everything it took to get here.There was a בר מצוה bar mitzvah in our שול shul last week. And the father, grandfather of the בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy spoke, and he had a very short succinct message. He said to the בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy, I just want you to think about the miracle that is you. Do you know and do you understand what it took for you to be here? That your parents met, fell in love. They chose to have you and it worked. There was conception, there was gestation, you're healthy, you're alive, all the part works and that you're here. But not only that, he said, do you understand what the miracle it is that you're Jewish? I actually tried to prepare for this morning with my friend ChatGPT. I asked to figure out the probability that a Jew in 2025 using matrilinial descent, what is the probability that you'd be Jewish? Meaning, going back many dozens of generations that not one person would have married out. There was no intermarriage, not at least one woman in the chain that determines Jewish identity would have made the choice not to marry or the choice not to have children. What was the probability? It came back with all kinds of formulas and further questions, and which century, and where, because the odds, the statistics, I said, forget about it. Forget about it.The point is, the message of this זיידע zeide to the בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy, his grandson was, in this moment that you just became a Jewish man, a גדול בישראל gadol b'Yisrael, let us not worry about the logo on the יארמולקע yarmulke and the food at the buffet and talk, let's just for a moment pause and recognize the miracle that is you. You have parents, and they have parents, and they had parents. And each of them had to meet each other, each of them had to be determined to marry a Jew, each of them had to want to have children, and each of them God had to decide to answer yes and give them a child. And all of that went into you, into you being here. It was such a powerful message. It was a short but powerful speech of a זיידע zeide. He just wanted his grandson to understand, you are a walking miracle. This day and this moment is a miracle, what had to go into it. And that's what Rav Shmuel Berenbaum says is what מקרא ביכורים mikra bikurim is all about. Farmer didn't just FedEx the tomato. It wouldn't have been a tomato because ביכורים bikurim only applies to the seven fruit of the land of Israel. It only applies to the שבעת המינים shivas haminim, the seven fruit. ארץ חיטה ושעורה וכו' Eretz chita u'seora v'chulu. So, it wouldn't have been a tomato. But a fig. You don't just FedEx the fig to ירושלים Yerushalayim. You go there and you present it. And you say, השם Hashem, I wouldn't be here if you hadn't let my great זיידע zeide יעקב Yaakov overcome his miserable father-in-law לבן Lavan. I wouldn't be here. Thank you for that. And our people then were subjugated, servitude in Egypt, 210 years, and you took us out. Thank you for that. And you brought us to this land, a land that you promised us. And we conquered the seven Canaanite nations. Thank you for that. And you divided it and my family got this portion and I got a field. And thank you for that. And I planted that field. And what I plowed and what I planted, it took. There wasn't pestilence, there wasn't a plague, there wasn't a famine, there wasn't a drought. There was enough rain, not too much. train, there wasn't flooding, and everything grew, and thank you for that. And I was able to harvest it. And by the way, I was able to travel here because the airlines were open, country wasn't shut down, there weren't missiles falling, and I was, there wasn't a COVID that kept me away. I was able to travel here and bring this first fruit today. And by the way, thank you for that. Everything about this moment is not just this fruit, it's about everything it took to get here, and that is what מקרא ביכורים Mikra Bikkurim is about. Gratitude. And you see that at שמחות smachot. You see that at שמחות smachot. Very often the grandfather, a father, a mother, they get up and they talk about not just the בר מצוה bar mitzvah or the בת מצוה bat mitzvah girl, the שבע ברכות sheva brachot, they talk about, I want to tell you about your grandparents. What do my grandparents have to do with this ברית bris? Grandparents have been gone for many years. Great-grandparents. What does that have to do with it? Do you know what they survived? Do you know how they persevered? Do you know their resilience? Do you know their courage and conviction? Do you know their faith? Do you understand that our family, why we're on this path is only because of them? Yes, it's a ברית bris, it's a שבע ברכות sheva brachot, it's a בת מצוה bat mitzvah, it's an anniversary, it's a birthday, whatever it is. But each of those opportunities of gratitude is an invitation to zoom out the lens and remember the big picture of everything it took to get here. And that is the Jewish definition of gratitude, the big picture. Not in a debilitating way, right? So when I returned the cup of sugar I borrowed, I don't have to thank you, thank you you were born, thank you that your parents raised you, thank you you chose to be my neighbor, thank you that we developed a friendship, thank you, here's your cup of sugar. That'd also be beautiful. But I not עד כדי כך ad kedei kach. I don't think the Torah is demanding. But gratitude in general means not just this moment, but zoom out the lens to see so much more, the many, many, many steps that went into it and that brought us to this moment. מצוה לשבח הקדוש ברוך הוא מהתחלה Mitzvah l'shabeiach Hakadosh Baruch Hu mei'hatchala. You have to go back to the beginning. ארמי אובד אבי Arami oved avi. To go back to, yeah, there was an Aramean. ירד מצרימה yorad Mitzraima, the Exodus. At סוף כל הפרשה sof kol haparsha, שמודה להשם שזכה לירושת הארץ איש תחת גפנו ולראות מפירות shemodeh laShem shezacha l'yerushas ha'aretz ish tachas gafno v'liros mipairos. Wow. Look at all the good, and look at where I am, and look at how that likely didn't have to happen. By the way, when you do that, you also probably gain perspective and you find more happiness. Because in thanking you for the little fig, I remember, oh yeah, my grandparents survived the Holocaust, I'm probably not going to complain that my fig is smaller than that guy's fig. We're all in the בית מדרש Beis Medrash, we're all in the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash lining up, bringing our first fig. Maybe I'm miserable my fig is smaller than his fig. He's got more influencers when he posts the picture of his fig than I have for my fig, and I'm going to be miserable and depressed and complain and negative and woe is me and why is me. But when I deliver my fig, I say, yeah, my grandparents survived the Holocaust. Maybe I don't have to get so upset about whose fig is bigger. Maybe I should be more grateful for whatever I have and the miracle that I am here. It's a brilliant prescription for happiness, for gratitude, which are the secrets for a life of serenity and meaning, and meaning. And that is, he has a lot more, but I want to keep going. So that is תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel number one. Number one. And this by the way makes its way, he says, into בענטשן bentschen. ואכלת ושבעת וברכת V'achalta v'savata u'veirachta. Every time we eat bread, we say the grace after meals, ואכלת ושבעת v'achalta v'savata, when you ate and you're satiated, you בענטש bentsch. The איסור בש\"ס ברכות issur b'Shas Brachos, כל שלא אמר ברית ותורה בברכת הארץ ומלכות בית דוד בבונה ירושלים לא יצא ידי חובתו kol shelo amar bris v'Torah b'birkas ha'aretz u'malchus Beis David b'Boneh Yerushalayim lo yatza yedei chovaso. So בענטשן bentschen could be rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub. Thank you God, and go on. Why do we have this long בענטשן bentschen? Some people don't eat bread because they have this fear of בענטשן bentschen, they don't want to בענטש bentsch, if they actually say every word, it's gonna take a few minutes, I want to move on, so I never eat bread. I avoid bread altogether, fear of bread syndrome. Other people like Mr. Senders, עליו השלום alav hashalom, who just passed away, our beloved Mr. Senders, I mentioned this recently. He didn't בענטש bentsch because he ate bread. Every day he made sure to eat bread so he could בענטש bentsch. And why do you want to בענטש bentsch? Because it's filled with all these messages. But what do I need all these paragraphs? And if you look at בענטשן bentschen, it also talks about took us out of Egypt, and we inherited the land. And what a good land it is. And thank you for the land. And by the way, you also ברית bris, and and there's also a kingdom of David, of דוד המלך Dovid Hamelech, and build Jerusalem. All these ideas and concepts and going back to the history of the world in the beginning of time. Just say, God, yeah, it was a pretty good sandwich. Thanks, God, the pizza, it was like the way I like it. It was well done, thin crust, sweet sauce, it was the way I like it. Thank you, God. Like one sentence, move on with life. I gotta go back to the history of the world. Says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, it's the same idea. Because the ability to have access to the sandwich, pay for the sandwich, make the sandwich, shop for the sandwich, chew the sandwich, digest the sandwich. If you don't have lactose intolerance, be grateful it was a dairy sandwich. If you don't have celiac, be grateful you could have a wheat sandwich. There's a billion things that half the world can't eat the sandwich you just ate. Can't eat the sandwich you just ate. You have the teeth to bite into the sandwich? You have the tools to make the sandwich? You can afford the... Have you seen what a sandwich costs today? You can afford the sandwich? It's like a million reasons you shouldn't be able to have that sandwich. So when you say thank you for the sandwich, yeah, you zoom out the lens, you go back to the history of the world and you say, thank you I have good teeth. Thank you I could pay. Thank you I could shop and that I could make it. Thank you I could digest it. Thank you it didn't send me into anaphylactic shock into the hospital and make me drop dead from this sandwich. Yeah, you thank God for everything from the beginning of time in the beginning of history. That's the idea of when you express gratitude, שהכל נהיה בדברו shehakol niheyeh bidvaro. The famous רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter who when he traveled and he asked for a cup of coffee and he got the bill, and he said, I don't understand. I'm staying in the hotel. When I make the coffee at home, it costs three cents. Why was it $6.58 for the same cup of black coffee? So they explained, because you're not just paying for the coffee. You're paying for the atmosphere. You're paying for the environment. Right? That if you go in Manhattan to a kosher restaurant versus somewhere else, all of a sudden your bill is double and triple. Unclear why. Same piece of meat, same distributor, same grill it was made on. Why is this... Oh, you're paying for the atmosphere, you're paying for the environment, you're paying... what's it called? You're paying for the... The ambiance. Thank you, the word ambiance. Said רב ישראל סלנטר Rav Yisrael Salanter, so when he got the bill for the cup of coffee at the nice hotel, he realized, שהכל נהיה בדברו shehakol niheyeh bidvaro. השם Hashem, I'm not just thanking you for the cup of coffee. I'm thanking you for the ambiance that is your world. Thank you, there's air conditioning. It's cool in here while I drink this cup of coffee, because if it was hot, I couldn't drink this hot cup of coffee. And if I couldn't have the hot cup of coffee, you couldn't talk to me. But if quite having the hot cup of coffee meant I was gonna sweat my guts out, so thank you for the ambiance. שהכל נהיה בדברו shehakol niheyeh bidvaro. It's not just on a cup of coffee. The שהכל shehakol is on everything. It's on so much more. I have a third from Reb Shraga Baronbaum but we're going to keep going because I don't want to, I want to get to other things. Rabbi Sacks. I believe the local Koren store got in the Rabbi Sacks חומש chumash, and I believe they sold out of the חומש chumash. I don't get any royalty from it. Maybe I should, because we highly recommend it. It could go Boca Raton Synagogue, not to me. The ceremony of the first fruits, writes Rabbi Sacks. פרשת כי תבא Parshas Ki Savo begins with the ceremony of bringing the first fruits. The משנה Mishnah gives a detailed account of what happened. Those who were near ירושלים Yerushalayim brought fresh figs and grapes, those who were far away brought dried figs and raisins. Before them went the ox, its horns overlaid with gold, with a wreath of olive leaves on its head. The flute was played until they came near Jerusalem. When they were near ירושלים Yerushalayim, they sent messengers, bedecked their first fruits. Bedecked. Bedecked. You understand? You had to buy your fig a nice necklace, a ring, earrings. Your fig. A fig was bedecked. The rulers and the prefects and the treasures of the temple went forth to meet them. All the craftsmen of ירושלים Yerushalayim used to rise up and greet them. This is the משנת ביכורים Mishnas Bikkurim. You made a גאנץ gantz parade, an entire entourage, bedecked, decorated. You bring him ביכורים bikkurim, you have to hire a party planner. They probably made cookies with your logo. It was a whole whole whole thing. It was a magnificent celebration, writes Rabbi Sacks. Its most significant aspect was the declaration, the מקרא mikra we've just been talking about, each individual made: My ancestor was a wandering Aramean. Here for the first time, the retelling of the nation's past became an obligation for every citizen of the nation. The passage known as וידוי ביכורים Vidui Bikkurim, the confession made over the first fruit was simple and elemental. It is the entire history of the nation in summary form. Most importantly, it's written in the first person. It's a brilliant insight of Rabbi Sacks. My ancestor, my ancestor, the Lord brought us out of Egypt. History is transformed into memory. And in the Rabbi Sacks הגדה Haggadah he points out, he says, what's the difference between history and memory? History is his story. Memory begins with me. History that you study or that you tell over, history is his story. It's someone else's story. It's in a book. It's academic. But when you take history and it becomes memory, it's me. It's mine. So here, every citizen of the nation didn't tell history, they shared memory. My ancestor took us out of Egypt. This is not a detached tale of some disembodied past, it is the story of where I came from, who I am, which led the sages of the משנה Mishnah to say in every generation every person person should see himself as if he came out of Egypt. It is impossible to overestimate the impact this had on the Jewish people from then to now. Identity is not just a matter of who my parents were. It's a matter of what they remembered and handed on to me. Identity is shaped by memory. Telling the story regularly as a religious duty sustained Jewish identity across the centuries, even in the absence of all the normal accompaniments of nationhood, land, geographical proximity, independence, self determination. When we missed everything else that defined a nation, what did we keep? Memory. So the little children growing up in a little שטעטל shtetl called בוקה Boka because of פסח Pesach, because of יום טוב Yom Tov, because of שבת Shabbos, because of חומש Chumash and פרשה parsha, they have memory. This is their story. It's their memory. To know who we are is in large part to understand which story or stories we are a part. That is what makes Jewish identity so rich and resonant. In an age in which computer memories have grown while human memories have become foreshortened, this remains an important message not just to Jews but also to humanity. Stop anyone and ask them their own phone number, they don't remember, because why would they need to? Now they tell their phone, call ma, everyone's things are going to start doing things if I say this out loud. Call Mom, call wife, call, right? You you now so you don't have to remember anything. The more memory our devices have, the less memory we have. There was an article in The Atlantic many years ago called, Is Technology Making Us Stupid? And the answer was yes. We no longer have a sense of directions because we put the coordinates in Waze and stop paying attention. We no longer can remember anything because technology does it for us. So Rabbi Sacks is pointing out, as technology has greater memory, terabyte, I don't even know what the next, it has, it's going to soon have unlimited memory. As its memory gets greater, ours gets more diminished is smaller. But we can't lose our memory because our memory is part of identity. Our memory is what makes us us. Maybe you can delegate history to computers, looking it up when you need it, but you cannot delegate memory. Memory is inherently and inescapably purpose personal. It is what makes us who we are. If you seek to sustain identity, you have to renew memory regularly, teach it to the next generation. Those who tell the story of their past have already begun to build their children's future. Beautiful, beautiful insight. Okay. Then he gets into first fruit, but we're going to keep on moving. פרק כז פסוק ג Perek Chaf Zayin pasuk gimmel. Okay, moving right along. So we have the rest of מקרא ביכורים Mikra Bikkurim and the rest of the confession of the tithes, we've studied in the past. I'm not going to answer it now. It's a very funny confession. What's this confession? The farmer says, לא עברתי ממצוותיך lo avarti m'mitzvotecha I didn't violate anything. לא שכחתי lo shachachti, I didn't leave anything out. לא אכלתי באוני ממנו לא בערתי ממנו בטמא lo achalti b'oni mimenu lo biarti mimenu b'tamei. שמעתי בקול ה' אלקי Shamati b'kol Hashem Elokai. עשיתי ככל אשר ציויתני asisi k'chol asher tzivisani. I heard everything God said, I did everything according to God's will. It's like my coming home today and saying, יוכבד Yocheved, I have to make a confession. Sit down. I need to confess. She starts to worry. Oh boy, what's this confession? What did you do? What did you do now? I said, no, listen to my confession. My confession is, I have to confess, I'm perfect. I have to confess, I did everything right. I heard what you said, I got it done, I've done everything right. I confess. And yet this is called וידוי מעשר vidui maaser, the confession. What kind of confession is this? We've discussed it in the past, we don't have time now. פרק כז Perek Chaf Zayin. God and the Jewish people are inseparable. We have a new ברית bris, a new covenant, a new commitment. Chapter 27, page 1072. God, ויצו משה וזקני ישראל את העם vayitzav Moshe v'ziknei Yisrael es ha'am. Moshe and the elders commanded the people, שמר shmor, observe this מצוה mitzvah that I'm commanding you today. והיה ביום אשר תעברון v'haya b'yom asher ta'avrun. On the day you cross the Jordan and you enter the land, I want you to put up two big stones, אבנים גדולות avanim gedolos, ושדת אותם בשיד v'sadta osam basid. An enormous monument as you enter the land. It's a beautiful image. On the Jordan River, before you enter the land, before you go in, you're going to encounter, I want you to place huge stones and layer them with, with cement. וכתבת עליהן v'chasavta aleihen so that you can inscribe and write on them כל דברי התורה הזאת kol divrei haTorah hazos. I want you to inscribe the Torah on them. We've studied this too in the past and we've seen some commentators liken it to, just like a doorway has a מזוזה mezuzah before you enter a room or a home, the land has an enormous מזוזה mezuzah. One of my favorite parts of landing in Israel, when you go down that ramp, sadly and tragically still has pictures of too many hostages. But before you get to customs, there's this huge מזוזה mezuzah. It's like my height, on the wall. It's a huge מזוזה mezuzah. And it's like screaming, you're in the Jewish land. Welcome home. You're entering Israel, before you go to customs and stamp your passport, walk by and kiss, touch this מזוזה mezuzah, this is a place that's informed by what's in this מזוזה mezuzah. So the commentators here explain that these huge stones were like the מזוזה mezuzah of the land. Anyone who would visit, any Jew who came home, you'd walk by and you'd see this billboard that captured. [Error processing chunk 9] ויש לנו להתעורר מכאן v'yesh lanu l'hisorer mikan, says Rav Sternbach based on this insight, we should be inspired to realize the power of the right thing that we do. One good decision, one right decision, one merit, we can impact the many, the many. I spoke yesterday to the middle school at one of our local schools and I told them, yesterday on such a difficult day for כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael, we lost 10 holy, precious, innocent souls yesterday. In one day, the six in Ramot, and four soldiers in Gaza. And to be a Jew is to feel the pain, is to feel united. We're learning in siddur snippets the last ברכה bracha of the Amidah, שים שלום sim shalom, ברכנו אבינו barcheinu avinu, bless us our Father, כולנו כאחד kulanu k'echad. When does God bless us as a father? When we're united as a whole. And what does it mean to be united is to feel the pain of another. So you'll say what difference does it make? I'm here in Boca. The answer is, how we act in Boca protects our brothers and sisters in ירושלים Yerushalayim. How they act in ירושלים Yerushalayim protects us here in Boca. A Jew who has an opportunity to do the right thing, to make a difference, in the merit, we can impact and bring blessing to the entire Jewish people. But the opposite, if we make a mistake, השם Hashem only holds us accountable. He would never punish the many. And you see that from the change in the tense, points out Rav Sternbach. פרק כח פסוק ו Perek kaf ches pasuk vav. Now we get to the תוכחה tochacha. The bulk of פרשת כי תבוא Parshas Ki Savo is the harsh rebuke that God, Moshe threatens now for the second time. We saw it in פרשת בחוקותי Parshas Bechukosai, and now כי תבוא Ki Savo, twice this speech is repeated. If we're disobedient, if we're not observant, if we're not compliant, then there are consequences. These aren't just feel good, they're not suggestions from God. This is the way of life we're meant to live, and השם Hashem has something to say if we don't. So says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum. I'll do another תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel. First, in the blessings, before he gets to the curses, he has the blessings. פרק כח פסוק ו Perek kaf ches pasuk vav. Chapter 28, verse 6. ברוך אתה Baruch ata, in the list of blessings, do the right thing ובאו עליך כל הברכות האלה u'vau alecha kol habrachos ha'eileh. If you do the right thing, blessing is going to pursue you. Your life will be filled with blessing והשיגוך v'hisigucha and you're gonna have השגה hasaga. You're going to see it, feel it, acquire it. Blessed when you come in, ברוך אתה בבואך baruch ata b'voecha, ברוך אתה בצאתך baruch ata b'tzeitzecha. You'll be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. What does that mean to be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out? Says רש״י Rashi that שתהא יציאתך מן העולם בלא חטא כביאתך לעולם she'tehei yetziascha min ha'olam b'lo chet k'viascha la'olam. You'll leave this world as innocent and pure and sin-free as the way that you came into this world. Says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, I get why it's a blessing to have lived a life that's sin-free, that you leave the world innocent and pure and sin-free. But what's the blessing of בבואך b'voecha? Of course you came into the world sin-free. We all start from neutral. We all start a blank slate. So what's the blessing of ברוך אתה בבואך baruch ata b'voecha in that way? Says Rav Berenbaum, there are two ways to be free of sin. You could either be tempted by it but each time try to overcome it, or transform yourself into such a person that you don't even have any desire or drive for it. Meaning, you could have some really juicy, good לשון הרע lashon hara gossip about someone else. You so badly want to share it. You so badly want to tell it over. Such good gossip. And you don't. You hold back. You really want to and they deserve it, but you don't because you're worried lightning is gonna strike, whatever reason you don't. Or, you could be the kind of person that loves every Jew, you can't, you're incapable of saying something bad about them. You're incapable of gossiping about them because you love every Jew. So says Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, the blessing is that the reason you're not telling לשון הרע lashon hara, ברוך אתה בבואך, ברוך אתה בצאתך baruch ata b'voecha, baruch ata b'tzeitzecha. The same way when you were born you had no animus towards any Jew, you couldn't gossip about them, let your being gossip-free be because of the way you came into the world, that your love every Jew, you're not even tempted to say gossip. That's the comparison. Leave this world the way you came into it, the same way. What do we do next? We've not yet learned how to slow down time. I have a lot to say on תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב tachas asher lo avadeta es Hashem Elokecha b'simcha u'v'tuv levav. In the תוכחה tochacha, God says, you know why this is all being visited on you? You know when you're going to be accountable? You know when you need a big פּאַטש potch? When? פרק כח פסוק מז Perek kaf ches, pasuk mem zayin, page 1080, verse 47. תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרוב כל Tachas asher lo avadeta es Hashem Elokecha b'simcha u'v'tuv levav mei'rov kol. Because you did not serve השם Hashem with joy and joy in your heart when everything was abundant. If you choose to walk around miserable and פארביסן farbissen and complaining, complaining and negative and resentful and angry and down and depressed. Not clinical depression, which we have no judgment of. Clinical depression deserves our support, treatment, and so on. Not grieving, somebody who's sustained a terrible loss and is in a state of אבלות aveilus of grief. Talking about the average person on the average day, if you're going to walk around miserable and angry and negative and pessimistic and resentful and bitter, then Hashem says, oh boy, here comes the תוכחה tochacha for you. Because we have to be בשמחה b'simcha. And I have a lot to share on that. Including someone just gifted me this book. Someone maybe from this שיעור shiur. משתה ושמחה תמיד Mishteh v'simcha tamid. Practical guidance from the Lelover Rebbe for living living and serving Hashem with happiness. So I happen to look at it this morning because of this פסוק pasuk and he has a whole chapter on this פסוק pasuk. We're commanded to observe the Torah and Mitzvos in a way of joy and gladness of the heart, as the פסוק pasuk says, serve Hashem with joy and gladness of the heart above all. What does that mean and why? And that's it? The whole תחת tachas? Everything that gets visited upon you is because you didn't have a smile? You didn't choose to be happy? Really? Where does it say you have to be happy? Who says that's a מצוה mitzvah? So that's what I wanted to talk to you about but we won't have time. I'll just tell you one part of it is because my my son's בר מצוה bar mitzvah is in six or seven weeks, everybody's invited, פרשת נח Parshas Noach. I hope you got the שול shul email, everybody's invited. פרשת נח Parshas Noach. So in preparing, not preparing him, preparing with him, the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer, what's the first מצוה mitzvah a בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy should do? On his ביום bo bayom. Three stars come out the night of his birthday, he turns 13. He goes from being a child to a man. What's the first מצוה mitzvah? Goes from volunteering to do מצוות mitzvos to being obligated in them. What's the first מצוה mitzvah he should do? So many say שמע shema. Take the yoke of heaven, express faith in God and the first מצוה mitzvah is אמונה emunah, בטחון bitachon, belief in God. Belief in God. The Navarna Rebbe we met with him in ירושלים Yerushalayim this summer and he told my son that you know when you host guests, הכנסת אורחים hachnasas orchim, when you have a guest in your home they walk in the door, what's the first thing you say to them? Can I get you something to eat or drink? הכנסת אורחים Hachnasas orchim. So when the נשמה neshamah, when you, when your body now welcomes and is gonna host this new soul, this new גדול gadol, this new soul called an adult, the first thing you should offer is something to eat. And what does the soul eat? תורה Torah. So he said, when the clock turns, צאת הכוכבים tzeis hakochavim, three stars, when it's your ביום bo bayom, when you become an adult, let the new soul enter you, welcome the guest, feed him תורה Torah. Let him find you learning תורה Torah. Be learning תורה Torah that night, at that moment, and welcome the guest הכנסת אורחים hachnasas orchim by feeding תורה Torah. But the חתם סופר Chasam Sofer gives a third answer. We could spend all our time on the different answers. The חתם סופר Chasam Sofer says, you know what is the first מצוה mitzvah the בר מצוה bar mitzvah boy should do that night? By the same notion, a girl who turns 12, she becomes a גדולה gedolah, obligated in מצוות mitzvos she should do that night of her ביום bo bayom. You know what she should do? Be בשמחה b'simcha. Choose happiness. The first מצוה mitzvah to do as an adult, be happy. Don't worry, be happy. That's the first מצוה mitzvah. Wow. Where does it say it's a מצוה mitzvah? How do you fulfill that מצוה mitzvah? What if you don't feel like doing that מצוה mitzvah? What if you don't feel like you're happy? Happiness is a decision, not an emotion. A lot more to say on it, but we don't have the time. We don't have the time right now. Instead, I want to focus in our last few minutes on another פסוק pasuk. פרק כ\"ח פסוק כ\"ח Perek Chaf Ches Pasuk Chaf Ches. Go back a page, 1078, verse 28. One of the things it says is יככה ה׳ בשגעון ובעורון ובתמהון לבב yakecha Hashem b'shigaon u'v'ivaron u'v'simhon levav. Hashem will strike you with madness, with blindness. Madness we know. People who have gone mad. They've gone crazy. Blindness, sadly we know. But what is the third threat? ובתמהון לבב U'v'simhon levav. Translate the words. You could cheat. What does the חומש Chumash say? Confounding of the heart. Anyone here suffer from confounding of the heart? What is bewilderment? What is bewilderment? What is confounding of the heart? What is it? What is it? So the אלתר of קלם Alter of Kelm points us to רש״י Rashi. רש״י Rashi says באוטם הלב b'otem halev. What's אוטם הלב otem halev? The sealing, the closing of the heart. What does that mean? So the אלתר of קלם Alter of Kelm says the following. And this appears in the final וידוי vidui we say on יום כיפור Yom Kippur. This מוצאי שבת Motzei Shabbos we start סליחות slichos. unavoidable. The season is upon us. Trust me, I'm feeling it in a big way. And the final על חטא Al Cheit that we say is the על חטא Al Cheit בשמחהון לבב b'simhon levav. על חטא שחטאנו לפניך בשמחהון לבב Al cheit shechatanu l'fanecha b'simhon levav. What is this שמחהון לבב simhon levav? It comes from our פרשה parsha, the תוכחה tochaha. I don't even remember doing it. Why am I apologizing for it? What is it, שמחהון לבב simhon levav? Comes from here. יככה השם Yakecha Hashem. Rashi says, אוטם הלב otem halev, the clogging of the heart. Just like cholesterol can clog your arteries and you get heart disease, apathy clogs the spiritual arteries and you get hard-heartedness. And that's a curse. And that's what the Alter of Kelm said. He said the following. שמחהון לבב Simhon levav, I'll read it to you in the English because we're almost out of time. שמחהון לבב Simhon levav is the closing off of the heart as if a deep sleep overwhelms the person. It's similar to when a person is put to sleep with anesthesia for purposes of an operation on one of the limbs. While he is submerged in a deep sleep, he feels nothing when they cut his flesh. So too when a person's heart has been struck with the clogging of the heart, he is stuck in a deep sleep and doesn't wake up even if his life is in danger. What is שמחהון לבב simhon levav? It's living a mindless life, coasting through life, letting momentum carry you through life. It is living a life in which you're not paying attention. You're not present, you're not conscious, you're not conscientious. You're just coasting through life. You're not mindful, and you're not present. שמחהון לבב Simhon levav, the clogging of the heart. You're not feeling, you're not awake, you're not alive. You're not present, you're not engaged, you're not experiencing, you're not moved, you're not listening, you're not being influenced, as we spoke about this past שבת Shabbos, איננו שומע einenu shomea, being open to influence. You see that in the end of our פרשה parsha. Our פרשה parsha ends, ושמרתם את דברי הברית הזאת ועשיתם אותם ushmartem es divrei habris hazos v'asisem osam. Fulfill all of it. And here the Torah gives us the reason for all of תורה ומצוות Torah and mitzvos. You ready? למען Lema'an. Keep everything, do everything. Why? What's the whole purpose of תורה ומצוות Torah and mitzvos? Why does God care which shoe I put on, how I tie my shoelaces, what blessing I say on different foods, which jelly bean I take on שבת Shabbos, the good from the bad, the one I want from the one I don't, all these, whether I wear wool and linen. Why does God care? What is the point and purpose of it all? Says the Torah, למען תשכילו את כל אשר תעשון lema'an taskilu es kol asher ta'asun. So that you will succeed in all that you're doing. Okay. How does that lead to success? למען תשכילו Lemaan taskilu. Says Onkelos, למען תצליחו lemaan tatzlichu. למען תצליחו Lemaan tatzlichu. So you have success. So if I put my shoes on in the right order, my stock portfolio goes up? If I take the jelly beans the right way, if I sneak cholent on Friday night, observing all the laws of how to take cholent and still put it back, if I keep שבת Shabbos and כשר kosher and שעטנז shaatnez and blessings, I have a good, I have success? What does that mean? So the תרגום ירושלמי Targum Yerushalmi translates the word תשכילו taskilu differently. Listen to how the תרגום ירושלמי Targum Yerushalmi translates it. דתזבונון יאס כל מדמס עברון d'tizbonun yas kol m'demas avrun. You guard the words of the Torah, why? So that תתבונן tizbonun התבוננות hisbonenus, so that you're contemplative in all that you do. If you keep the laws of כשר kosher, you're going to be mindful with everything you put in your mouth. If you keep the laws of gossip and speaking, you'll be mindful of everything that comes out of your mouth. If you keep the laws of business ethics, you'll be mindful of how you conduct yourself with integrity and honesty and all the business that you do. If you are ensured to pray שחרית Shacharis before the last time, מנחה Mincha in the right time, everything in the right time, you're going to have a time awareness. You're going to be mindful of time. All the laws, the laws of family purity are going to be make you mindful of relationships with your spouse. The laws of נגיעה negiah make you mindful of touch. The laws of מעשר maaser make you mindful of income and financial blessing. The entire תורה ומצוות Torah and mitzvos, the framework and the gift of a Jewish observant life is all about how to live a mindful, present, contemplative life. And that is what it means to be alive. Many or most are sleepwalking, they're asleep even while they're ostensibly awake. They're sleepwalking through life. Sleepwalking through life. How many times do you drive and you follow whatever Waze or Google Maps tells you that you don't even remember once stepping on the gas or brake. You don't remember once taking a turn. All you do is pull up and say, \"How did I get here?\" Now, that's a very good thing in some ways. It's an efficiency that we now are able to do, you talked on the phone, you listened to a שיעור shiur, you spent time with someone in the car and you didn't have to designate effort to where you were. Maybe that's a blessing. But if all of your life is led so mindlessly, your whole life is you get to the end of the day and you have no idea how you got there. there, the end of the week, the end of the year, the end of your life and you don't remember how you got there, what kind of life is that? You got to the end of the bag of potato chips and you don't remember how you got there. You finished the plate, you don't remember how you got there. Then that's not a life.So that's what it means. אותם הלב Otem halev, a clogged heart means you're not living a mindful, contemplative, present, conscious life. And the curse is אותם הלב otem halev. And the חטא chet, השם Hashem, I'm so sorry I was mindless. I was asleep even while I was awake. I was a creature and a victim of just momentum carrying me. על חטא Al chet, that's a חטא chet, and we did do it. Moments of mindlessness. And instead, we promise and pledge to be mindful, to be present, to be thinking about everything in our mouth, everything out of our mouth. Time, intimacy, touch, finances, this whole world, to live this world. One of the many books, one of my many books that you've not yet read because it's not yet written. But one of my many books that's been, it's already printed, it's a best seller in my head, because it's so popular today, the notion of mindfulness, it was all taken, it comes from Torah. And I wanted to write a book about mindfulness. The first chapter is defining and what it is, modern mindfulness, the science of mindfulness, but every chapter would then be how the Torah is a prescription and formula for a mindful life. So a chapter on eating, laws of כשרות kashrus, laws of blessings, the laws of all of, all of the laws surrounding eating are making you mindful about eating. And as I was just telling you, about time, about touch, about resources, each of the laws that govern each of these things. Does God really care about which shoe you put on first? Yes. There is a notion to the right and the left, חסד chesed and גבורה gevurah, there are mystical and beautiful ideas. But more than that, he wants you to be awake from the moment you're putting on your shoes. And if you don't remember and you're not paying attention to which one you put on first, then you're asleep even while you're awake. So even which shoe you put on first, the right then the left, and you tie the left then the right, by the way is the proper way to do it. If you're not paying attention to how you put on your shoes, then you're not awake. So even something seemingly petty and insignificant like the order you put on your shoes is part of the prescription for a mindful life. And that's what all Torah is, a platform for a mindful life. Not because mindfulness is the ends, but mindfulness is the means to a purposeful life. And that's what mindfulness is. There's lot more to say about it and much else. Remind me next year to talk about שמחה simcha, and joy and תחת tachas. תחת Tachas, why it would be just because of this, how could it be, maybe we'll get into it tomorrow at the אמונה שיעור emunah shiur. Since I didn't sneak it in here, I got to get it out. So maybe tomorrow at the אמונה שיעור emunah shiur. I hope by the end of the שיעור shiur, it began with they're taking out some of חמאס Chamas in דוחה Doha. I hope we gave the IDF an hour, an hour. I hope by the end of the שיעור shiur we'll now learn they took out the rest of the leadership. May the hostages come home, our soldiers be safe. May we have only בשורות טובות ישועות ונחמות besoros tovos yeshuos v'nechamos. Please remain to say תהילים Tehillim, if we divide all of תהילים Tehillim, it'll take just a few minutes to say all of תהילים Tehillim in that great merit.
