Transcript
Okay, good morning. I was about to say *boker tov*. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you for the flexibility, *Baruch Hashem*, traveling for several *simchas* this week. So can't do the *shiur* Tuesday morning, wanted to sneak in the *shiur* this afternoon. And so grateful and honored that you're spending your Sunday and for some, your Mother's Day. And for those very happy Mother's Day, for those who are virtual mothers helping the world, help thank you. We're going to talk about that in our *parsha* too. How when you create a continuity and help other people's children, that's also *bechina*, that's also a category of motherhood. And for those longing to be mothers, they should have their dreams fulfilled. And what a *zechus*, what an honor to have my mother here as we give the *shiur* this—I dedicate on this Mother's Day the *shiur* to you. Oh, there you go. Wow. Ma, I never got an applause, you got an applause. Our *parsha shiur* is generously sponsored—the series by Beki and *Avi Katz* and family in memory of David Grossman. Our learning is לעילוי נשמת דוד בן מנחם מנש and generously series co-sponsored by the Dikman family in memory of the tragic loss of their daughter and sister דניאלה רכה בת שלום עזרא they should find comfort and strength. And by Judi and Mitch Targan and family, the fourth *yahrtzeit* of Jerry Targan יהושע דב בן עזריאל on the 25th of *Iyar*, the *neshama* should have an *aliyah*. Thank you to our generous sponsors. And with that, we begin the fourth book of the *Torah*. Hard to believe. It feels like it was just *Simchas Torah*. We just finished the entire cycle of *Torah*. How could it be we're already up to *Bamidbar*? And yet here we are וידבר ה' אל משה במדבר סיני באהל מועד באחד לחדש השני בשנה השנית לצאתם מארץ מצרים לאמר and here the *Torah* gives us the topography, the climate, the environment, everything about where this conversation took place. It was *bemidbar Sinai*. It was in the, it was in the desert. So we'll start with a few insights from *Rav* Druck in his *sefer Lavos Esh*. Why did the *Torah* need to tell us specifically that *Hashem* give these commandments, this message? Why do we need to know where it's delivered? Why do we need to know what the climate is, what the environment is? So *Rashi* says במדבר סיני באחד לחדש מתוך חיבתם לפניו מונה אותם כל שעה this is an introduction to the opening of the *parsha*, which is a census of the people. God tells *Moshe* it's time to count. You need to know what you got. Count the people. And why is there another census of the people? Why does *Hashem* keep counting us? He's infinite and omnipotent and all-knowing. He doesn't need to take a census. He knows. Whenever he wants to know, he instantly knows however many people there are. The exercise of taking a census—why? Says *Rashi* *kesheyatzu miMitzrayim minam* when we left Egypt he counted us *keshenafalu be'egel* when we fell temptation indiscretion we worshipped the idol of the *egel* he counted us *lada'at minyan hanosarin* to know how many were left כשבא להשרות שכינתו עליהם מנאן when it was time to inaugurate the *mishkan* the tabernacle to dwell in our midst באחד בניסן הוקם המשכן ובאחד באייר מנאן the first of *Nisan* the *mishkan* was inaugurated and the first of *Iyar* God counted us. Says *Rav* Druck ספר במדבר הוא המשך לספר ויקרא the book of *Bamidbar* is a continuation of *Vayikra*. It doesn't feel that way because there's a week in between when we read the *parshiyos*. *Bechukosai* the end of *Vayikra* and *Bamidbar* the beginning of the fourth book. In your Artscroll Stone *Chumash* there's a break. You gotta turn a page. There's even a header page because it's a new book altogether. So you got the blank page and then the *sefer Bamidbar* page and it feels like it's a start of something new. But points out *Rav* Druck, it's really a continuation of what came before. And the question is, why? What? One of the ways that we learn is from the juxtaposition of text. That one of the ways we learn is not only from what the text itself explicitly tells us, but why is it placed where it is? And what is the theme? What's the comparison of the juxtaposition, the continuity? בפסוק בסוף ספר ויקרא at the end of *sefer Vayikra* chapter 27, verse 33, page 722, we read לא יבקר בין טוב לרע ולא ימירנו ואם המר ימירנו והיה הוא ותמורתו יהיה קדש לא יגאל don't distinguish between good and bad, do not substitute. If he does substitute, it and the substitute are both holy; it may not be, it may not be redeemed. Says *Rav* Druck והיינו שאדם שעישר את צאנו ועשה מהם מעשר בהמה what was that law? You have to take *ma'aser* a person has to tithe their money. Ten percent of our after-tax income has to go back to the community. We've talked about this before, I won't elaborate now, but *Hashem* is the most incredible partner we could ever have. He's the senior partner in every endeavor and yet, and yet, he tells us even though he's the senior partner and success could not happen without him, he says You keep ninety percent and the other ten percent I don't even want for me. I want you to give to my other children, to your siblings. Maaser. Take ten percent of your money. The same rule applies to your animal, your livestock. Ten percent of the livestock are dedicated. Maaser, maaser behemah. So here the Torah tells us, a person who took ten percent of their animals, הדינו דחלה קדושה אבהמה עשירית, the tenth animal is sacred, is holy. Asor lehamir oto, you can't switch it out. You can't decide, that cow, that's fat, that's going to produce a lot of good steak. Even though that was the tenth, I want that. I don't want to give that one to God. You know what? I'll switch it. You know what? I'll transfer it. אם אדם זה נישנה והמירו בבהמה אחרת גם היא וגם תמורתה נעשה קודש. If you try to pull the old transfer trick, it doesn't work. Both the original animal that was the tenth and the new animal, they both have sanctity. אין לו אפשרות כלל להיפטר מקדושת הבהמה שהפריש בתחילה. No way out. The tenth animal is sacred and holy. The tenth animal is designated for God. You can't transfer, you can't redeem, you can't get out of it. הנה בתחילת פרשתנו מסופר מעניין בני ישראל. So what is that law? What is that rule that was the end of Bechukotai, that was the end of Sefer Vayikra? What in the world does that have to do with the beginning of our parsha, that God counts the Jewish people, the census? What does one thing have to do with the other? למה שכבר נמנו ישראל קודם לכן פרשת כי תשא. And God just counted us. The number's fairly accurate. Not much has happened since then. בכל זאת הצטוו שוב למנות אותם, k'fi shekatav Rashi, מתוך חיבתן של ישראל. Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves us. And when you love someone or something, you just keep counting. Some people love their money, they keep counting. Some people love their watch collection, they keep counting. Some people love their car collection, they keep counting. Some people love their baseball team, they're looking at the box score, they just keep counting. God loves us, His children. And even though He knows the number because He's omnipotent and infinite, but the exercise and the act of counting. A person is blessed, a person has children, grandchildren, even though you know the number, you know the number, but you just, how many, wow, how'd that happen? So blessed, so grateful. לפי זה יש לבאר באופן נפלא הסמיכות המיוחדת שאמנם בתחילת ספר במדבר המזכיר חביבותו של הקדוש ברוך הוא לעם ישראל שמתוך חביבות גדולה זו מנא אותם כל שעה ובסמיכות פרשת סוף ויקרא מודגשת בחביבותן של ישראל שבעתיים כי שם לא מדובר על ישראל שלא יחליפנו ולא ימיר דבר שיש עליו קדושת מזבח אין אפשרות בעולם להסיר קדושתו. Someone had designated sacred and holy, that's its mission, that's its purpose, that's why it's here, and you can't transfer, you can't redeem it, you can't take it away. And that's what God wants us to know in the reason that He counts us. That's the connection, such a beautiful insight. The connection between the law at the end of last week's parsha and the beginning of ours is just like when the tenth comes out holy, you can't transfer it. You can't say, no, you know what, make something else holy, I want to use this for something. No. Whatever something's meant for, that's what it's meant for. You can't run away from your mission. You can't run away from your purpose. You can't run away from your individual why you are here. Each of us is unique and distinct and expression of God in this world, one of a kind. It can't be transferred, it can't be redeemed, you can't have someone else do it. Stop competing or comparing, stop living someone else's life and embrace your own and ask ourselves why are we here, what's it all about. And that's what this, that's what the juxtaposition, the comparison, the end of last week's parsha and this. You can't transfer kedusha and you can't transfer a mission and a purpose. You see this, the Ramchal, one of my favorite sections to ever quote of Torah. The great Ramchal, Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the great Italian kabbalist, the author of Mesillat Yesharim, Derech Hashem and countless other works. He begins his Mesillat Yesharim, his Path of the Just, the great mussar work and he says, יסוד החסידות ושורש העבודה, the foundation of righteousness and the root of the service of Hashem, שיתברר ויתאמת אצל האדם מה חובתו בעולמו. Yitbarer, clarify. Veyitames, get to the emes, the truth. Mah chovato be'olamo. What is your obligation? Translate the word be'olamo in. Many mistranslate \"the world\". If you look at an early edition of the translation of the Mesillat Yesharim, Feldheim early edition, it says \"what is man's obligation in the world\", but that's inaccurate, it's incorrect, it's not precise. The correct translation is mah chovato adam, mah chovato be'olamo, mah chovato be'olamo. What's your obligation, your duty, in your world? Your world. I have a lot to say about this, I have in the past, I don't want to take the time now. We don't all have one world. Each of us is a world unto ourselves. Our background... our upbringing, our socio-economic status, our talents, our skills, our assets, our liabilities, who we are, we are our own world. And where our obligation is not to figure out what's my duty, my mission, my purpose in your world or in the world, but when I look at and take inventory of my world, what's my mission in my world? Given who I am and why I'm here: my parents, my children, my siblings, my job, my life, my health. Given everything I have, put it all together, that's my world. What's my chova? We're living in a time too many people say, oh, I'm alive, thank you God, nice. What do I get with that? What comes with that? What are my rights and entitlements? What comes with membership in this world? But the Ramchal says that the source of a meaningful life is not to ask what comes with it, what are my rights and entitlements, what comes with this membership called life, but a meaningful life is asking the opposite question. Mah chovaso, so what's my duty and my obligation? Why am I here? What am I meant to do? Who am I meant to be? What am I meant to give? What's my duty? Life, the privilege of life, doesn't come with rights and entitlements, we're not entitled to anything. What it comes with is duties and obligations. But be-olamo, each of us is unique and distinct. Hashem takes a census to remind us each of us is unique and distinct, each of us is our own world, each of us is separate. Later in the Parsha, we'll get to the degalim, which are the flags, the logos, the insignias that we encamp under. The twelve tribes are divided, we're given clear seating assignments of where we go and we're surrounding, the Mishkan is at the center. So my favorite Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky's Emes LeYaakov, he wonders, if twelve tribes have twelve separate logos, insignias, flags, aren't they going to splinter and divide? Won't they compete? Isn't one going to feel superior to the other? How is it we can maintain an achdus? How do we have a unity while recognizing our differences? And Rav Yaakov has a brilliant insight. He says because what travels in the middle of that encampment? The Mishkan. As long as at the center of the encampment is the Tabernacle, the aron, the Torah, the luchos, as long as Hashem is in the middle, it binds everything around it together. So that you can have Thornhill Estates and Thornhill Green and Thornhill Muse and Kativa and Palacio and what's in the middle? The shul, the mikdash me'at. It unites and it binds. That's who we are. We can have eight minyanim. We can have Ashkenazim and Sefardim and Nusach Sefard and Nusach Ari and we can have all the minyanim all over the campus. And what's in the center? Says Rav Yaakov, it has to all come back to and feedback to, it has to all be Torah that's informing and inspiring and guiding. That's what it's about. So we have all these logos and insignias. And the Midrash tells us, בשעה שנגלה הקדוש ברוך הוא על הר סיני when God revealed Himself to us on Mount Sinai, ירדו עמו רבבות של מלאכים כולם עשוים דגלים דגלים. And they all came down and they all had a logo, they all had a sign. Shene'emar dagul me-revava. כיוון שראו אותן ישראל שהם עשויים דגלים דגלים, Jewish people looked and they said, wow, that's pretty cool. Angels are all decked out and they have their own logo? I want that. Hischilu misa'avim le-degalim, they began to crave, they wanted their own logo. אמרו הלואי כך אנו נעשים דגלים כמותן, Halevai that we also would have logos and insignias, that we also would be a brand. And where did that come from? Where did that come from? You know, today I muse, I did earlier this morning at Simchas Chaver. Today every thirteen-year-old boy is a franchise. He's got a logo and swag for his Bar Mitzvah, he's a whole brand, he's a franchise, he's a whole... he's got merch and swag and he comes, he's got the yarmulke and the band and the friends and the candy bags and everything he's got a logo. He's got... you used to have to earn a logo. You had to achieve, you had to be signed by somebody, you had to be... today, you made it to your thirteenth birthday, you get a logo. So that's it? Jewish people wanted a logo? Some swag? We want a logo, we want to be a brand, we want an image? What... what's going on over here? So you'd expect Hashem to say, everybody relax, everybody come together, be united, everybody be humble, everybody just put your head down do what you... Hashem doesn't answer that. You know what? אמר להם הקדוש ברוך הוא מה נתאוויתם לעשות דגלים חייכם שאני ממלא שאלתכם. Wow! You want logos? You want brands? You want insignias? No problem, happy to provide it. מיד הודיע הקדוש ברוך הוא אהבתו לישראל, and Hashem said, I love that about you. I love that. אמר למשה עשה אותם דגלים כמו שנתאוו. Nu, divide them up. Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, everybody got their own flag, their flag had their own logo, they encamped that way, it flew over them, and that's how they lined up. What in the world is going on? What exactly did they desire? What is so special about a flag and a logo and swag and merch? And instead of Hashem rejecting that and telling them sort of grow up, instead Hashem says, I love that about you. Moshe, quick, print it, get it done, get them the fleece, get them the logo, get them the tote bag, get them the coffee cup, get quickly, tumbler, get them the logo. Why does Hashem love about it that he's giving them flags with logos? Why is that so amazing? So my friend Rav Elia Gutfarb suggests. He says what Hashem loved about it, what the people saw the angels had, nothing about a logo, not about ego or honor, nothing about a franchise or a brand. The logo meant this is who I am, I'm distinct and unique, I'm an individual, this is what I'm about, this is how I live my life, this is the legacy I want to leave, this is why I'm here, this is my mission, this is my purpose. What is an angel? A Malach is unique agent of Hashem. An angel is an expression of God in this world to complete, we know with Avraham Avinu three angels came to visit and you needed three because they each had their own mission. It was very inefficient. Could have saved money just buy one plane ticket for one angel and do all three jobs. And Rashi already told us, an angel only gets one job. Each angel only has one job. And then they stop. Why does an angel only get one job? Because the angel is the agent of Hashem to fulfill a purpose. So that's what they saw in each angel. Oh wow, we don't just blend together, we don't just blur into one, we're not just competing and comparing and keeping up. Everyone is an individual with a purpose and a mission, I've got a logo, this is who I am, this is my purpose, this is my life, this is what I'm about, this is why I'm here, this is the difference that I make with whatever I have. Do you see the video that was going around? This young boy with muscular dystrophy was describing putting on tefillin. Challenge of putting on tefillin and his commitment to put on tefillin. You couldn't watch it without a box of tissues near you. So powerful, so powerful what he described, the effort it takes for him and the commitment and the love of putting on tefillin. And whatever challenge he has and enormous challenge in his life, he went viral. Thousands of Jews put on tefillin differently the next day. That's his logo. That's his purpose, not his unique only, that's a purpose. And there's so many others that people have. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu loved about the Jewish people. You saw the angels, that each was trying to realize their individual purpose, and you want to as well? No, Moshe, help them. And that's part of this count. The Ramban says if Hashem knows exactly how many we are, what's with the census? Why are we starting? שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל למשפחותם במספר שמות כל זכר לגלגלתם, count the people. The Ramban says you know how they were counted? You know how they were counted? One by one they passed in front of Moshe and Aharon. And each one, Moshe and Aharon would shake their hand. How are you Berel? How are you Sorala? How are you- I won't shake everyone's hand. How are you? This is why you're here. They saw the Shoresh HaNeshama, they saw the soul of each. Thank God you're here, we need you to do this, and you serve this purpose, and you you bring this energy to Am Yisrael, to Klal Yisrael, and you're part of this. It used to be in the time of nevuah, the Navi could meet with every Jew and tell them, this is your mission and your purpose, this is why you're here, this is what the world is waiting for and needs from you. We don't have nevuah, we don't have neviim, but we have to ask that of ourselves. That was the excitement, that's what the census is all about. You can't transfer your holiness, temurah, you can't- they stay, they're both, in the end you can't transfer your holiness onto something else. And we can't transfer our holiness, that's who we are and that's what we're about, our individuality and our uniqueness. Next Rav Druck, we're sticking with Lavos Aish, his newer sefer. הפסוק כאן מציין את הזמן שבו דיבר השם, ויהי באחד לחודש השני בשנה השנית לצאתם. When did God speak? When was this? It was the first of the second month of the second year. תחילה נזכר המניין הפרטי אחר כך המניין הכללי. First we had the general number and then the specific number. Sorry, first the specific number and then the general number. Therefore be'echad lachodesh hasheni, the first of the second month, which is specific, the day and the month. And then we have the year, the second year, which is more broad. לפי זה עלינו להבין מדוע תחילת הפסוק שמתאר את המקום שבו דיבר השם. So if that's the case, if we went from the specific to the general, why when it comes to the place, the location, do we do the opposite? במדבר סיני באוהל מועד. Midbar Sinai is the general location, the Sinai Desert. The specific address, the coordinates were Ohel Moed, the Tent of Meeting. זה המקום הפרטי אם כן היה לו לומר באוהל מועד במדבר סיני. Why is it במדבר סיני באוהל מועד? You chapp the question? When it comes to the time, we gave the specific then the general, the day and the month and then the year. When it comes to location, we give the general and then we hone in on the specific. Why are we inconsistent when it comes to the time and it comes to the location? venireh lefareish... Bezeh says Rav Druck based on a Medrash Rabbah, רב הונא בשם רבי אמי אמר מפני מה מכנה שמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא וקראו שם מקום. Why do we call Hashem Makom? Now if you are a student of Siddur Snippets, then you are recently familiar with this, because we talked about in Kedushah, we’re up to Tachanun now, we last learned Kedushah. And in Kedushah we say a sentence, ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו. Blessed is the glory of God mimkomo from His place. People here have been saying that for many, many years, many decades, many, many. Do we know what it means? ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו. By the way, you say it in Kedushah, then you say it in Uva Letzion, then you say, we say it several places, several times. It’s worth knowing what we’re saying, which is the whole premise of Siddur Snippets. ברוך כבוד השם ממקומו. Blessed is the honor of Hashem from his—what do you mean from His place? What’s His place? What’s His honor? How do we bless him? So go listen, we did several Siddur Snippets on it. But back to Rav Druck here. Why is God called—one of God’s names is Makom, place. שהוא מקומו של עולם ואין עולמו מקומו because God is the mekomo shel olam, the world is not God’s place, God is the world’s place. What does that mean? The world is where we live. We have an address. We have a physical address, we have an email address, we have a WhatsApp address, we have—we have lots of addresses these days. Lots of addresses. We have an address. And where are we housed? On Earth, the globe, the United States, Florida, Boca Raton, Delray, High Oak Trail, that’s our address. That’s where we live. Hashem, His Makom, the world is not His address. His—He is the world’s address. Means, Hashem was, is, and always will be. Hashem is everything. For there to be a world, he has to restrict and constrict himself, what in Kabbalah we call Tzimtzum. He’s metzamtzem. For the infinite omnipotent to make space for something else, he has to withdraw and allow and make space for something else to exist. So the world is our place, but Hashem is the world’s place. He restricts to make room for the world, and that’s why His name is Makom, mkomo. שהקדוש ברוך הוא אינו נמצא בעולם העולם נמצא אצל הקדוש ברוך הוא כיוון שהוא מקומו של עולם ואם אנחנו רוצים למצוא את העולם נמצא אותו במקום של הקדוש ברוך הוא. If you want to find the world, where do you find the world? Where Hashem is. לפי שיש לבאר מאחר ואוהל מועד זה בית השם. So the Ohel Moed, the Tent of Meeting, is the representation of Shechinah, Shechinah shachen, neighbor. That’s where Hashem’s intense presence is felt. השם יתברך מקומו של עולם אין עולמו מקומו נמצא אם כן אדרבה מדבר סיני נמצא בתוך אוהל מועד. Which is in which? Is the Ohel Moed in Midbar Sinai or Midbar Sinai in Ohel Moed? Until now I would have said the Ohel Moed, the Tent of the Meeting, which is in the Mishkan, is in the desert. But Rav Druck is pointing out no, the desert is in God’s world. And where is God’s world? That comes from the Ohel Moed. ומיושב היטב שכיון בציון המקום פסק הזכיר הכתוב תחילה and that’s why it is in a different order, because we need to know that the Ohel Moed that houses Hashem, so to say, the intense presence, the accessible revelation, the presence of Hashem, that is what enables the entire world. And so, the Ohel Moed’s not in the midbar, the midbar is in the Ohel Moed. That’s ברוך כבוד השם מ... we can bless the honor of God. We look around this world and we see so many things worth blessing. Mimkomo from His place means from the place He left for us. He withdrew. He constricted. He was metzamtzem. And He left us a place that we live in, that we think is real, but is just essentially Hashem withdrew from it to make space for us. And that’s why it is out of order. That is the second Rav Druck on this opening pasuk. I promise you we’re going to move on. The third is on the next pasuk. שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל למשפחותם לבית אבותם במספר שמות כל זכר לגלגלתם. בכל הפרשה נזכר פעמים רבות במספר שמות. You know what, we'll come back to this. First I want to see a Noam Elimelech. We'll come back to that. On this opening pasuk, last thing, the heilige Noam Elimelech, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, the heilige Noam Elimelech. So Rabbi Elimelech says the following. נראה דהתורה באה ללמד את האדם שינהג בעצמו כי לפי שהתורה ניתנה בסיני למען ילמד אדם להיות תמיד מוכנע גדול ונבזה בעיניו כדרך שעשה השם יתברך שמאס בהרים הגבוהים ובחר בהר סיני הנמוך מכולם וזהו במדבר סיני. We always read Parshas Bamidbar the week before Shavuos. When I was preparing this class today and I was reviewing those ideas of why we read Bamidbar before Shavuos... I just realized Shavuos is next week and had a minor panic attack. Now you relax, it's not Pesach, you don't have to clean, you don't have to prepare, it's an easy one, two days, not eight days, but those who have to speak many times, this is like Pesach all over again. It could be a little panic. Anyway, we read Bamidbar the week, Shabbos before Shavuos. And over the years we've given many reasons why that is. Why do we read Bamidbar before Shavuos? But here in the opening pasuk, it says God spoke to Moshe where? BeMidbar Sinai. The Torah was given in the desert. Only אדם שמשים עצמו כמדבר, only a person who turns themselves into a desert can receive Torah. What does it mean to turn yourself into a desert to receive Torah? It means a desert is a place that's barren. Desert doesn't have opulence, desert doesn't have arrogance, the desert doesn't have ostentatiousness. The desert is a place of humility and simplicity and survival. And that's what a person if you're ostentatious and arrogant, if you're ego driven, if you have all the answers, then you can't accept or receive Torah because you think no better than Torah. You're going to make Torah conform to everything you already think you know. A person has to turn themselves into a midbar, humble, an empty slate, in order to receive Torah to imprint itself on us. לזה צריך אדם שלא יתעצב מחמת גודל הכנעה יפול בעצבות. But it says in Noam Elimelech, the danger is when a person says a desert, parched and thirsty and barren and empty and dry, that's depressing. That's pretty depressing. וזהו מניעה גדולה מעבודת הבורא יתברך. And a person who's depressed and down and out, that is an enormous obstacle to serving Hashem. You have to be besimcha. לכן הזהירה תורה עליו שיהא להיות תמיד בשמחה אין השכינה שורה מתוך עצבות. Gemara in Shabbos says, if you want God's presence to be felt, you need joy. Our homes, our lives, our community, they need to be filled with joy. Joy. It's one of the most important responsibility of a husband and a wife to each other is to bring joy, the energy of joy to a home. Not negativity, not anxiousness, not criticism, not pessimism. Joy and happiness and smiles and positivity. It's one of the critical ingredients for a healthy, happy marriage, it's one of the most important ingredients and responsibility to raise healthy children is to be joyful. It's not always easy. You have a tough day at work and a lot of pressure, like you just realized that next week is Shavuos and you have a lot of shiurim to prepare and make people believe you know something about America at 250 and you like the rest of your life have to cram it all in. So there's a lot of reasons to come home anxious and nervous, leave it at the door. Leave it all at the door. When you walk into that house, the smile on your face. When you walk into that shul, leave it at the door. You see someone: Sholom Aleichem! Gut Shabbos! A gut voch, Shavua Tov! You walk in, you see someone: How are you? A smile, a positivity, a joy. That's what we need because Ein Hashchina Shora, God doesn't hang out with negative people. God doesn't hang out with the depressed and down and out and negative and farbissene and miserable. God doesn't hang out just like we don't want to hang out. Nobody gravitates to that person. Nobody's like: Are you free? I'd love to be around some of your negativity, can we grab a cup of coffee? Are you free after dinner? I really want to absorb some of your pessimism and anxiety, can we have a cup of wine? Nobody wants to be around that. And not only do none of us want to be around that, you know who else doesn't want to be around that? The Almighty Himself says, you want Me to come? You want to feel My presence? Joy, happiness, simcha. Says the heilige Noam Elimelech, you listening? Zehu be'Ohel Moed. Says such a beautiful vort. What is the word Moed? Moed is a yom tov. Chol HaMoed, a gut moed, moadim lesimcha. Moed is yom tov. Ohel Moed. When you walk into that Ohel, there's always a Moed. It's always a party. There's always a holiday. There's always happiness. Because if that's the place of hashras Hashchina, if that's the place that Hashem dwells, and Ein Hashchina Shora, God only dwells in happiness mitoch simcha, not mitoch atzvus, our homes have to be turned into Ohel Moed. It's got to be a Moed. I just mentioned this in another shiur, I'm not sharing it, it's not a flex, I'm sharing it because I'm suggesting it for you too. We have, it's not expensive, Sonos speakers, there's music playing in our house 24/6. When I say six, 24, I mean 24/6. You wake up three in the morning, there's music coming out. You leave early in the morning, you come home very late at night, there's music coming out. And we brought that to the shul, we have speakers now here 24/6 at shul. You come on this campus, a little skip in your step. The smile on your face, a little joy in your heart because our shul, our homes, they have to be an ohel that’s moed. You gotta walk in and feel there’s a party. There’s a dance party going on. There’s an ohel, this is a tent, that’s moed. There’s joy and there’s happiness, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be real. It could be real. Sometimes you don’t have to have toxic positivity. You could be real, you could have your moments. But on the whole, the purpose, the joy, the default is to pivot back to happiness, and joy, and smiles, and positivity. Ohel moed. Moed is a Yom Tov. Our homes have to look like it’s a Yom Tov, it’s a joy, it’s a happiness. Says the Noam Elimelech, that’s what it says. B’midbar Sinai. First you want to receive Torah you gotta be a midbar. Barren, humble. But then I’m going to be depressed and down and out. So then B’ohel Moed. Then you turn your ohel into a moed, it’s a Yom Tov, it’s a simcha. It’s a simcha. Azoy zogt the heilige Noam Elimelech, I love that. That’s the ohel moed. That’s the nachas un shmuoze that we have to give. Turn our homes into the ohel moed. Pasuk Beis. שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל למשפחתם לבית אבתם במספר שמות כל זכר לגלגלתם. Take a census of the entire children of Israel according to their families, according to their father’s households, by number of the names every male according to their head count. Says Rav Druck, number three: צריך להבין תוכן ענין בזה מהו הכוונה במספר. B’mispar shemos, according to the number of their name, which is it? Are you a name or are you a number? Are you a number or are you a name? מה הוא הכוונה בשמות? למה הוא צריך הכתוב לומר שניהם? Why both? Od yesh l’ayen, as we’ve already explained above. Rashi says, even though God counted us, חוזר ומונה משום חיבה, He counts us in our lifetime, He counts us after our death, להודיע חיבתן שנמשלו לכוכבים. God loves us. We never stop counting while we were here and even after we’re gone, just like the stars. V’tzarich biur, הדמיון בין ישראל לכוכבים. Why the Jewish people compared to stars? ונראה לפי עניות דעתי דבר בדרך נוסף, he says I explained it once elsewhere, I want to give a new explanation. הנראה לפי עניות דעתי בזה. כי מעלתם וחשיבותם של עם ישראל היא בשני חלקים. Every Yid, every Jew, our lives are defined by two parts. החלק האחד שאין כל אחד ואחד נמנה לבדו בפני עצמו. For our lives to have meaning and purpose is to also see what is around us, who is around us. כל אחד ואחד הוא חלק מקבוצה שלימה ונמנה יחד עם כל הקבוצה. We are part of something and someone bigger than ourselves. We don’t live isolation, we don’t live alone, this world is not about us or our ego. We are part of something, part of a family, part of a community, we’re part of a people. וישנם מצוות רבות שרק הכלל כולו יכול לעשות. And there are many mitzvos that only the tzibur, there’s a concept called community, it means something, it matters to be part of, to count and be counted with community. And we have many mitzvos that are only fulfilled with a community. You need people. Shmita, Yovel, we learned last week, we read last week, which happened to be yesterday. Shmita, Yovel, tzibur, rov Yisrael. Zeh inyan hamispar. So in that sense we have to see ourselves as I’m just a number. I’m a number. It’s not about me and my name in lights. I’m just a number. Where do I fit in? I’m a number. I come after the number before, I come before the number after, I’m a number. I’m just trying to fit in. Mitzad sheini, on the other end, אף על פי שכל כלל ישראל גוף אחד ונמנים במספר, even though I’m just a number and we’re all part of something bigger than ourselves, but I should never lose sight of my individual significance. That’s what we were talking about. The logo, the insignia, the Ramchal, each of us are our own world. Ma chovato b’olamo. To know that I also have significance, I’m a name. And that’s the value, that’s where the name comes in. ויש בכחו להאיר לבדו עולם ומלואו שהרי שם מבטא מהות ויחידות. A name, a name is not just a label. A name is a description. It’s a description. Who are you? What does your name mean? Who are you named after? What is your life about? I’m Ephraim Chaim. I’m named for two great-uncles who were murdered, two great-uncles who were murdered in the Holocaust, Ephraim and Chaim. Two brothers of my grandmother. Who were they? What was their life? Why am I named for them? What does Ephraim mean? Yosef’s son. Chaim? Where does the name Chaim come from? A name is a description, it’s who you are. The number is, I’m not a number, I’m a soldier. I fit into something bigger than myself. I don’t need to be a name. A name is, I’m not just a number, I don’t only see myself as part of something other than myself, I’m also me. I have a name. I have a description. I have a mission. I have a purpose. There’s a reason I’m here. יש לעם ישראל מעלה שרק הציבור יכול להם ויש לכל אחד משמעות, and it’s that balance between. and it's that balance between the two. Every star, and in this way says Rav Druck, that's why we're compared to stars. Why? Why? He doesn't say this here, but Rav Meir Shapiro adds this. When Hashem blesses the Jewish people, He tells us, one place we're like the stars in the sky, and another place we're like the sand of the sea. Which is it? Why both? Why two metaphors? Stars in the sky and the sand in the sea. Have you ever tried to pick up one grain of sand? Does one grain of sand have any value or meaning? One grain of sand is negligible. It's meaningless. It doesn't count for gornisht. It's nothing. One grain of sand. Sand is only valuable when you look at the beach, the seashore. The sand comes together and it forms the beach. It protects the land from the water that encroaches from the ocean. It's when you take this grain of sand with this grain of sand with this grain of sand, and now you have a lot of grains of sand. Now you have a sandbox. Now you have a beach. Each grain on its own doesn't add value. Stars on the other hand, a star, what do we describe somebody? Ooh, up and coming, they're a superstar. They're a star. A star is born. A star has an individual value, an individual contribution. That's what Hashem wants us to remember and never forget is both elements and the balance between the two. Some people lose that balance. On the one hand, you're a number, but then on the other you're a name. On the one hand you're a grain of sand, you're negligible and nothing on your own. It's only when you're part of something bigger than yourself. On the other hand, you're a superstar. מונה מספר לכוכבים לכולם שמות יקרא we say every day. Hashem numbers the stars and He gives a name to everyone. To be a named star is to be a superstar. All of this is this one theme: that we have a mission and a purpose, that we're not just blended together. On the one hand our mission and purpose is to be part of something bigger and greater, but on the other hand to not blur or blend in only, but to seek and to see and to understand what is my unique purpose. Minchas Chinuch, we've been learning the Minchas Chinuch, the new edition. So this pasuk, שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל. How do you count the Jewish people? Se'u. What does the word se'u mean? Lift. When you make, when you count someone, you lift their spirits. When you make someone feel they count, you lift them. Nebach, we live in a time how many people feel they're suffering, struggling from feeling invisible. I don't count. Nobody's counting me. Nobody notices me. If I disappeared, no one would even notice. The way that you lift someone, se'u es rosh. Hashem says to Moshe and Aharon: count people, call people, check in on people, give them a name and a number, give them a mission and a purpose, and when you do, se'u es rosh, you will lift their head. Person who is down and out, you will lift their head when you give them a name and a number, when you give them a mission and a purpose. Mitoch chibah, and Rashi says, out of love and affection Hashem counts them kol sha'ah. Kol sha'ah means every, what is sha'ah? Every hour. ויש להבין כולם בכל שעה מונסם כיצד מונסם כאחד מאחר שכלו חשובים יש ביניהם גם בני דעות ופחוסי ערך. Says Rav Menachem Tzion zt\"l, what does it mean He counts all equally out of chiba? But they're not equal. I'm not equal to a gadol b'Yisrael. I'm not equal to people doing incredible chesed and tzedakah. I'm not equal to some of the holy people that we've learned over these last three years, incredible, extraordinary people. Ela Chazal amru. So he says the following: Mishna Pirkei Avos tells us, אין לך אדם שאין לו שעה. Everyone has their hour. Everyone has their 15 minutes of fame. Everyone has their hour. And that's what it means, לזה נתכוון רש\"י מתוך חיבתן לפניו מונה אותם כל שעה. Because God loves us, He counts us לפי כל שעה טובה שנמצאה. When God looks to count us, and the way that we should look to count, is not based on people's worst moments, but to count them based on their best. It's a very powerful lesson. I got an email recently from someone who's struggling. They're going through a hard time and their friends have not checked in on them. Someone in Israel, spouse is in the army, milu'im, their community members haven't checked in how they're doing as often as they could or should. And the person is struggling in those friendships and in those relationships. I didn't know what to write back. I was humbled that they reached out for advice. But what I wrote, I hadn't seen this yet, is essentially this idea: you could judge a friend based on their worst moment, or you could look at 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 years of friendship, of loyalty, of devotion, of showing up, of checking in and of caring. Okay, they failed. They failed in this mission. They failed in this tkufa, in this period. But we don't have to define our friendships or evaluate others based on their worst moment. Instead we should look at and base them on their best. Okay, they didn't answer that text. Okay, they didn't get back to that email. Okay, they didn't give you the best seat at their wedding. Okay, they didn't choose you for the team at the Q. Okay, they didn't... You could judge a person based on their worst or based on their best, and that's kol sha'a. Just like Hashem, אין לך אדם שאין לו שעה, Kadosh Baruch Hu says, metochi baskem, because I love you, I'm not going to look and judge you based on your worst moment, I'm going to judge our friendship based on our best. I feel that as a rabbi. I'll just be honest with you for a moment. There are people I've had a relationship with for many many years. Beautiful connection. They've done many things for me and I'd like to think I or our shul have done many things for them. And then there's like one thing that happened. And all of a sudden I'm the worst, the shul's the worst, the world's the worst, everything's the... and you say, really, 20, 25 years? 20 years? Really? Like, can't you see that as the anomaly? That was the exception? Not everybody's perfect, be forgiving. We can look and we can live, by the way also at our spouse, our children, our friends, our business partners, our community, our rabbis. We can judge people based on their best moment or based on their worst. Which will define and inform how we relate to them? You know how Hashem does it? I'll tell you how we want. We don't want Hashem to base us off our... \"oh yeah, turns out I skipped shul a bunch of times\". We tell Hashem, \"no, remember all the times I came to shul? Remember when I was at my best?\" If we want Him to evaluate our relationship based on our best, then He needs to see us basing and evaluating our relationship with others based on their best. Lefi sha'a, a beautiful, beautiful insight of the Menachem Tzion. Perek Gimmel, is that beis or gimmel? Yud-zayin, skipping right along because we just went through the census and lots of names. Ka'asher yachanu... yeah, Perek Beis, Chapter 2, Verse 17. ונסע אהל מועד מחנה הלוים בתוך המחנת כאשר יחנו כן יסעו איש על ידו לדגליהם. Pasuk is now telling us the encampments, how we were divided, the logos, the insignias, the mission, the purpose, based on our legions. So the pasuk says, ונסע אהל מועד מחנה הלוים בתוך המחנות. The ohel mo'ed traveled with the Levi'im, כאשר יחנו כן יסעו. As they encamp, so shall they journey. As they encamp, so shall they journey. Says the Menachem Tzion again. Says the Menachem Tzion again. קשה לראות סדר דעתם של בני אדם ולהנהגה המוזרה של כמה מהם. He says, among the human beings, the human psyche, the human phenomena, there's a phenomenon that goes המשתנית מן הקצה אל הקצה. From one extreme to the other. יש איש שכבר הוא חונה במקומו הקבוע בקרבת אנשים שידועים להם והם יודעים לו ומתנהג בדרך רצויה בין אלהים ואנשים להביא שמו ביניהם. אותו איש כאשר נוסע למקום שאין מכירים אותו הוא משליך מעליו כל רסן והולך שובב לתור אחרי לבבו ואחרי עיניו שהוא זונה אחריהם. There are people that when they're in their environment, when they're in their habitat, they're amazing. Come to shul, I learn the daf yomi, I volunteer for my chesed, I'm good when I'm home. But when they go on vacation, when they go on the business trip, all of a sudden the yarmulke comes off, forget the minyan, they relax what they eat, a little relax what they wear, a little relax where they go. When they're home, home base, home environment, home habitat, righteous, good to go. When they're on the road, then all of a sudden everything changes. And then you have people, says the Menachem Tzion, who was a rav in Chicago, the son-in-law of the Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim, רב צבי פסח פרנק. He says, then you have other people, לעומת זה יש איש כאשר הוא חונה במקומו הקבוע אינו יכול לכסות ולהסתיר הנהגה פרועה ורעה כלפי אלהים ואנשים כי במקומו כולם יודעים ומכירים אורחותיו ומעשיו. You have some people when everyone knows them for who they are: they're always late to shul, they always talk in shul, they always this, they always... when they're home, eh, unimpressive. They're the person not so good, not so impressive, not so high up. אדם זה כאשר נוסע למקום שאין מכירים אותו, and now they go to a new location, all of a sudden they're the groisse knacker. They come to shul on time, they're the one who know how to davven, they give a dvar torah at the shabbos table where they're hosted, all of a sudden they become a holy roller, they become a holy Jew. Says the Menachem Tzion, that's what the pasuk's telling us, כאשר יחנו כן יסעו. Don't have a dual personality. Don't be two people. כאשר יחנו כן יסעו. It's like a Chassidishe vort. Who you are at home is who you should be on the road. Who you are on the road is who you should be at home. Be consistent. When you're consistent, people will respect you. When you look like you waver, you look like you can compromise, that's when you're in trouble. We had an event last night, I moderated a conversation with Ben Shapiro and Amit Segal. We're going to put it out as a behind the bimah. It was fantastic. One of the questions I asked both of them, incredibly prominent, two of the most famous people who wear kippot, who wear yarmulkes, one in Israel and one outside, what does Shabbos mean to you? Is it hard for you to disconnect on Shabbos? What does Shabbos mean to you? So Ben told the story about ever since he put on a kippah he's never hesitated to leave it there, he's never considered taking it off and he's had to turn down things, and he's uncompromising and he said if you waver, you're wishy-washy, people will walk all over you, but if you're consistent and you stay true to who you are, then, then people will respect you. A time that Bill Maher had him on and he films on Friday night and the only time he could go, he could be there for 15 minutes and then he'd have to leave for Shabbos, and they respected it. He walked off the set in the middle, the panel, because he had to make Shabbos, and that was, there was no question. You gotta be the same. My father's always taught me that in business and in life. If anyone around you anticipates you're going to compromise, whether it's when you're eating, whether it's in your integrity and honesty, whether it's observance of Shabbos, you're finished. כאשר יחנו כן יסעו. So that's going to be a behind the bimah too, interview with him. But all the lessons from business, for life, maybe for Father's Day. Now that I've said it publicly, he can't back out. Right Dad? The gift he's going to give me. Okay, I'm in big trouble. Anyway, כאשר יחנו כן יסעו. Who you are when you're encamped, where you live, is who you should be כאשר יחנו כן יסעו when you're on the road. Who you are on the road is who you and because if anyone gets wind if you're willing to compromise then you're done. But if you're uncompromising, you have integrity, you have principle, you have a backbone, you stay true to who you are, כאשר יחנו כן יסעו, beautiful idea. פרק ג פסוק א. אלה תולדת אהרן ומשה ביום דבר ה׳ את משה בהר סיני. These are the offspring of Aaron and Moshe on the day God spoke to them in Har Sinai, on Har Sinai. Eleh Shemos, then the next pasuk tells us the children of... not a trick question people... children of Aaron. What happened to Moshe? The introduction was these are the offspring, the children, the progeny of Moshe and Aaron, and then we go on to say the children of Aaron, what happened to the children of Moshe? Not my question, famous question of Rashi we've seen it before. אינו מזכיר אלא בני אהרן ונקראו תולדות משה לפי שלמדן תורה. מלמד שכל המלמד בן חברו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו. Anyone who teaches someone else's children, it's as if you've given birth to them. What a Rashi! Aaron's children are associated as if the children of Moshe. Why? Since Moshe taught them Torah they're not just the children of Aaron, they're like the children of Moshe. And we learn from here that anyone who teaches others Torah it's as if they gave birth to them. And I want to tell you, in halacha, we say this halacha le-ma'aseh. The Mishna the Gemara tells us in Shabbos after 120 years we come upstairs and the heavenly court asks us a series of questions. Did we do our business faithfully, honestly? Did we set aside time for Torah learning? And one of the questions we're asked is asakta b'pirya ve-rivya. Ordinarily it's translated as did you fulfill the obligation to multiply, to have children? Did you fulfill pru u-rvu? מחלוקת בית שמאי ובית הלל, we paskin a son and a daughter, a boy and a girl. Did you fulfill the obligation to have children? But that's not what the words mean. This is the Maharsha. Shmuel Eidels, the Maharsha in his commentary on that Gemara says the question is not did you have children, the question is asakta. What does asakta mean? Were you occupied with? Not did you give birth to biological children. Were you occupied with continuity? Did you care about the future? Were you invested in the world being a better place, in repairing and redeeming the world and a future and a continuity of our people? And there are poskim who quote halacha le-ma'aseh based on this Rashi and that interpretation that a person who wanted but didn't have their own biological children when they invest and support and dedicate and care and enable and empower Jewish children to get a Jewish education, when they support Jewish community, when they support Jewish youth and teens, when they support Jewish education, Jewish people, a Jewish power, they are fulfilling the mitzvah of pru urvu. That mitzvah to propagate and promulgate, that mitzvah to have children is not only biologically, but when you empower the continuity of our people. And that's what Rashi is telling us: כל המלמד את בן חבירו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו. You give money to a scholarship, you help a school, you help a shul, you help teach, you help educate, you do kiruv, you empower Jews, you enrich Jewish lives, you have children. I've said this before many times, I'll say it again. He was so amazing and his wife, that it's one of the things that's almost never spoken about about him, but the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Rebbetzin didn't have biological children. And I think, you know, I was just at the Ohel last week, I'll probably go this week, I try to go almost every time that I'm there. I find it very powerful to go and I always go inside the Ohel to the Rebbe and his father-in-law, and outside the Ohel to the Rebbetzin and her mother, to davven at both locations. Very, very holy sites. You know why I think it's almost, I don't want to say forgotten, not noticed, not highlighted, not spoken about, of all the things that people talk about about the Rebbe, they don't talk about the fact that he didn't have his own biological children. You know why? Because do you know anyone who had more children than the Lubavitcher Rebbe? Every picture they take at that Kinus Hashluchim, that picture that I don't know how wide angle a lens you need to get them all in, shluchim that are born today who didn't overlap, never lived in his lifetime, they are children and grandchildren of the Rebbe. You meet Lubavitchers, the Rebbe's their father. There's, it's not he's like my father, he's as if my father, he's their father. The Rebbe and the Rebbetzin taught us you don't have to have biological children to be parents. You just have to care about the Jewish people. You have to care about continuity. You have to care about the future. You have to invest, you have to lead, you have to show up, you have to give. Who had more children in the 20th century than Lubavitcher Rebbe and his Rebbetzin? I don't know who had more children. Rav Druck has another point here. He says the Torah says the children of Aharon are like Moshe's: אלה תולדות אהרן ומשה. From Rashi says something very interesting. Then it goes on to associate אלה שמות בני אהרן. And here Rav Druck points out something I never saw before, heard before. He says you see from here a yesod atzum. מה שנאמר כל המלמד את בן חבירו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו ילדו לא מדבר רק על אדם שמלמד את בן חבירו כל תורה הרב היחידי שלמד ממנו. It doesn't just mean that someone who teaches that person all the Torah they're going to learn, that they are their rebbi muvhak, they are their special rav, that's as if you gave birth. It means anyone who taught anyone anything. If you taught anyone any Torah, it's as if you gave birth, you gave them life, ke'ilu yeldo. שכל דבר תורה עושה את האדם לאדם חדש. Because every dvar Torah we hear transforms us, it makes us reborn, it gives birth to a new part of us. Every Torah insight gives birth to a new part of who we are, and whoever taught us that piece of Torah is our spiritual parent for that part of who we are. If you walk out of here and the only idea you got was this Ohel Moed, that our tent, our homes have to be happy places, our homes have to be places that are dance parties, that are a Moed, then, then not I, then Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk gave birth to that home that you're going to make happy. And when you share Torah with someone else, when you give that dvar Torah, when you give that idea, when you invest on that Jewish education, that Jewish continuity, when you empower that Jewish future, it's not only somebody who taught the whole Torah, it's anyone who teaches even a piece of Torah, ke'ilu yeldo. We associate as if you gave birth. A very, very important he'arah, a very important insight. Perek Gimmel Pasuk Tet-Vav. Page 738. Now we move along to the census of the Leviim. The tribe of Levi was counted separate and apart from the rest of the Jewish people. Why that is, Lechem Shelomoh, Sichos Mussar, we've told many times. But here I want to get to something else. So here Pasuk Tet-Vav: פקד את בני לוי לבית אבותם למשפחתם. Count the tribe of Levi according to their father's household, according to their family. כל זכר מבן חודש ומעלה תפקדם. Count every child from one month old, count them. One month old. One month old, what can a one month old child do? למה מבן חודש ומעלה? וכי מבן חודש יכול לשמור אהל מועד? This little Levi, pitzkaleh, this little month old Levi. Baruch Hashem, kein ayin hara, I've been zocheh to have grandchildren. They're in the... They're amazing, they're delicious, they're the greatest bracha. When they're a newborn you hold them for like three seconds and you get until they can say your name, Zeide, until they can smile back at you a little bit, until they can I'm not so good like you hold them a little bit and then they're a little pitzkaleh, a little peanut, a month old. What are you going to do with them? So Menachem Tzion says, what is Hashem counting the census of Leviim from their one month? What are they protecting the Ohel Moed at one month old? They're carrying the aron at one month old? They're singing for the korbanos at one month? What are they doing at one month? אמר רב הונא כהן בשם רבי שמואל בר זעירא בשביל לכפול להם שכר עד שהם בן חודש. In order to double the reward. What double? What reward? What are we talking about? אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא אני מכתיב עליו כל ימיו כל ימי חייו שיקבל שכר כל יום שהיה בעולם אף שיבת לוי אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה שימנה אותם מחודש ומעלה כדי שמחשבה משתשבת להם עד שהם בן חודש הוי מחודש ומעלה תפקדם. אדם בהיותו בגיל של קטן פטור מכל מצוות התורה. A little kid is exempt from mitzvos until a Bar Mitzvah or a Bas Mitzvah. Bas Mitzvah, you're not obligated in mitzvos. A katan. But what do we do in that time? Chinuch. We teach, we educate, we prepare, we get them ready. When they get to the age of thirteen, they're not only rewarded for the mitzvos they do now as they mature, technical adult, but they are retroactively rewarded for all the education and all of the love and all of the preparation and everything you put into them all the way since the beginning. And that's what Menachem Tzion explains. אין הקדוש ברוך הוא מקפח שכר כל בריה שכר הכפול הולך גם אל ההורים. The parents are rewarded, the teachers are rewarded, the ganenet is rewarded, the everyone who was invested and involved from one month old and up in teaching that child to love a life of Torah, to love being a proud and practicing Jew, they're rewarded. So you think you don't count because you're only one month old? You don't count, you're not doing anything until you're old enough to do? No. What counts is what you're eliciting and bringing out of the people around you who are invested in you. And all that adds up that everyone is rewarded once you come of age and once you now begin to do mitzvos. פרק ג פסוק טז, next passuk. ויפקוד אותם משה על פי ה' כאשר צווה. Moshe counts according to the way it was, according to the way he was commanded. פקודי בני לוי למשפחותם. Rashi says... Oh. Moshe is commanded by God, go count the tribe of Levi. Go count, go to their tents and count. So Rashi quotes from Chazal, היך אני נכנס לתוך אהליהם לדעת מספר יונקיהם? How do I go to their tents in order to find out how many little babies they have? I'm not going into those tents. I'm not going into those tents. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא. There's some rabbis, you visit people in the hospital for sad times, maybe you go for happy times. Some rabbis who visit a woman who gave birth wish a Mazel Tov, the baby. So my wife told me after she started having children, nobody wants to see the rabbi after they gave birth. Rabbi's the last per... call, send a text message, have flowers delivered. Nobody, I promise you she told me nobody wants to see you. I promise you when they gave birth. They're recovering, they're figuring out nursing, they don't look their best, they don't want to see you. I promise you. So Moshe is outside the tent of these newborn babies. He says, how am I supposed to count how many little babies there are, how many Leviim there are? I can't go in their tents. אמר לו הקדוש ברוך הוא עשה אתה את שלך ואני אעשה את שלי. You do what you need to do and I'll do what I need to do. הלך משה ועמד על פתח האוהל והשכינה מקדמת לפניו. Moshe walked around and he stood outside every tent. ובת קול יוצאת מן האוהל ואומרת כך וכך תינוקות. He walked around the neighborhood. He didn't knock on the door because nobody wanted him to come in and he didn't think it appropriate to go in. But because he did his part, which was to walk the neighborhood, a heavenly voice went out of each home and God said, there's twins in here, there's a kid in here, there's three triplets in Leviim in here. מבואר לכאורה דברי חז\"ל שלבסוף לא עשה משה בדיוק מה שנצטווה שהרי צווה עליו לפקוד אותם ולבסוף רוח הקודש. So asks Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir, asks Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, Moshe didn't do what he was commanded. He was commanded count the Leviim. But he didn't. He went for a shpatzir. He went for a walk. And it was the heavenly voice that counted the Leviim. He wasn't the one who fulfilled the mitzvah, he's not the one who counted. Says Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, Chazal tell us... כל תלמיד חכם שאין בו דעת נבלה טובה הימנו. Any, any talmid chacham who doesn't have da'as, any talmid chacham who doesn't have da'as, any great scholar who doesn't have common sense, a putrid spoiled carcass is better than him. Think Chazal felt strongly about this? I've quoted in the past Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt\"l as an essay he talks about Da'as Torah and he says before you could talk about do we believe in Da'as Torah, you have to talk about da'as. If you don't have da'as, you can't have Da'as Torah. And being a talmid chacham doesn't mean you have da'as or Da'as Torah. And he tells a story of when he went to pay a shiva call to his rebbi, Rav... no, he went to pay a shiva call to his rebbi, Rav Hutner, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, the Rosh Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin. And just before him there was a big Rosh Yeshiva who was paying a shiva call when Rav Hutner's wife passed away. The Rosh Yeshiva walked out and now Rav Aharon Lichtenstein was with his rebbi, Rav Hutner. And Rav Hutner said, you know, you won't believe what this person was telling me. He was trying to comfort me but he was saying the most foolish things that were the opposite of comforting. And he told Rav Hutner, he said, you know what the Rabbi said? כל תלמיד חכם שאין בו דעת נבלה טובה הימנו. They didn't say כל עם הארץ שאין בו דעת. They didn't say any ignoramus who doesn't have common sense. They said a talmid chacham who doesn't have da'as. You could be a huge scholar and have no common sense. We look for leadership not only people of a lot of Torah. It's not enough to be a talmid chacham. You can't have Da'as Torah if you don't have da'as. You have to have common sense because if you don't, neveila tova heimenu. Back to our regular scheduled program. Said Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, we'll end with this. Said Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, even though I'm tempted to... I have no end date, I could keep going till Mincha, the afternoon slot, the evening slot. Im kein, למרות שניתנה הפקודה למשה בפירוש למנות את הנפשות הבין שאין, even though Hashem told him go around and count, he understood that da'as, common sense tells me don't go in the tent. I needed my wife. I didn't have the common sense. I'm an am ha'aretz that had no common sense. But Moshe Rabbeinu is a talmid chacham who had da'as. So he realized don't go in the tent. They don't want to see you, they just had a baby. They don't want to see you, they're raising their little children. So therefore for him his job was just walk around. You do your part and Hashem does His. And what a powerful lesson of emunah. Whenever in the Living with Emunah shiur, which by the way this week because I have these weddings in New York will be given from the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst, Wednesday morning 9:00 a.m. exact same time in Boca, you're the ones who are going to have to watch live on YouTube. But if you live in the area, New York, you're welcome to come. I can't vouch for slushies or coffee or pastries, but my dear friend Rabbi Trump was kind enough to let me give the shiur there, 9:00 o'clock Wednesday morning for men and women at the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst. So in Living with Emunah we talk about every week this relationship between hishtadlus, initiative and effort, and emuna b'tachon. This is an absolutely critical source for that conversation where the Midrash says, Hashem tells Moshe: You do your part and I do My part. Don't try to do My job. I'm not going to do your job. You gotta do it. No one's dropping off a bag of cash at your front door, get off the couch and go to work. The biggest segulah for a parnassah is having a job. Get up off the couch and go to work. You do your part. Ay, how are you going to make ends meet? How is it going to all work out? How will you pay the bills? You did your best, you're taking your initiative, you're doing your... you do your part, I'll do My part. The moment you start doing trying to do My part, says God, I'm not going to bail you out. You have to know where that line is. That's complicated. That's hard. Where exactly is that line between the two? For that you have to come to Living with Emunah. Thank you for coming even in the evening slot, wishing those to whom it applies Happy Mother's Day and wishing everyone a phenomenal day.
