Transcript
Good morning, good morning and גמר חתימה טובה Gmar Chatima Tova, wishing everyone a sweet, happy, healthy year filled with נחת nachas, ברכה bracha, שמחה simcha, and בשורות טובות besoros tovos. מירצה השם Mirtzeh Hashem, hopefully, hopefully, our תפילותינו tefiloseinu will be answered for good news and the hostages home and our soldiers safe. Our פרשה parsha series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katzen family in memory of David Grossman, לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש leilui nishmas Dovid ben Menachem Manish. Very grateful to their continued generosity and this morning's שיעור shiur also sponsored in memory of my wonderful aunt, my aunt Malki Lazar, אסתר מלכה בת ינטה רחל Esther Malka bas Yenta Rachel, whose יארצייט yahrzeit is ערב יום כיפור erev Yom Kippur. Very special woman, a big influence on all of our lives, our family, and her נשמה neshama should have an עלייה aliyah.Okay, פרשת האזינו Parshas Ha'azinu. I know it's already אט אט ot ot ערב יום כיפור erev Yom Kippur. We're having an אמונה שיעור emunah shiur tomorrow morning, ממש mamash on ערב יום כיפור erev Yom Kippur. תניה שיעור Tanya shiur, אמונה שיעור emunah shiur. What else is there to do on ערב יום כיפור erev Yom Kippur than learn תורה Torah and collect as many זכויות zechuyos and merits as we can? So if you have a better thing to do, I don't know what it is. You can't claim you're cooking for יום כיפור Yom Kippur, so you might as well come and learn תורה Torah. So glad that you're here this morning learning with us. פרשת האזינו Parshas Ha'azinu, which shouldn't be a neglected פרשה parsha. נבעך פרשת האזינו Nebach Parshas Ha'azinu shouldn't be an orphan פרשה parsha, neglected פרשה parsha, because it's between יום כיפור Yom Kippur and סוכות Sukkos. So האזינו Ha'azinu is on page 1,100 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash, פרק ל\"ב perek lamed beis, chapter 32, פסוק א pasuk aleph. And we begin from the beginning. האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי Ha'azinu hashamayim va'adabera v'tishma ha'aretz imrei fi. Before we even get into the פרשה parsha itself, I want to begin with Rabbi Sacks's introduction. I believe the חומש Chumash that I got the pre-published edition, I think is out now. Anyone buy it? Is it available? Fantastic. It is wonderful as you've seen and I'm honored and proud and grateful to be able to promote it. So Rabbi Sacks says in the introduction to פרשת האזינו Parshas Ha'azinu, you'll notice the layout of האזינו Ha'azinu is different than the rest of תורה Torah. The rest of תורה Torah is written in columns, and this is written separately. It's written as a poem. Not a complete column, but a broken column, two columns side by side. And it's called a song, שירת האזינו Shiras Ha'azinu. The song of האזינו Ha'azinu, which itself is a question. It has many peculiar aspects, negative themes that wouldn't necessarily characterize it, we wouldn't necessarily qualify it as a song, and yet that is how our rabbis saw it. So Rabbi Sacks writes in his introduction the following: For a month, Moshe has taught the people. He's told them their history and destiny and the laws that will make theirs a unique society of people bound in covenant with one another and with God. He has renewed the covenant and then handed the leadership on to his successor and disciple, Yehoshua. His final act will be blessing the people tribe by tribe. But before doing that, there's one more thing that he must do. He must sum up his prophetic message in a way that people will always remember and be inspired by. He knows that the best way of doing so is in music. So the last thing Moshe does before giving the people his deathbed blessing is to teach them a song. Now the image is very powerful. Moshe is the last day of his life, and most people don't know when or which will be the last day of their life. Moshe for good or bad does. And he doesn't use the last day of his life for the last meal, what does he want to eat, what's going to be the last food. He doesn't use it to go tour, where does he want to go, where did he always want to see. He doesn't use it to retreat to his last round of golf or last game of poker, last game of bridge, last bottle of wine. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu, of course, משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu instead uses it to be a blessing, to offer a blessing, to give a ברכה bracha, tribe by tribe. His enduring legacy, the way he wants to go out, is the way he lived his life, which is to be a source of influence, of inspiration, a resource for everyone else, to give a blessing. But he does so, Rabbi Sacks points out, before he leaves this world with a ברכה bracha, he first teaches a song. Jewish history is not so much read as sung. Every day in Judaism, we preface our morning prayers with פסוקי דזמרה Psukei D'zimra. The first section of our דאווענען davening, ברכות השחר Birkos Hashachar, technically are said at home. We begin דאווענען davening at שול shul with ברכות השחר Birkos Hashachar. Some of you are looking at me funny because you're not necessarily there that early. There's something in שול shul we begin every day called ברכות השחר Birkos Hashachar. But it could be said at home. The technical beginning of דאווענען davening at שול shul is פסוקי דזמרה Psukei D'zimra, the verses of song, with their magnificent crescendo, which is to תהילים ק\"נ Tehillim kuf nun, in which instruments and the human voice combine to sing God's praises. Mystics go further and speak of the song of the universe, what Pythagoras called the music of the spheres. This is what תהילים י\"ט Tehillim yud tes means when it says השמים מספרים כבוד קל Ha'shamayim misaprim kvod Keil. The heavens tell the glory of God. There's no speech, there are no words, their voice is not heard, yet their music carries across the land, their words to the end of the earth. Beneath the silence, audible only to the inner ear, creation sings. creator. If we were able to actually disconnect and turn down the noise, always having AirPods in our ears, always being connected, scrolling, typing to some device, always in conversation, music, a podcast, news. But if you could turn down the noise, you'll hear the universe is singing the song of its creator.Who hears this song? So, the prophet, the כהן kohen thinks in terms of universal rules that are eternally valid. The נביא navi is attuned to the particularities of a given situation, and the relationship between those involved. The prophet has emotional intelligence. He or she hears the silent cry of the oppressed, the incipient anger of heaven. The vehicle of biblical prophecy is not prose, but poetry, language that engages the senses and the unconscious memory through its music. This is what Rabbi Soloveitchik described as the Torah of his mother. From his mother, he said, this was Rabbi Soloveitchik describing his mother, \"I learned that Judaism expresses itself not only in formal compliance with the law, but in a living experience. She taught me there is flavor, a scent, a warmth to מצוות mitzvos. I learned from her the most important thing in life: to feel the presence of the Almighty in the gentle pressure of his hand resting upon my frail shoulders. Without her teachings, which quite often were transmitted to me in silence, I would have grown up a soulless being, dry and insensitive.\" This was Rabbi Soloveitchik in the tribute to the רבנית Rebbetzin of Tolna, his מחותנת mechutenesta. He spoke about his mother. And though the majority of Rabbi Soloveitchik's Torah learning, he was autodidact, he didn't go to ישיבה yeshiva. His father pulled him out early from his חב\"ד מלמד Chabad melamed, who was teaching him a lot of תניא Tanya, but not a lot of משנה Mishna and גמרא Gemara. So his father pulled him out and taught him at home. And though his father taught him the majority of his education, formal education came from his father, he describes that without her, without his mother, he would have grown up a soulless being, dry and insensitive.At the very end of his life, the greatest of all the prophets turned to the emotional intelligence, to the spirituality of song, knowing that unless he does so, his teachings might enter the minds of Jewish people but not their hearts, their passions, their emotional DNA. It is feeling that move us to act, gives us the energy to aspire, and fuel our ability to hand on our commitments to those who come after.So, as Robert Frost said, concludes Rabbi Sacks, \"Poetry is what is lost in translation, and faith is poetry, not prose.\" So האזינו Haazinu is a song. It's שירה shira. Faith is a song. It's poetry, not prose. This is a song. And משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu says before I leave this world, \"I want, I need to teach you a song.\" And that song is שירת האזינו Shiras Haazinu. And we've just read this this past שבת Shabbos as well, because the last מצוה mitzvah in the Torah, the 613th מצוה mitzvah in the Torah, is the מצוה mitzvah of ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת v'ata kisvu lachem es hashira hazos. \"And now write this song.\" The מצוה mitzvah to either write or commission the writing of a ספר תורה sefer Torah is formulated as \"write a song,\" השירה hashira.Why is Torah called a song? So all the reasons Rabbi Sacks just described of what it does to us emotionally, how it moves us, it transports us, it connects us, it opens us up. But Rabbi Soloveitchik also describes it. He said if two people are speaking at once, you have static, you can't hear. They're conflicting. But if two people are singing, you have harmony. If two people are singing, it's beautiful music. Torah is not when there are two voices that you have conflict or static. The Torah is as such that when you have two perspectives and two opinions, two interpretations, two voices of Torah, it's a beautiful symphony. It's beautiful harmony. That's what Torah does, that's how Torah works. And therefore it's כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת kisvu lachem es hashira hazos. The מצוה mitzvah is formulated as writing a song. Torah is called a song. שירת האזינו Shiras Haazinu is a song. משה רבינו Moshe Rabbeinu before he leaves this world wants to teach us a song.So he begins this song, האזינו השמים ואדברה ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי Haazinu hashamayim va'adabera v'sishma ha'aretz imrei fi. Give ear, oh heavens, and I will speak, and may the earth hear the words of my mouth. And we go back to Rav Druk, unfinished Rav Druk, in his אש תמיד Eish Tamid. He says the following: יש לדעת מה ההבדל בין לשון האזנה שנאמר אצל שמים ובין לשון שמיעה הנאמר אצל הארץ Yesh lada'as ma ha'hevdel bein lashon ha'azana she'ne'emar eitzel shamayim u'vein lashon shmia ha'ne'emar eitzel ha'aretz. It's very poetic, it's very beautiful. האזינו Haazinu, hear heavens, and I'll speak, and listen, earth, to what comes out of my mouth. But why use two different verbs? האזינו Haazinu ותשמע v'sishma. Two synonymous, two synonyms, two verbs that both describe listening or hearing. Is there a difference between them? One is directed to the heavens, האזינו haazinu, and the other's directed to the ארץ aretz, to the earth, and that's ותשמע v'sishma. Why is there a difference? Is there a difference between them? יש לדקדק Yesh l'dakdeik, what's the difference? נראה לומר כי יש הבדל מהותי בין האזנה לשמיעה Nireh lomar ki yesh hevdel mahusi bein ha'azana l'shmia. Says Rav Druk, there is a fundamental difference. אין אלו רק מילים נרדפות Ein eilu rak milim nirdafos. אלא האזנה פירושו לא רק ששומע את הדברים Ela ha'azanah peirusho lo rak sheshome'a es hadvarim, אלא מקבל אותם עד כדי כך שמתרגם אותם למעשה ela mekabel osam ad kedei kach shem'targem osam l'maaseh.שמיעה Shmia is an external hearing. שמיעה Shmia is, aha, aha. You know the person who's doing something while you're talking to them? Uhuh, yeah, uhuh. It's sort of penetrating. Yeah? And then you say, you're not listening to me. I am listening to you. You went to the mall, you found the sale, and you can't believe you ran into. Okay, you could repeat back exactly what I said, but you weren't listening to me. You weren't hearing me. האזנה Ha'azanah, האזינו ha'azinu, is a listening that actually becomes action, is transformed into action. שגם כן מיישם מה שהוא שומע כי הדברים נכנסו באוזניו וחדרו אל תוך תוכו Shegam ken meyashem ma shehu shome'a ki hadvarim nichnesu b'oznav v'chadru el toch tocho. They enter through the ear and it penetrates into the person so that they're moved. מה שאין כן שמיעה Ma she'ein kein shmia. שמיעה Shmia is, it just stays at the surface. It's superficial. אכן שמע את הדברים והבינם Achein shama es hadvarim v'hevinam, אולם אין הכרח כי אכן ינהג בפועל על פי מה ששמע ulam ein hechrech ki achein yinhag b'fo'al al pi ma sheshama. Sometimes you hear something superficially, and sometimes you listen to something so closely, you listen in such a way that it transforms, changes you, your action, your behavior, your life, your lifestyle. מעתה יש לומר ביאור הפסוק Me'ata yesh lomar biur hapasuk, האזינו השמים והשמים אלו הם אנשים שגדולים במעלתם עד שמעשיהם שמימיים מרום מעלה Ha'azinu hashamayim v'hashamayim eilu hem anashim sheg'dolim b'maalasam ad shema'aseihem shmeimi'im m'rom ma'alah. אצלם נופל לשון האזנה Etzlam nofel lashon ha'azanah, כי הם מיישמים את הדברים שהם שומעים ki heim meyasemim es hadvarim sheheim shom'im. So the higher level listening האזינו ha'azinu is used for שמים shamayim. שמים Shamayim are the righteous. שמים Shamayim are the disciplined. שמים Shamayim are the people who live highly regulated lives, they're sovereign over themselves. שמים Shamayim are the people we look up to. So why do we look up to them? What makes them exceptional? What elevates them is their capacity for האזינו ha'azinu. They don't just listen, but they listen. They listen in a way that moves them. They listen in a way that changes them. ותשמע הארץ V'sishma ha'aretz, אלו הם אנשים הפשוטים eilu hem ha'anashim hapshutim, הארציים ששומעים את הדברים אבל לא תמיד מקיימים, מתרגמים למעשה את מה ששמעו אוזניהם ha'artzi'im sheshom'im es hadvarim aval lo tamid mekaymim, m'targemim l'ma'aseh es ma shesham'u ozneihem. So ותשמע הארץ v'sishma ha'aretz, the ארץ aretz, ארץ aretz ארציות artzius is the land, the lowly, the physical. So the lowly people, they sort of listen, half an ear. They're listening while doing something else. They're listening, but it applies to their neighbor, doesn't change them. So they are תשמע sishma. מכל מקום אומר הכתוב Mikol makom omer hakasuv, אף אנשים אלו צריכים לשמוע af anashim eilu tzrichim lishmoa, אך כפשוטם אבל עצם שמיעת הדברים נחשבת ומרובה יש בה ach kipshutam aval etzem shmias hadvarim nechsheves u'merubeh yesh bah. It's good that they're listening, but it's a low-level listening. So that's how Rav Drucker, number one, distinguishes between the two levels of listening, האזינו ha'azinu and תשמע tishma. It depends, are you a person of שמים shamayim or are you a person of הארץ ha'aretz, הארץ ha'aretz. The אור החיים הקדוש Or Hachaim Hakadosh, we've quoted this before. אור החיים הקדוש Or Hachaim Hakadosh understands it a little bit differently. האזינו השמים Ha'azinu hashamayim. השמים Hashamayim represents the spirituality in us, the soul in us, the שמים shamayim, the heaven in us. האזינו Ha'azinu, pay attention, the best part of you, the spiritually attuned part of you. The antenna, listen up, pick up the signal, and then ותשמע הארץ v'sishma ha'aretz. If you are nourishing your soul, then your body will follow. But if you're neglecting your soul, you're not speaking to your soul, your soul is not listening, it's not attuned, your soul is not picking up the frequency, then your whole body and your whole being won't hear and won't follow either. Rav Drucker has a second interpretation. He quotes the ספרי Sifri. גדולה שירה זו שיש בה עכשיו ויש בה לשעבר ויש בה לעתיד לבוא ויש בה בעולם הזה ויש בה לעולם הבא Gdolah shirah zu sheyesh bah achshav v'yesh bah l'she'avar, v'yesh bah l'asid lavo, v'yesh bah ba'olam hazeh, v'yesh bah l'olam haba. You know, says the ספרי Sifri, what makes this great? You know what it makes it, why is it called the שירה shirah? What is such a song about this פסוק pasuk, about this פרשה parsha? Says the ספרי Sifri, you know what makes it great? Because this song references three different dimensions: past, present, and future, this world, and the world to come. Says Rav Drucker, מבואר שהכל נכלל בשירה זו mevo'ar shehakol nichlal b'shirah zu. כל עבר הווה עתיד, עולם הזה לעתיד לבוא עולם הבא Kol avar, hoveh, asid, olam hazeh, l'asid lavo, olam haba. ואף הלימוד והשכחה וכל מצוות כתיבת התורה רק משום כתיבת שירה זו V'af halimud v'hashichcha v'chol mitzvas ksivas haTorah rak mishum ksivas shirah zu. Some say the whole מצוה mitzvah of ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת v'atah kisvu lachem es hashirah hazos, the מצוה mitzvah I referenced of last week's פרשה parsha, מצוה mitzvah number 613, to write the song, is really to write האזינו Ha'azinu. The whole reason there's a מצוה mitzvah to write the whole Torah is to write האזינו Ha'azinu. And why is it important to write האזינו Ha'azinu? Because a איד Yid, a Jew has to remember the past, the present, and the future. Without the past, there is no present. And without the future, there's no present. And the present is all to build and lead and keep an eye towards our responsibility for the future. A Jew lives in all three dimensions at once, simultaneously. We're not stuck or lost in the past, and we're not worried and waiting for the future. Of course we fully embrace and live in the present, but we do so, it is a present that draws from the past, and a present that anticipates a future. And that's what makes this says the ספרי Sifri, גדולה שירה זו gedolah shirah zu. It makes a מצוה mitzvah for all of us to write and pay attention and listen and learn, and that's why we have the פרשה parsha class. It's not terribly convenient. There's a lot going on, a lot of preparation for יום כיפור Yom Kippur. But האזינו Haazinu this song, it deserves to be front and center, not neglected because this is all about our past, our present, and our future. יסוד הדברים נראה לומר Yesod hadvarim nireh lomar כי שורש כל מהותה של שירה כולו לומר לנו דבר אחד ki shoresh kol mahusa shel shirah kulo lomar lanu davar echad. הקדוש ברוך הוא מדבר אלינו בכל מקום ובכל פינה Hakadosh Baruch Hu medaber eleinu b'chol makom u'v'chol pinah. What this song is singing to us is, don't think when was Judaism and Torah relevant? That's in the past. Oh, that's part of the past. But the present, it's not relevant. It's relevant. It speaks to us. It's contemporary. It's meaningful today. You don't think it's relevant and meaningful today? There are so many parts of yesterday's press conference. But how about when the president insisted on calling it the אברהם Avraham Accords. He got close and then Bibi took him all the way there. The Ibrahim Accords and the אברהם Avraham Accords. How about the prime minister who ends with גמר חתימה טובה gmar chatimah tovah.It's amazing. The Torah was relevant not only then, it is today. It's what molds us and defines us. It's who we are. It's what our lives are about. And we only have a future when we're committed to live it and take it with us into tomorrow, into tomorrow. Saw an article this morning, my brother-in-law's father is a federal judge in New York. Apparently, נבך nebach just sentenced some woman in a high profile case to several years in prison. But the article opens, it was on abcnews.com, and apparently he began his sentence by saying that the Bible records the obligation of honest weights and measures and your weights and measures were not honest. They were not calibrated. And therefore, even though you're a good person who made a mistake, I have no choice but to sentence you. And if you know him, it's not surprising, but you got to love the Bible he's he's offering his sentence by invoking the Bible. The Torah says, Torah is not about yesterday. Honest weights and measures aren't about the past. That's the driver of justice today. The driver of justice today, what calibrates our just, our compass of justice today is still our sacred Torah. So says Rav Druk, the ספרי Sifri is calling גדולה שירה זו gedolah shirah zu, this song is so great because it has elements of past, present, and future. And we need to know that it's relevant, and not only relevant, it informs, it inspires, it binds us no matter where or when. הוא פונה אלינו ומדבר אלינו ומסביר לנו בכל עת ובכל זמן Hu poneh eileinu u'medaber eileinu u'masbir lanu b'chol eis u'v'chol zman. כל הבריאה כולה משמשת ככלי שרת של הקדוש ברוך הוא Kol habriah kulah meshemeshet k'kli shareis shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu, בבריאה ועל ידו מדברים בריותיו b'briah v'al yado medabrim briyosav. The Torah is Hashem's mouthpiece. Through it he's talking to us wherever we live. I don't care where you are in the world. It wasn't only relevant when we were in ירושלים Yerushalayim with the בית המקדש Beis Hamikdash, even נבך nebach in diaspora, scattered around the world, the Torah remains as relevant, more relevant than ever. Maybe arguably the only way in fact to survive and navigate that גלות galus.There was a beautiful סיום siyum this past Sunday night, our amazing עמוד שבועי Amud Shvui program. It's a group of men who get together once a week. The דף יומי Daf Yomi does a whole דף daf every day. They do an עמוד amud once a week. So you'll say, how much ground are you going to cover? This is the sixth סיום siyum that they've made. Six מסכתות masechtos. Some have never opened a גמרא Gemara before. מזל טוב Mazal tov to Colin and all those who were there that night. So I had the privilege to offer some דברי ברכה divrei bracha. And I said on last week's פרשה parsha, we didn't have a פרשה שיעור parsha shiur last week. So on last week's פרשה parsha, we were all otherwise occupied with hearing the שופר shofar. Last Tuesday was ראש השנה Rosh Hashanah. So, last week's פרשה parsha, this מצוה mitzvah, ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת v'atah kisvu lachem es hashirah hazos, comes immediately after a פסוק pasuk. What's the פסוק pasuk right before? ואנכי הסתר אסתיר V'anochi haster astir. הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, I'm going to hide my face. ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני ביום ההוא V'anochi haster astir panai bayom hahu. I'm going to hide my face. There's going to be סילוק שכינה siluk Shechinah. You you won't see me. You're going to suffer the consequence. You're going to feel that there's no divine protection. Oh, now you go write a Torah. החפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim wondered, what in the world is the סמיכות פרשיות smichus parshios? What's the connection between God hiding his face, הסתר פנים hester panim, and go write a ספר תורה Sefer Torah? החפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim says such a beautiful insight. He said, when you go into גלות galus and you're navigating the harshness of גלות galus, know that the only way to illuminate the road, the only way to know the דרך derech, to be בדרך b'derech, is the learning of Torah. Torah's what does it. And he describes, the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim, if you're in the darkness and you need to get out, you could have a sword, a knife, a gun, it's not going to help you cut the darkness. You can't see. You won't get to the other side. You can't shoot or slice or stab your way out of the darkness. The only way to get out of the darkness is to introduce a little light. And a little bit of light dispels a whole lot of darkness. So ואנכי v'anochi הסתר אסתיר haster astir, when I hide my face, ועתה כתבו v'atah kisvu. No, the only way to navigate the darkness of that גלות galus is illuminate the world with Torah. אור זו תורה Or zu Torah, Torah is light. And it is a light that lets us navigate, that lets us navigate the world. So that's the role and the goal of Torah. And that's why it's called the גדולה שירה זו gedola shira zu this great song of האזינו Haazinu, past, present, and future. It travels and it comes with us wherever we are, whenever we live. It informs, it inspires, and it lifts us. זה האזינו השמים ואדברה Ze haazinu hashamayim va'adabera, ותשמע הארץ אמרי פי v'sishma ha'aretz imrei fi. הקדוש ברוך הוא מדבר מתוך השמים Hakadosh Baruch Hu medaber mitoch hashamayim. The Almighty is speaking from the heavens. והארץ כולה אינה אלא אמרי פיו v'ha'aretz kulah einah ela imrei fiv. And the whole earth is his mouthpiece. The whole world is telling his story. The rain, the dew, even the humidity, even the iguanas. We need a little cold spell to neutralize some of these iguanas. It's like the 11th plague. המטר והטל, הדשא והעשב, כולם אינם אלא קריאת השם אלינו hamatar v'hatal, hadesheh v'ha'eisev, kulam einam ela krias Hashem eileinu. The rustle of the leaves, the breeze, everything that's going on in the world. Soon, in other parts of the country and world, the leaves will change color. It's all singing the song of השם Hashem. But we're too busy looking down and scrolling and typing and you don't even notice that there's a magnificent symphony and orchestra and harmony and song being sung the whole world all around us.So that's what you got to pay attention to be able to listen, to be able to hear. האזינו השמים Haazinu hashamayim. השם Hashem is speaking, the heavens are speaking. ותשמע הארץ V'sishma ha'aretz, just listen to the listen to the the earth. It's all being proclaimed from the earth. Okay. Moving right along. פרק ל\"ב פסוק ב Perek Lamed Beis Pasuk Beis.יערף כמטר לקחי, תזל כטל אמרתי, כשעירם עלי דשא וכרביבים עלי עשב Ya'arof kamatar likchi, tizal katal imrasi, kisirim alei desheh, v'chirvivim alei eisev. May my teachings drop like rain, may my utterance flow like the dew, like stormwinds upon vegetation and like raindrops upon blades of grass. Again, beautiful poetry, but what does it mean? What does it say? So here we turn to the תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel. Still making our way through of Shmuel Barenbaum, his magnificent Torah. He quotes רש\"י Rashi. יערף כמטר לקחי Ya'arof kamatar likchi, זוהי העדות שתעידו שאני אומר בפניכם תורה שנתתי לישראל שהיא חיים לעולם, כמטר הזה שהוא חיים לעולם zohi ha'eidus sheta'idu she'ani omer bifneichem Torah shenasati l'Yisrael shehi chaim l'olam, k'matar hazeh shehu chaim l'olam. This is a metaphor, rain, the dew is a metaphor for Torah. The Torah I teach you is eternal and immortal, it lasts forever like rain. Just like the rain is חיים לעולם chaim l'olam. The rain and its impact precipitates growth that lasts forever, so too Torah is forever. And what exactly is this metaphor of rain to Torah? We've spoken about this in the past when we learned the parsha as well. We shared previously some beautiful interpretations, you can go back and find them. But I want to share with you the תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel. לכאורה יש להבין, למה נמשלה תורה לגשמים L'chora yeish l'havin, lama nimshla Torah l'gshamim? Why is Torah likened to rain? והלא יש עוד דברים שהם חיים לעולם V'halo yeish od dvarim shehem chaim l'olam. There are other things that air, the air, there's always air, there's oxygen. Without it, the world wouldn't exist, we couldn't breathe, we wouldn't be here. So why not liken Torah to air? Why is Torah likened to rain? ויש לומר דהיסוד של הגשמים והטל הוא, שאף על פי שאינם יורדים כסדר בכל עת ורגע, אלא מזמן לזמן V'yeish lomar d'hayesod shel hagshamim v'hatal hu, she'af al pi she'einam yordim k'seder b'chol eis v'rega, ela mi'zman l'zman. When it comes to the rain, it doesn't fall on a schedule. Unless you're in Florida in the summer and then every single afternoon, the sky will turn pitch black, the heavens will open, and it will pour, and then it'll turn blue again. But it's not predictable, and it's not a schedule, and it's not consistent. The rain comes and goes, and the rain we don't necessarily know for how long, or where, or when. כדאיתא בראש מסכת תענית, דיש רביעה ראשונה ורביעה שנייה לגשמים k'deisa b'reish Maseches Taanis, d'yeish revi'ah rishona u'revi'ah shniyah l'gshamim. ואף על פי כן כשירד גשם היום, הגשם נבלע בתוך האדמה והצמחים ונותנים כח להצמיח כסדר בהמשך הימים, אפילו אחר שכבר פסקו מלרדת V'af al pi chein k'sheyored geshem hayom, hageshem nivla b'soch ha'adamah v'hatzmachim v'nosnim koach l'hatzmiach k'seder b'hemshech hayamim, afilu achar she'kvar pasku milaredes. You know why Torah is likened to rain? Listen to this beautiful insight. Because even though rain is unpredictable, and you can't control it, you can't make it start, you can't make it stop, and you don't know when it will come, and you don't know when it will leave. But even when it stops raining, the rain is continuing to have his impact. Why? Because the earth, the soil, absorbs the rain that fell, and now by watering the ground, it stimulates, it is a catalyst, it begins a process of growth. ואין זה כמו מי שבונה בנין, שהולך ומתגדל רק בשעת בנינו v'ein zeh k'mo mi she'boneh binyan, she'holeich u'misgadel rak b'shaas binyano. The construction going on outside, if someone's building a building, only while they're building is the expansion taking place. Only when they're doing construction is there construction. אין בנינו נמשך כלל, ברגע שפוסק מלבנות ein binyano nimshach klal, b'rega she'posek milivnos, the moment they stop building, the building ceases, expansion ceases. הנה נשאר בדיוק כמו שהניחה hinei nishar b'diyuk k'mo she'hinicha. becomes stagnant, stationary. When you stop building and expanding, it stays the way it was. But that's not true when it comes to watering, when it comes to rain. Even when the rain stops falling, there's still stuff going on underground. There's the beginning of sprouting, of blossoming, of growth, of adding to greater growth. כמו כן מי שלומד תורה Kmochein mi shelomeid Torah, says Rav Berenbaum, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Brooklyn, similarly someone who learns Torah, תורה נבלעת בתוכו Torah nivlas b'socho. When you learn Torah, the Torah is absorbed in you like the rain or the water in the earth. ולפיכך הוא מתגדל אפילו כשצריך להפסיק מלימודו Uleficach hu misgadel afilu k'shetzarich l'hafsik milimudo. So you'll say, I went to the Chumash shiur, I went to the Daf Yomi, I went to the Living with Emunah, but then I went to work. Then I went to the gym, then I went to the supermarket. So then I wasn't learning anymore. No. Just like even after the rain stops, it's continuing to work underground, even when you left the shiur, the Torah is bubbling up inside you. The Torah is causing that growth inside you. The Torah is moving things. There's, there's, it's stimulating, there's blossoming, there's growth. וממילא כל אכילתו ודיבורו וכל הנהגותיו מתרומם מכח לימוד התורה Umemayla kol achilaso v'diburo v'chol hanhagosav misromem mikoach limud haTorah. Now when you go eat, you're going to eat differently. And when you sleep, you sleep differently, and your conversations are different conversations. וכן אמרו חז\"ל תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם, שהתורה מרוממת את מידותיו ולהכניס בשלום ושלום בין הבריות ובין כל בני אדם V'chein amru Chazal, talmidei chachamim marbim shalom ba'olam, shehaTorah meromemes es midosav u'l'hachnis b'shalom v'shalva bein habriyos uvein kol bnei adam. How are תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום talmidei chachamim marbim shalom, Torah scholars increase peace in the world? Because when you take the principles and values of Torah to the world, to the marketplace, you now bring the lessons and the values of peace and harmony and love. כמו כן אפילו שיחת חולין של תלמיד חכם צריכה לימוד Kmochein afilu sichas chulin shel talmid chacham, tzricha limud. And that's why our Rabbis say even the casual conversation of a Torah scholar deserves to be learned. Because for the Torah scholar, there is no casual conversation. What sounds like casual conversation is also informed and inspired by Torah. עליו לא יאבד, מי שלומד תורה אפילו שיחת חולין Alav lo yibad, mi shelomeid Torah afilu sichas chulin, are תורה'דיק Torah-dik. It's a תורה'דיק Torah-dik conversation. ולפיכך האדם נקרא עץ השדה Uleficach ha'adam nikra eitz hasadeh. And that's why man in פרשת שופטים Parshas Shoftim we read, man is likened to a tree. אדם עץ השדה Adam eitz hasadeh. אדם מתגדל כסדר על ידי לימוד התורה Adam misgadel k'seder al yedei limud haTorah. So man is likened to a tree, we need to be watered, and we need to be protected, and we need some sunlight, and we need oxygen, all the elements that the tree needs to grow, we also need. But like the tree, even when the rain or the watering stops, the growth is still taking place. Sometimes it's just beginning. So that's the comparison, a beautiful from Shmuel Berenbaum. יערוף כמטר לקחי Ya'arof k'matar likchi, the connection and the comparison of Torah to rain is even after the rain stops falling, we continue to grow. We continue to grow. And that's why he goes on in this essay, he describes, he describes further. Okay. But we're gonna go invite them. Rabbi Sacks also has a comment here. Rabbi Sacks, יערוף כמטר לקחי Ya'arof k'matar likchi. We are invited to think of the Torah as being like the rain that waters the ground, so it brings forth produce. The ספרי Sifrei puts it thus. May my teaching pour down like rain, just as the rain is one thing yet it falls on trees enabling each to produce tasty fruit according to the kind of tree it is, the vine in its way, the olive tree in its way, the date palm in its way. So the Torah is one. Yet its words yield תורה Torah, משנה Mishna, הלכה Halacha and אגדתא Aggadata. Like showers upon the grasses, just as showers fall upon plants and make them grow, some green, some red, some black, some white, so too the words of Torah produce teachers, worthy individuals, sages, the righteous and the pious. There is only one Torah, yet it has multiple effects. It gives rise to different kinds of teaching, different sorts of virtue. Torah is sometimes seen by its critics as overly prescriptive, as if it sought to make everyone the same. The מדרש Midrash argues otherwise. The Torah is compared to rain precisely to emphasize that its most important effect is to make each of us grow into what we could become. As the משנה Mishna puts it, when a human being makes many coins from the same mint, they're all the same. God makes everyone in the same image, his image, yet none is the same as another. There is no single role model, the religious hero or heroine in תנ״ך Tanach. The אבות ואמהות Avos v'Imahos each had their own unmistakable character. The kings and the כהנים Kohanim and the prophets had different roles to play. Even among the prophets, no two prophets, no two prophesy in the same style, say חז״ל Chazal, סנהדרין Sanhedrin. אליהו Eliyahu was zealous, אלישע Elisha gentle. הושע Hoshea speaks of love, עמוס Amos speaks of justice. ישעיהו Yishayahu's visions are less opaque than those of יחזקאל Yechezkel. The same applies to the revelation at סיני Sinai. Each individual heard in the same words a different inflection. Judaism in short says, out of the one, many. The miracle of creation is that unity in heaven produces diversity on earth. Torah is the rain that feeds this diversity, allowing each of us to become what only we can be. Beautiful, no? Why is Torah likened to rain? Because the The rain falls equally everywhere. It's the same drops, same precipitation, same water, same rain. And yet, what the rain waters is diverse and different. Some flowers are red, and some flowers are green, some are black and some are white. Olives and wheat and dates and pomegranates. The same rain, our same Torah, is nurturing, it's creating growth for very diverse. I love this because this is the motto of our שול shul. Valuing diversity, celebrating unity. That one Torah, the singular Torah, שמחת תורה Simchas Torah, we're gonna celebrate אם ירצה השם im yirtzeh Hashem soon, dancing with that Torah and the joy of the gift and the blessing and the privilege of Torah, we all learn that one Torah.But there are so many interpretations, and so many perspectives, and it nurtures each of us in our own way. So Torah doesn't demand uniformity, but expects unity. Torah recognizes and values diversity, it doesn't want divisiveness. So it's one singular Torah, but a Torah that that yields unity, not uniformity. Okay, moving along. פרק ל״ב פסוק ד׳ Perek Lamed Bet Pasuk Daled.הצור תמים פעלו כי כל דרכיו משפט Hatzur tamim pa'alo ki chol drachav mishpat, the rock, his work is whole and all his ways are just. קל אמונה ואין עול Kel emuna v'ein avel, he's a God of faith who does no wrong. צדיק וישר הוא Tzadik v'yashar hu, he is up and and upright.קל אמונה ואין עול Kel emuna v'ein avel. What does it mean that he's a קל אמונה Kel emuna? God of faith? That doesn't sound right. Who has faith in whom? How does faith work? Who has faith in whom? You're all looking at me. It's not a trick question. We have faith in God. God doesn't have faith. God is perfect, omniscient, omnipotent. He is the creator, the source of all existence. We have faith in him. He doesn't have faith in us. Or does he? He does have faith in us. And that's what the Torah wants us to know. He does have faith in us. He believes in us, he created us, he is us, he put a piece of himself in us. We saw on שבת שובה Shabbat Shuvah, we learned from the צדקת הצדיק Tzidkat HaTzadik, ר׳ צדוק הכהן מלובלין Reb Tzadok HaKohen miLublin, כשם K'shem, the same way a Jew has to have אמונה emuna that there is God, איד a Yid has to have אמונה emuna, has to have faith in themselves. Because if you think that God is God, but I am worthless, insignificant, inconsequential, I don't mean or add anything, I don't believe in myself, I have no self-esteem, no self-worth, then you're denying God, because God put a piece of himself in every human being. To disrespect, to dishonor, to disregard a human, is to disrespect, dishonor, disregard the Almighty. There is a piece, a prominent piece, a powerful piece of השם Hashem in each and every one of us. He is us, the צלם אלוקים Tzelem Elokim in us. So we have faith in him, and he obligates us to not only believe and have faith in him, but to believe and have faith as an extension of him in us, in ourselves. And he believes in us. We say this every morning. מודה אני לפניך מלך חי וקים שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה, כמה, רבה אמונתך Modeh ani l'fanecha melech chai v'kayam shehechezarta bi nishmati b'chemla, kama, rabbah emunatecha. God, your faith is great. God, your faith is great. Isn't מודה אני Modeh Ani about our faith in him? Yes, but also a reminder. If I woke up this morning, he believes in me. If I woke up this morning, I'm not done, I'm not finished yet.So Rabbi Sacks writes here, \"The rabbis of the first centuries of the common era communicated profound truths in a deceptively simple way. Commenting on this phrase, קל אמונה Kel emuna, a God of faith, simply understood to mean he's faithful to his promises.\" The simple understanding of קל אמונה Kel emuna is, he's faithful to his promises. If he promises to redeem us, he'll redeem us. If he promises to punish us, he'll punish us. He's reliable and trustworthy and he follows through. He's faithful, he's קל אמונה Kel emuna. But they said, חז״ל Chazal said in the ספרי Sifrei, \"This means the God who had faith in the world he was about to create. In that sentence lies an extraordinary suggestion of the risk God took when he made mankind. Biblical faith with its emphasis on free will and responsibility constantly holds before us the paradox of human history. There are times when we scale the heights of goodness, but there are others when we descend to the depths of evil. Modern thought is focused on the wrong question. It has asked how God could have created nature. The rabbis posed a question altogether more profound: How could God have created man? It's one thing to believe that God in his goodness made the universe. It's another to believe that God in his goodness made a form of life, homo sapiens, capable of inflicting untold cruelty and suffering on its own members. The Torah says that before the flood, contemplating the violence that filled the world, השם Hashem regretted, וינחם vayinachem, he regretted, that God he had made man on earth and that his heart was touched with sorrow. After Auschwitz, that verse echoes with almost unbearable pathos. That verse echoes unbearably that God regretted what he had done by making man on earth. After Auschwitz, after October 7th. The rabbis gave a remarkable answer. Creation testifies not merely to God's power, but also as it were to his belief in mankind. At the heart of religion is not just the faith we have in God, no less significant is the faith God has in us. That faith is surely often tested. It is tested when we turn our back on God, it is tested no less when we commit evil in his name, yet he does not lose faith that one day we will learn this, that God, lover of people, has given us many universes of faith, but only one world in which to live together. The grant of freedom to humanity was an immense act of self-limitation on the part of God. What the Lurianic Kabbalah calls צמצום tzimtzum. השם Hashem has faith in man. That faith is often abused, not to say betrayed. Yet God's still infinite patience. Through human being inflict suffering on one another, השם Hashem does not give up on his creation. However corrupt we are, he does not relinquish the faith that we will change. However lost, he does not cease to believe that one day we will find our way back. More than we search for God, God searches for us, asking us as he did to אדם Adam, איכה ayeka, where are you? Sefri's comment is profound. Creation, even God's creation when it involved endowing a creature with the capacity to act in freedom, involves risk and therefore faith. קל אמונה Kel emunah, God of faith, means who had faith in the universe and created it. I know of no lovelier account of the how often unlovely human condition. Talk about poetry. Rabbi Sacks's commentary is poetry. But what a beautiful description. קל אמונה Kel emunah means by constantly renewing the contract of creation. The fact that the world is still here and ongoing and that we are in it is itself an expression of השם's Hashem's faith in humanity, that we are worthy, and we are worth continuing this experiment called existence. And yes, we have setbacks, we violate that faith. There is infidelity, but we can come back. And it's so powerful that we read this and we're learning this now on the precipice of יום כיפור Yom Kippur. קל אמונה Kel emunah. He has faith in us. And he gives us the reset button called יום כיפור Yom Kippur. And he says, maybe you were unfaithful this year, but I have faith that you can come back. How many times can we violate or neglect in a human relationship? How much infidelity, unfaithfulness, literally, figuratively, emotionally, monetarily, in so many different ways, friendship, in a marriage. How many times will someone welcome the other back? But השם Hashem, every year of your life. There's no point at which he says, yeah, that's enough. I've given you too many chances. You could be celebrating your 105th יום כיפור Yom Kippur and he says, let's do it again. I have faith, this is your year. Ah, 104 times you've proved unfaithful. No, no, no. I still have faith in you. I still have faith in you. Isn't that powerful? Isn't that empowering to know going into יום כיפור Yom Kippur, he has faith in us? So we should have faith in ourselves. He is a קל אמונה Kel emunah. He maintains and he still has that faith. פרק ל\"ב פסוק ה' Perek Lamed Beis Pasuk Hey. שיחת לו לא בניו מומם דור עיקש ופתלתול Shiches lo lo banav mumam, dor ikesh u'ftaltol. Corruption is not his. The blemish is his children's, a perverse and twisted generation. Now you understand why I said why is this called a song. It's a pretty harsh song. The whole blemish is his children's, a perverse and twisted generation, which might be a very accurate name or description of our generation. But anyway, back to the איש תמיד Ish Tamid, back to Rav Druck. So Rav Druck says, quotes רש\"י Rashi, בניו מומם Banav mumam, the blemish is his children's. בניו היו ומשחיתם שהשחיתו הוא מומם Banav hayu, u'mishchisam shehishchisu hu mumam. דור עיקש עקום ומעוקל Dor ikesh, akum u'meukal. חפץ חיים פירוש על התורה כתב דבר נפלא Chofetz Chaim peirush al haTorah kasav davar nifla. Rav Druck quotes the חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim. חפץ חיים Chofetz Chaim says a wondrous thing. בפסוק זה יש לימוד גדול ועצום שמסר אב לבנו. על האב חובה לדקדק במצוות בשום חשש, ולא לנטות ימין ושמאל אפילו כמלוא נימה, כי אם יוותר האב על איזה מצוה קלה, ילמד הבן לוותר על מצוה יותר חמורה B'pasuk zeh yeish limud gadol v'atzum she'masar av l'bno. Al ha'av chovah l'dakdek b'mitzvos b'shum chashash, v'lo lintot yamin u'smol afilu k'mlo nima, ki im yevater ha'av al eizeh mitzvah kalah, yilmad haben l'vater al mitzvah yoter chamurah. You see the responsibility of a parent to model for a child, because if the parent is lax or lenient or casual even of something small, then the child will go off the path and neglect something much bigger. And that's שיחת shiches. אם האב בעצמו Im ha'av b'atzmo. עצמו שיכס מעט, לא, לו. Again read it inside. שיכס לו, לו ובנו מום. Corruption is not his, the blemish is his children's. He's reading לו, לו. לו לעצמו אינו נחשב ואין גדלות, אבל בנו מום. שבשביל בנו למום גדול יחשב. If he neglects even a small thing, you won't register on the Richter scale. But בנו מום, when he sees in his children more, when he sees in his children more.I once, a man not connected to our shul, goes back many, many years. I was assistant rabbi at the time, asked to meet with me because his child was dating a non-Jew. And of course, he was terribly disappointed, upset, livid, tried everything he could to intervene, to intercede, and he couldn't convince the child. Excuse me. He asked me as a last-ditch effort to meet with the child, which I did. I met with the two of them.And he described his dismay, and she described why she fell in love with this boy, who'd make a wonderful husband and a great father, and that her own father wasn't particularly observant himself. So why should she make such a supreme sacrifice? It was my turn to speak, and I turned to the father and I said, \"You know, I hear her. I don't blame her. You're not willing to give up your Saturdays or a cheeseburger, but she should give up the love of her life?\"She grew up watching and witnessing. She grew up observing that you, I'm not talking about somebody who wasn't educated, didn't know better, didn't know more, didn't have role models. You did, and you've chosen to be casual, lenient, lax, to dismiss, to view הלכה halacha as a list of suggestions rather than obligations. You've ordered from the Torah like a buffet off its menu. And she grew up in that atmosphere. So is it surprising for her that if her father's not willing to give up relatively small sacrifices, she should give up a supreme one? I hear her. You're to blame. You're angry at her? Here's a mirror. Here's a mirror.Then I turned to her, I said, \"Well, you're not off the hook.\" And then we talked about a link in the chain and the Jewish people and why our story matters. We talked about this a few weeks ago, formulating an answer to that question of why be Jewish. And we had that conversation. I didn't do it to beat the father up or fill him with guilt and shame, a little bit. But I did it because I said to the two of them, \"Why don't you go on a journey together? Why don't you consider, Father, demonstrating your willing to make sacrifices, small and large, before you turn to your daughter and ask her to reconsider making a big one? And why don't you become an educated consumer? Why don't you live and learn and observe and practice before you decide?\"And that's what this פסוק, that's what the חפץ חיים is teaching, is explaining this פסוק. שיכס לא, לו. It won't destroy you if you're casual and lax about little things that, not this father who wasn't doing anything. Okay, so you didn't, whatever the case is, but, but בנו מום. But it'll show in the children. The blemish will show up in the children. And we see it in our time. It used to be that we could rely on social pressure for Jews to remain observant. You'll never marry out, and you'll still keep שבת because there's a societal, a social pressure. But those days are over. Those days are over. The world is welcoming and filled with opportunity and invitation. And there's no longer inhibition, and there's no longer shame. And it's so easy to drop out. And there are some of the most passionate, practicing, incredible parents, and their children don't stay with the program. And there are parents who are terribly casual and lax and their children are on fire.So I say this not for anyone to beat themselves up. I say this not because we can directly correlate or blame. I just say it because if you want to know what's going to give you the best odds for having children who are on fire, it's to be on fire yourself. What statistically will give you the greatest probability and likelihood of having children who are a part of the program is to be the most practicing, the most passionate that you could be. Because שיכס לא, לו. Maybe if you, I go to shul on Shabbos, not during the week, I come late, not on time, I talk a little bit, I'm not quiet. I eat kosher, I don't remember to make ברכות. This is kosher enough. That symbol I think is pretty good. I didn't really check out the פסח program we're going to. If you're lax, it won't necessarily show up in you, but in the children and grandchildren who see an atmosphere where it's not worth making sacrifices for, then בנו מום. מומם mumam, it's going to show up in a much more directed way. And Rav Druck goes on and on and describes this. He quotes the גרי\"ז Griz, נחלת ה' בנים, שכר פרי הבטן Nachlas Hashem banim, schar pri haboten. He has much longer, but I want to move on to other ideas. פרק ל\"ב פסוק ו' Perek Lamed Beis, Pasuk Vav. הלה' תגמלו זאת HaLaShem tigmelu zos. We're gonna turn the page, but not yet. הלה' תגמלו זאת HaLaShem tigmelu zos, is it to ה' Hashem that you do this? עם נבל ולא חכם Am naval v'lo chacham, oh vile and unwise people? הלא הוא אביך קנך Ha'lo hu avicha konecha, He is your father, He is your master. הוא עשך ויכוננך Hu ascha vayechonenecha. He has not, has He not created you and firmed you? So again, this is a שירה shira. What kind of a song is this? So far we've been called a perverse and twisted generation, oh vile and unwise people. Some song, huh? Some song. But is He not your father and your master? Didn't He create you? Didn't He mold you and didn't He shape you? So here we turn to another another תפארת שמואל Tiferes Shmuel. Says רב שמואל בירנבוים Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, הטענה הגדולה ביותר שמי שעובר עבירה ha'taina ha'gedola b'yoser she'misha'over aveira... הלא הוא אביך Ha'lo hu avicha. Isn't He your father? How could you do this? Isn't He your טאטי tati? Isn't He your father? What do you see from here? says רב שמואל בירנבוים Rav Shmuel Berenbaum. הטענה הגדולה ביותר Ha'taina ha'gedola b'yoser, the biggest, biggest claim, מי שעובר עבירה misha'over aveira, you did something wrong, you made a mistake, you violated transgression, הוא שאינו חושש על אביו שבשמים hu she'eino choshesh al aviv shebashamayim. Did you even think about your father? When you did that thing, did you even consider or think about how it would impact and disappoint your father? א טראכט נישט פון דער טאטע A tracht nisht fun der tata. שהוא אביך קנך She'hu avicha konecha. כמו שכתוב לגבי בת כהן שזינתה K'mo shekasuv l'gabbei bas kohen she'zinse, שהתורה החמיר עליה בעונש שריפה she'ha'Torah hechmir aleha b'oness s'reifa. The daughter of a כהן kohen who's promiscuous, the Torah says she gets the strictest of the capital punishments. She gets שריפה s'reifa, instead of חנק chenek. מפני שאת אביה היא מחללת Mipnei she'es aviha hi mechaleles. Because the Torah says, this בת כהן bas kohen, this royalty, this princess, this young lady of distinction and prominence who was a בת כהן bas kohen, she should walk around. If you're a כהן kohen, you should raise your daughters to know they're a בת כהן bas kohen. You know who I am? I'm a בת כהן bas kohen. And she went ahead and carried and dressed and acted and was promiscuous, את אביה היא מחללת es aviha hi mechaleles, she violated her father's honor and dignity. רש\"י Rashi there says, אומרים על אביה, ראו גידולים שגידלתם omrim al aviha, r'u gidulim she'gidaltem. They say about her father, they turn to the כהן kohen and they said, this is your daughter? Hey כהן kohen, this is your daughter? There was a syndrome called the Rabbi's daughter syndrome, won't get into this right now. לא עלינו Lo aleinu. I have tremendous נחת nachas from my daughters. לא עלינו Lo aleinu. There is a syndrome, Rabbi's children. A lot of Rabbi's children give them amazing נחת nachas and they are superstars. And a lot of rabbis, a lot of famous and prominent and great rabbis have children, not so פשוט pasht. Because it's complicated to grow up with that sense of responsibility, with that title, with that status. It ain't easy. It ain't easy. I don't know. I tell my children that this is one way, I was once a kid. I can relate to them being a kid. I was never a rabbi's kid. I have absolutely no idea what it's like to be a rabbi's kid. And I have tremendous sympathy and empathy, because it's not so simple. One of my children was describing to me recently, you know in school when the teacher asks a question, if you raise your hand and you know the answer, so for the other kids, you're supposed to, you're the rabbi's kid. If you didn't know the answer and you're called on, how could you not know the answer? You're the rabbi's kid. It isn't easy. It isn't easy. So, but the Torah says, we're all ה' Hashem's child. כמו כן אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא K'mochein omar HaKadosh Baruch Hu, אם יעלה על דעת אדם לחטוא חס ושלום im ya'aleh al da'as adam lachto chas v'shalom, if a person is tempted, considering to sin, they should think this is one of the strategies to overcome it. הלה' תגמלו זאת HaLaShem tigmelu zos? Are you going to do this to your father? Do you know what it would do to your father? There are people that it's very powerful. They're ready to dress a certain way, conduct themselves a certain way, make certain life decisions, and they say, I couldn't do that to my parents. You know what? It doesn't speak to me. I'm not internally motivated, but I can't do that to my parents. We should all feel that we can't do that to our father. הלה' תגמלו זאת HaLaShem tigmelu zos? אחר שאני עושה הכל בשבילך ואני אוהב אותך כמו אב Achar she'ani oseh hakol bishvilcha v'ani ohev oscha k'mo av. ה' Hashem says after everything I do for you like a father and I love you as a father, בני בכורי ישראל, בנים אתם לה' אלוקיכם Beni bechori Yisrael, banim atem laHashem Elokeichem, צריך שיחשוב על החילול ה' tzarich sheyachshov al ha'chillul Hashem. You're gonna violate ה' Hashem, just like את אביה היא מחללת es aviha hi mechaleles, חילול ה' a chillul Hashem. And therefore, the Torah says, הוא אביך קנך hu avicha konecha. He's your father. Before you do that thing, before you Before you bring him shame, before you make that mistake, before you act out in that way, ask yourself, what is that going to do to your father? How could you bring that shame? How could you give that pain to your very father? תלמיד חכם שמת אין לנו מקדש מעט בקדשים שביותר Talmid chacham sh'meis, ein lanu mikdash me'at b'kodshim sheb'yoser. The opposite's also true. If you act with great honor and distinction, you bring a great קידוש השם Kiddush Hashem, you bring great honor to השם Hashem's name. As the גמרא יומא דף פו Gemara Yuma daf pey vav famously says, if you're a תלמיד חכם talmid chacham, if you learn and you grow and you represent השם Hashem and you go out and you're kind and you're courteous and you're thoughtful and you're honest, people say, wow, look at Torah. אשרי אביו שלמדו תורה, אשרי רבו שלמדו תורה Ashrei aviv she'limdo Torah, ashrei rabo she'limdo Torah. And if you're the opposite, you wear that yarmulke on your head, you're visibly Jewish, and now you're discourteous, you're rude, you're dishonest. You don't have those honest weights and measures, people say, אוי לאביו שלמדו תורה, אוי לרבו שלמדו תורה Oy la'aviv she'limdo Torah, oy la'rabo she'limdo Torah. So people associate our behavior with our father, with our teacher. We don't just carry the responsibility of our own reputation. Every one of us carry the responsibility of the reputation of our parents and our grandparents. Is that fair or unfair? It doesn't matter. It's true. It's a reality. So one of the ways to inspire and motivate ourselves is to remember that we bear the responsibility for the reputation not only of ourselves, but of our parents, and among those parents, namely, קדוש ברוך הוא Kadosh Baruch Hu as well. פרק לב, פסוק לה Perek Lamed Beis, Pasuk Lamed Hei. Uwah! Flying now, we're skipping pages.All the way to 1106. ל\"ה Lamed Hei. לי נקם ושלם לעת תמוט רגלם כי קרוב יום אידם וחש עתידות למו Li nakam v'shilem l'eis tamut raglam ki karov yom eidam v'chash atidos lamo. Says the Torah, mine is vengeance and retribution at the time their foot will falter, for the day of their catastrophe is near and future events are rushing at them. When השם Hashem will judge his people, and here it goes on and says this in several ways, right? Beginning with לי נקם Li nakam. That word נקם nakam means revenge. Go to פסוק מא Pasuk Mem Aleph. אם שנותי ברק חרבי ותאחז במשפט ידי אשיב נקם לצרי ולמשנאי אשלם Im shanosi b'rak charbi v'tochaz b'mishpat yadi, ashiv nakam l'tzarai u'l'misannai ashalem. נקם Nakam means revenge. פסוק מג Pasuk Mem Gimmel. הרנינו גוים עמו, oh nations sing praise, כי דם עבדיו יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו וכפר אדמתו עמו Harninu goyim amo... ki dam avadav yikom v'nakam yashiv l'tzarav v'chiper admaso amo. שבפומינו sheb'fumeinu you know us this pasuk. אב הרחמים Av Harachamim. Oh nations, sing the praise of his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, he'll bring retribution upon his enemies, he'll appease his land and his people. Over and over and over again, we see here a reference to השם Hashem taking revenge. A vengeful God, a vengeful God. So Rabbi Sacks, is our last Rabbi Sacks of the day. Rabbi Sacks says, what's going on over here? We're describing over and over again, God takes revenge. All of אב הרחמים Av Harachamim. The whole תפילה tefillah we say Shabbos morning, written for the martyrs of the crusade. We've not omitted it the last two years, even when we ordinarily would, like benching ראש חודש Rosh Chodesh, where Rav Yitzchak Schechter has said we should continue to say it because there are continued, נבעך nebach, to be martyrs of this war. So written for the martyrs of the crusade, relevant to the martyrs of the war of the last two years. And in it we say over and over and over again, נקום נקמת דם עבדיך השפוך nikom nikmas dam avadecha hashafuch. השם Hashem, revenge. חמאס Hamas, חזבאללה Hezbollah, חות'ים Houthis, קטר Qatar, France, England, South Africa, Australia, there's not enough room left in our סידור siddur. How many we have to add to the list of who השם Hashem should take revenge against. Who he has to take revenge against. So what's with all this revenge? Doesn't the Torah say לא תקום ולא תטור lo sikom v'lo sitor? Doesn't the Torah forbid? Isn't one of the 613 commandments that you're not allowed to take revenge? We've given a whole שיעור shiur on this, it's a topic, there's many sources. Is God take revenge, not revenge? Are we for revenge, not for revenge? You know, in yesterday's announcement about this potential, please God, deal, so one of the things favorable for Hamas, it's hard to believe, is the immunity. Anyone who wants to leave Gaza will be allowed. Will we, like the Munich massacre, many years from now hunt them down wherever they are? I don't know, I hope, because there is an element of we want to. And here the Torah is describing God and revenge over and over again. But it says לא תקום ולא תטור lo sikom v'lo sitor. So here Rabbi Sacks weighs in. Hashem commands forgiveness as יוסף Yosef forgave his brothers, and as we on Judaism's holiest day ask him to forgive us. יום כיפור Yom Kippur. To quote רמב\"ם Rambam, as long as one nurses a grievance and keeps it in mind, one may come to take revenge. Torah therefore emphatically warns us not to bear a grudge, so that the impression of the wrong shall be wholly obliterated and no longer remembered. This is the right principle, it alone makes society and human interaction possible. הלכות דעות פרק ז Hilchos De'os Perek Zayin. Note, רמב\"ם Rambam means in a general rule for human not limited to Jews. Yet, this parsha contains lines such as, he'll avenge his servant's blood, difficult to reconcile with an ethic of non-revenge. So which is it? I think of the Jews of the Middle Ages who saw their fellow Jews accused of killing Christian children to drink their blood, of poisoning wells, of desecrating the host and spreading the plague, and then murdered en masse in the name of the God of love. We can still hear their response. They're recorded for us in many of the קינות kinos we say on the תשעה באב Tisha B'Av. Yes, they appealed to God's vengeance, which is to say to God's justice. But Jews did not seek to take vengeance. That is something you leave to God. There's a justice we will not see this side of the end of days. In the meantime, it is sufficient to live and affirm life and seek no more than the right to be true to your faith without fear, no more than to right to live and defend that selfsame right for your children. Yet we seek justice, and we fight for justice, but the search for the perfect justice is not for us here and now. It is, as Moshe taught the Jewish people in the great song he sang at the end of his life, something that faith demands we leave to God, who alone knows the human heart, who alone knows what is just in the world of conflicting claims, and who will establish and perfect justice at a time and in a way of his choosing, but not ours.So, revenge, vengeance is forbidden for us, but we call upon it for him. Because that's a reminder, maybe a harsh one, maybe a difficult one to swallow, maybe a painful one, but it's a reminder that we deserve to fight and defend ourselves. We deserve to live in safety and security. But revenge, we leave that to ה׳ Hashem. Does it feel unfair? Terribly, terribly. But that's how the Torah prescribes it. And I read that this morning and it gave me solace after yesterday, because it is a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. To not be able to take revenge, to eliminate the horrific, horrific, evil, wicked terrorists who perpetrated this atrocity? To release some of those who previously had? It's unbearably painful and unfair and unjust. So it's a reminder. It's a reminder that הקדוש ברוך הוא Hakadosh Baruch Hu ultimately is the arbiter of justice and revenge, and we call upon him to take it. Let them all die of natural deaths. Let them all suffer from rockets blowing up in their faces. If he wants, he can, and we call upon him to do it. And even when we have to stop short of doing it ourselves, even when we have to agree to an unfair and unjust deal, that's part of the way the Torah prescribed and prophesized what is going to be.פרק ל״ב פסוק מ״ד Perek Lamed Beis Pasuk Mem Daled. I'll just raise for you something fascinating. The Torah here at the very end, by ויבא משה וידבר את כל דברי השירה הזאת באזני העם Vayavo Moshe vayedaber es kol divrei hashirah hazos b'oznei ha'am, Moshe spoke all of this song in the ears of the people, and included among them, הושע בן נון Hoshea bin Nun. What happened? What are we calling him again? הושע Hoshea. He lost the יוד yud? הושע Hoshea became יהושע Yehoshua when he was going to spy with the מרגלים meraglim, and he got demoted? He lost the יוד yud? He became הושע Hoshea? What happened over here? רש״י Rashi tells us what happened. משה מינהו מתורגמן, שידרוש בחיים כדי שלא יאמרו ישראל בחייו של רבו לא היה… למה לא קראו כאן יהושע? למה שלא תזוח דעתו עליו, אף על פי שניתנה לו גדולה, הישפיל עצמו כאשר בתחילתו Moshe minahu meturgaman, sheyidrosh b'chaim kedei shelo yomru Yisrael b'chayav shel rabo lo hayah… lama lo kro'o kan Yehoshua? lama shelo tazuch daato alav, af al pi shenitna lo gedulah, hishpil atzmo ka'asher b'techilaso. says רש״י Rashi, Torah wants us to know that we watched Yehoshua go from a young lad, an apprentice, the assistant rabbi, and he's about to become the senior rabbi. And you should know that when Moshe is retiring and passing the mantle, and his assistant rabbi is about to become the rabbi, that senior rabbi is still the same as he was when he was the rabbinic intern. It never went to his head. Even though he went from the kolel guy to the intern to the assistant to the associate to the rabbi, we call him Hoshea at the end so that you know that he never stopped being the original person he was. He remained modest and humble. But the כלי יקר Kli Yakar has another interpretation. Listen to this כלי יקר Kli Yakar. שלפי שלא קראו יהושע כי אם על שם כה יושיעך מעצת מרגלים, וכל זמן שאחד מהם נותר ודורו היה קיים, היה נקרא בשם יהושע, וכאשר תם כל הדור ההוא, לא היה מקום לתפילה זו shelfi shelo karo Yehoshua ki im al shem ka yoshiacha me'atzas meraglim, v'chol zman she'echad mehem nosar v'doro haya kayam, haya nikra b'shem Yehoshua, v'ka'asher tam kol hador hahu, lo haya makom l'tefilah zo. Why was he called Yehoshua? Because let him not fall prey to the persuasion of the מרגלים meraglim. So he gave the name יוד yud, which is the name of ה׳ Hashem, so he'd have extra confidence, don't be affected. Says the כלי יקר Kli Yakar, that was not a permanent name change, it was temporary. Only while there was anyone alive from the generation of the spies, did Yehoshua still need the יוד yud at the beginning of his name. But now at the end of Moshe's life, that entire generation has died. There's nobody left who was alive at the time of the episode of the spies, and therefore he no longer needs the י yud in his name, and he reverts back to his original name. He's now הושע Hoshea. It's a wild כלי יקר Kli Yakar. But Rav Druk learns from this כלי יקר Kli Yakar, you see the power. ללמדך כמה הרסנית השפעה רעה על אדם שהוצרך משה להתפלל על יהושע משך ארבעים שנה Lilamedcha kama harsanis ha'ashpa'ah ra'ah al adam shehutzrach Moshe l'hispallel al Yehoshua meshech arbaim shanah. I don't understand. They they overcame. Okay, at the episode of the spies, they cried at night, they didn't have to bother crying, they cried when they didn't have to. For 40 years he kept דאַוונען davening for יהושע Yehoshua? The י yud was at the beginning of his name means that for 40 years Moshe didn't stop דאַוונען davening, let יהושע Yehoshua not be affected. You see the power of peer pressure. You see how easy it is to fall prey. So much so, never stop worrying about your children. Don't say, well, they're out of middle school. Ah, they're out of high school. Ah, they got through ישיבה yeshiva. Ah, they're an adult. Ah, they're living in a community. The power of peer pressure, the vulnerability of still being persuaded, can never stop דאַוונען davening. Moshe didn't stop דאַוונען davening all 40 years, only when the last of the ones who could have negatively impacted יהושע Yehoshua, only when the last one wasn't here, only then could he let go of the י yud and he went back to הושע Hoshea. But until then, Moshe continued to דאַווען daven. You see that power. Wishing everyone a גמר חתימה טובה gmar chatima tova, good געבענטשט יאָר gebentcht yir. We are off next week. Take a break for סוכות Sukkot, and we are back after סוכות Sukkot. But tomorrow we are on, Tanya and אמונה Emunah, as usual, Wednesday morning. So join us for learning. גמר חתימה טובה gmar chatima tova, good געבענטשט יאָר gebentcht yir. אם ירצה השם Im Yirtzeh Hashem by the time we're back, all the hostages will be home, and our soldiers will be safe and sound. We'll be on our way to the historic peace that we hope and pray is
