The Role of Torah Learning in Jewish Life - Likkutei Torah Bamidbar "Vayedaber" #1

The Yeshiva.net We'll do by the beginning of the debrief. What about midbar? Right after what we finished page 30, the next article by Daba. You see my midbar page 30 by Daba the Kima Varamela Lema. Got it? Yes. Okay, perfect. Daftas Vaf column three. If you like the Hebrew the Hebrew ones. This my mirror by Daba the Kima opens up with the course the first passage of the opening of the series of debriefs. It's in by midbar because it's part of the series of my mirror. And it was said by the Bala Tanya on on Shavuos. In the year tough kuff sama khes tough kuff sama khes would be in English 1808. and um it focuses on the opening of the series of debriefs but as usual we'll uh move on to explore some of fundamental aspects of the series of debriefs and of Torah and mitzvahs in general. So, let's begin. By Daba the Kima called the Varamela Lema Anochi. The opening of the series of debriefs is Hashem spoke all of these words and by Daba the Kima called the Varamela Lema and he begins Anochi Hashem Elokecha as it says in Parshas Vayikra and it goes through the series of debriefs which is what the Jewish people experienced and heard and so on on the day of Matan Torah. This is already a question of the shamash. It says by Daba the Kima is called the Varamela Lema Anochi. You don't have to say the speaker got up and he said all of these words and then start saying what he said. Just say what he told me. By Daba the Kima like it always says by Daba Hashem Elokecha Lema and then it says what he said. Right? Daba Yisrael do this. By Yikra Moshe and he says Adam whatever say by Daba the Kima Hashem spoke and tell me what he said. Anochi Hashem Obviously, when he'll finish the speech, I'll know that he said all these things. Why the introduction by Daba the Kima is called the Varamela Lema? Anochi Hashem Elokecha. What's this called the Varamela? The word Ela represents it demonstrates something that is apparent. It's conspicuous. It's revealed. It's the Nila Isgalia. It's exposed. It's conspicuous. By Daba the Kima is called the Varamela means these words. Ela when you say Ela you could point to it. You could say right here are my children. Here are my Here's my whatever it is. Ela is this. It's something visible. That's why Mishneh Torah begins with those words Ela Varamela Moshe. This is the distinction he's making between Mishneh Torah and the other Mishneh Torah is a record of Moshe's speech to the Jewish people. Ela Varamela Moshe called Yisrael and he goes through Moshe in the last weeks of his life beginning from till the seventh day of gave his final will and testament so to speak to Yisrael. That speech is recorded in That's what which is called Mishneh Torah the repetition of Torah Mishneh Shaini second. The repetition of Torah. There are When he's using Mishneh is he using poetically? Poetically of course. Poetically. Okay, means means Moshe means No, so the first we didn't hear from Hashem. Hashem speaks to Moshe. He's the only one who heard it. We heard it all from Moshe all the mitzvahs besides the series of debriefs. We heard it from Moshe. Mishneh Torah is Isgalia. Mishneh Torah the message from its source is revealed because the source is Moshe. The source is Moshe. That's why it's called Mishneh Torah which is Mishneh Mishneh means so to speak like second to the king. Second to the king. In other words, it's not the Torah itself where Hashem speaks to Moshe which is completely concealed. It's Moshe revealing the Torah because it's the origin is Moshe. It's Moshe speaking. It's not a message that the king gave over to the Mishneh Lema so to speak to give over to the people. It's the Mishneh Lema himself giving over the message to the people. All of Torah is Isgalia. It's revealed. Torah brings out Torah is the way. It's the path and it's the commentary and explanation on all the mitzvahs. From Torah itself as we know most mitzvahs would be incomprehensible unfathomable. We wouldn't know what to do. Torah brings it out. On all of this he says by the series of debriefs by Daba the Kima is called the Varamela. All these words the Nila. Hashem spoke by the series of debriefs not only Anochi Hashem Elokecha. By Daba the Kima if he would have said Anochi Hashem Elokecha he spoke Anochi Hashem Elokecha. We want to say he spoke all these words. Which words? The words that are defined by Ela. The words that are conspicuous that are visible the Ela words. What does this include? It includes not only the mitzvahs that he tells Moshe but it includes the whole Mishneh Torah and it includes the whole Torah is all part of the Daba the Kima. Does he mean Isgalia in terms of Does Isgalia with the Torah mean here that that was Moshe with Godly with all of Yisrael? How is he using the word Isgalia here? I think Isgalia here is on two levels. Number one that the source is revealed. In other words, Moshe is speaking to the Jewish people. It's not Moshe is repeating what he heard so to speak privately. That's number one. The very practical level the the original source is revealed and of course that's also true by Torah. Torah is not something that's created in heaven. Created in the created in the created in the Yeshiva. And number two is he's talking about Isgalia in the sense that it brings out the totally revealed. That's of course the function of Torah but also Mishneh Torah was that. The says in Parshas Hoyel Moshe by on Hoyel Moshe Bayer is a Torah Lema. The function of Mishneh Torah was to remind them to clarify to explain to bring out some details that were not clear. So, generally that was also an element of course. Is Torah something different in the whole Torah? It is different. The says Mishneh Torah Moshe has my own This is Moshe's speech. The previous four parts of Torah is not Moshe's speech. Yeah. Which is by Daba Hashem Moshe Lema. Or it's the stories that happened or it's what Hashem told Moshe. Sometimes it has what Moshe told Hashem also or what Moshe told the Jewish people. That's part of it. But Mishneh Torah from beginning to end is not Hashem speaking. It's Moshe telling the story. Does the series of debriefs include Mishneh Torah as well? Yeah. And in in Mishneh Torah you'll have a second series of debriefs too. Moshe repeats the story of the series of debriefs in Parshas like he repeats the story of the repeats the story of He repeats many stories. He goes He sums up the 40 years. Basically and he tells them the mitzvahs many of the mitzvahs. Here there's a long parenthesis which is usually a footnote of his grandson of the Tzemach Tzedek who always has the references Gemara Zohar and so on. After the parenthesis You see right away brings the Gemara in the Gemara Gemara Gemara says the Gemara says that what that all the different opinions were given from one shepherd. Don't think you're going to respect this view and reject this view. It's all from and what does the Gemara bring? The by Daba the Kima is called the so you see clearly that the Gemara in when it speaks about what does the Gemara say a reference to the whole Torah? Yeah. The by Daba the Kima Sinai. All of them is by Daba the Kima and the point is Kima. The divine energy the divine presence shrinked itself. It contracted itself restricted itself in a state of what we call which is which represents the of of self-limitation. Like Hazal say, that we heard the Gevurah. The term is Gevurah, which Gevurah of Shem Elokim, which represents restriction. So, when it says we heard the Gevurah, it's not just a youth, another name for Hashem. The point is Gevurah, there was an element of tzimtzum here. All compressed in Midas Elokim. As he's going to explain. So, it says Elokim is called that is meticulous. Generally, we see the Matan Torah happened with a lot of fanfare. Zarah is huge huge tumult, huge noise. Matan a lot of noise. Kolos sounds, Brakim lightning. It wasn't just Hashem spoke. He spoke to Avraham, he spoke to Noach, he spoke to Adam, he spoke to Yaakov, he spoke to Yitzchak. Spoke to Lavan, spoke to Avimelech, spoke to a lot of people. But here, he didn't just speak. It was a whole huge experience. It came with as we would say, the fireworks. But not just fireworks, heavenly fireworks. Huh? A lot, yeah. Now, ostensibly, when you read the Dibros, it's really basic civil law. At least a lot of them, right? Don't murder, don't commit adultery, which is basically the elemental, the basic elementals for a civilization to function. If people were to be allowed to murder, so then it's you can't have a civilization. If people could steal, people could take each other's families and spouses, there's no ownership, so you have complete anarchy to the point of just endless violence. It's basically called survival of the fittest. So, the any logical person who wants to create some type of society, you need some constitution to create respect for boundaries and borders. He says it's very simple. We know in history, unfortunately, it's not such a simple thing. He doesn't mean simple but there's no Yetzer Hara. Simple thing means the need for it is a simple thing. And unfortunately, too. Nonetheless, Hashem gives the Dibros with such fanfare as though as though it's going to be hard to accept. And in order for you to accept it, it has to come with a lot of side effects to be able to impress the message, to be able to inculcate the message. Why the need for the fanfare? The key to the Torah is Gilyan Ein Sof Mamash. The of the Torah was not just to give over messages, to give over data information including mitzvahs. The Torah was there should be Gilyan Ein Sof Mamash. What does this mean? There should be Gilyan. Literally, the revelation or the experience. There should be the experience, the internalization of Ein Sof Mamash, of the energy of the infinite one himself, literally. Which as the name implies, it's called Ein Sof in Kabbalah and Hashem is always called Ein Sof, the infinite one, the endless one. Literally, it means there's no end to it. So, this is what it is, Ein Sof. And this Ein Sof is manifested in Torah is Baruch. Cuz Torah is his personal wisdom. It's the way he thinks. The Rambam, this is a of the Rambam in many places. The Rambam says, Hashem and his wisdom are one. All the Rambam's words the Rambam finishes with Doa. He is the the instrument of knowledge. He is the knower and he is the known. By a person, you have three concepts. You have the you have the you have the Doa. Your is the person who knows. is the instrument of knowledge, the mind, the brain. And your Doa is the concept that becomes known. Yesterday, I didn't know about it. Today, I learn about it. By Hashem, the Rambam says who I who I am. He is one with his He is indivisible. His wisdom is indivisible. And everything he knows is not new knowledge that he acquires from outside. Like I learn about a country, I learn about a concept, or I learn about a phenomena, or I learn about an idea. So, it's new stuff that my brain now has to incorporate and internalize. But since everything comes from him, so he knows it by knowing him. So, basically, it's all part of self-knowledge. It's all the Rambam. So, he says, he is one with his The is him. He is the So, therefore, when you say he's in Torah and he's Ein Sof, it's not the Torah that's something separate. His is one with him. What Matan Torah tried to accomplish, and that was the reason for the fanfare, for the the was not just to tell people not to kill and not to steal. This is one of the of Noach. Why would the of Noach be given the Brakim? Says that's not what you needed the Brakim for, to tell people to behave like normal people. It's important, of course, it's important. It's the foundation of civilization, but you didn't need the Brakim. The Brakim, the was there should be there should be able to be the experience of a person should be able to have intimacy with Hashem. What does it mean have intimacy with Hashem? With absolute infinity, and it should be Gashmi. This experience should be able to take place within physical matter, within the physical world. This is the Hamsha. Hashem spoke all of these words. The Rambam in order to be able to say What does this mean? This is what he's teaching now. All these words were said All these words were said that a person should be able to say What does it mean a person be able to say? A person should be able to feel, to experience. There should be a What's Anochi means me. There's no name. Who is me? I. Anochi is I. Who's I? It's beyond names. It's beyond descriptions. In other words, it's the essence. This should be able to be experienced to the point that it's called YOUR GOD. ANOCHI, I. I. I AM WHO I AM. MY essence becomes your God. It becomes yours. It belongs to you. You own it. It's yours. That's the difference between Anochi and you. When you say I, what is What's I? What's I? Which part of you is I? This is It's It's the I beyond names. There's the I the way it's described. It's described in a name, whether it's a name that we call you or a name in a more broader sense. Like the name that you have, the reputation that you have, even to yourself. When you think of yourself, what do you think of? You think of yourself in your pure essence? It's very hard even to think about an essence because the moment you're thinking about it, it's already in words. And words usually don't capture the essence, even to yourself. All right, yeah. Talk to somebody about sports or about the weather or about Trump, and they could have to speak to you for 4 hours. Now, tell somebody, "Describe to me your deepest essence." And they'll usually even after 2 hours won't be able to come up with an answer. I don't understand. Sports, the weather, or Trump are alien things to you on some level. Maybe not sports. So, how is it that you could speak about it so easily for so long without interruption? And when one asks you about your essence, this is the you. Now, the words should flow. The answer is that words, even if you're honest with the person, words are containers. As containers, they're limiting. And because they're limiting, there's no words to capture the essence, which is why the human race from the beginning of time invented new means of communication because we always realized how impoverished words are, even though words are the gift of humanity. And what distinguishes us from animals. The Targum says We're called But still, words themselves could be so limiting. And that's why we invented the language we call poetry. What's poetry? Poetry also words. But why was poetry invented? Cuz poetry could sometimes capture sentiments that ordinary words will not. And then we invented music. Why music? Speak. Again, music touches a place. It captures sentiments. It captures dimensions of the self that are deeper than words. And then the most important thing we invented was the sound of silence, which captures even more than what poetry and music can capture. So, what's this because I am is the of a person. By a person, I'm talking about. Who are you? I. Beyond description, beyond definitions. I am. All names do not do justice to this. Told you once, the Medrash says The Medrash says that every person has three dimensions. There's who you are, there's who you think you are, there's who other people think you are. There's who other people think you are. And I would add a fourth dimension. There's what you tell the who you are. That's a fourth dimension. The Medrash didn't know about that. But that's a fourth dimension. So, what is it? Who you are and who you think you are are not the same person cuz who you think you are is how you're defining yourself and that's even if you're functional. And if you're dysfunctional, then it's not connected. But the I itself is completely beyond description. That's the definition. That's what now talk about Hashem. When you say means I know I am your God. Your God. You made me. You created me. I'm yours. You say this is your house. You paid a million dollars for it. It's your house. It's your car. It's your business. It's your job. Yeah, it's your husband, your wife. Yeah, you married them. What do you mean he's your God? You own him. You created him. You You define him. What do you mean yours? What they owned him? They made him? They didn't make him. If I care it, he made them. They didn't make him. means your God means the way you capture God. The way what God is for you. What God means for you. That's not God. That's what God means for you. It's also God. But it's not God. You understand? What do What do I mean for you? Is that me? What do I mean for you? Is that me? Is that me myself? No. It's how I affect others. It's the relationship. It's the relationship. Every person has two aspects, their essence and their PR mechanism, public relations mechanism. PR doesn't only begin with other people. It begins with yourself. Your PR What do you tell yourself about yourself? Even if you think about yourself, which is in itself a hidush. Right? So How do you define there's a many say morning in the before before before I do in the beginning before the zimra. says I know God by the name of God. I know that God is great. So there's a one of the the the the one of the says I know God Hashem. Most people touch the they they they they put the emphasis on the later part of the verse. I know God by the name of God. But really the emphasis is on the beginning of the I know God by the name of God. I know and the way I know it nobody else knows it. There's something about life that only you know. Nobody else knows it. By Jacob alone. By each person alone. In the middle of the night there's an element of Jacob who's alone. I know this is what you know. This is how you experience Hashem. And your experience is based on your brain, on your consciousness, on your soul, on your capacity. That's I am your God. What makes me yours? That you're open to a relationship. But that relationship by necessity is defined by you. It's what you can grasp of me. What does Hashem mean to you in your life? It's an interesting exercise to do. It's more than interesting. What does God mean to you? What is the once told you what's the word that that your mind conjures up when you hear the word Hashem or God? What's the first instinctive word? Most people you if I had to ask you to when you hear the word God, Hashem, Elohim, whatever, instinctively it brings something up, a thought, a feeling, an emotion, an instinct, maybe a picture by many. Especially if you didn't think about it since you were a child. So when you were 4 years old when you heard God, it came with the picture cuz everything comes with pictures. That picture may still be with you. And if you were to draw that picture, what does it look like? I'm not telling you to think about it and then give an answer from thought cuz that's not you. That's not your experience. You're repeating a shear. I'm talking about what you experience instinctively when you hear the word God. You know what most people experience? Fear. Yeah. Fear. And what's the picture they experience? What's the picture you have? Don't worry. Everybody's in the same boat. You're not the only one. Trust me. Thunder. Lightning, thunder, right? Eyes Eyes, scary eyes, your older brother, your father, uh you say that your boss, yeah, your schwieger. Right? He takes on Sometimes he takes on a person. He's portrayed like a person. Some wind, blackness, darkness, gray. Now understand, this is the classic definition of idolatry. An image, a picture. No one means to do idolatry, but that's what it is. says get rid of the pictures. We can't get rid of the pictures because they're ingrained and we just keep on coming back to them. So let's understand all of this means that all of our religion is still based on a conception of God that we experienced when we were two or three or six or seven. And many people never extricate themselves from that definition. From that label. That label remains and it's complete label created by human being which may be accurate or may be inaccurate or may be much worse than inaccurate. May be actually misleading and and and oppressive and damaging. But that's what the person has. And sometimes a person could be 40. A person could be 70. But that picture still comes up. When they say if they're even thinking if they're even thinking, what's the picture that comes up immediately? Again, this is before the philosophy, before explanations. That's already superimposed stuff. You said over a word. I'm not saying what you say over a word. I'm talking about the instinct that emerges immediately in your psyche, in your consciousness when you hear the word. You know uh uh they say an old joke that there was a teacher who did this experiment with the kids and said, you know, tell me the first word that comes up when you hear God. Write it down on a piece of paper and give it a So this was a Hebrew school. So one kid wrote Hanukkah, Purim, menorah, Torah, Israel, whatever, you know, Yom Kippur. So one child wrote scale. So the teacher says, what in the world is the connection? She says, I don't know. We We're in a family of atheists, but all I know that whenever my mother gets on the scale, she screams out, "Oh my God." So this was her association with God, right? But it's not only a joke because that's sometimes what God is. You know, he becomes a scale or whatever that thing is, a cotton candy, uh uh uh uh a drill. Somebody once told me it's an electric drill. That's what he imagines. An electric drill. Shine the light. Dark Dark eyes from a cloud. They're very common. It's a picture people get, you know, the heavens, clouds, it's dark. It's dark eyes. is your God. Who is your God? Who is your God? Now even in the profoundest way, it's yours. It's your definition. Who is your wife to you? Who is your husband to you? Who is your child to you? It's not necessarily who your child is. I'm going to quote a philosopher who once said, "We don't love other people. We love our version of them." You understand? We don't love other people. We love our version of it. We create a version of the other person and that's what we like. And you know what the problem is? One day we learned that our version was inaccurate. And suddenly it's like, "Whoa." "Oh, I never This was a I loved my version of you. Problem is this wasn't you." I would say many marriages, especially today's days, have this issue. You loved your version of your boy, your girl, whoever it is. Suddenly you learn that they are not your version. They are they. Like, "Whoa. Oh, that is time to move on." I don't want to get into this now, but this is the the of the whole story of Jacob and Rachel and Leah. The wife Jacob thinks he's marrying, he doesn't marry. He marries a different wife. He thinks he's marrying Rachel. He marries Leah. This is not a story about Jacob. It's a story about every single person. Because Rachel and Leah are metaphors. They're the same person. Rachel is your version of your wife and Leah is your wife. It says this in As usual, it says this. Rachel is Leah is In simple words, it means Rachel is your version of your spouse. Leah is your hidden spouse, meaning who she is, not who you think she is or the box you put her into or you put him into. No difference, men or women. The concept is the same. That's why we do the What's the It is a strange custom for somebody who was never at a Jewish religious wedding. And it doesn't really look good in 2016 to cover a woman under the cover. Especially in some circles where she's really eclipsed. She doesn't see anything. So when he puts the ring on her, he doesn't see her. She doesn't see him. Great marriage. I am consecrated to me. The most important moment, he doesn't look at her. She doesn't look at him. Don't you think when you marry your wife you should at least see who you're marrying. Make sure it's not Hillary. It's a So we take it for granted. You do it. You do it. You do it. So there's different explanations. The deepest explanation is this. What we're telling you is Listen to this. The marriage is what you see is not the full picture. You have to be ready to marry that what you don't see. You have to be ready to marry Leah, not only Rachel. If you only marry the person you see, you may be very disappointed. And this is going to be a short-lived relationship because we all grow and people change and life develops people. What I know is not what I knew a year ago. Think about who you were at the age of 16, who you were at the age of 20, who you were at the age of 25, 30, 35, etc. And life changes people both because they grow, hopefully, and because of circumstances. Whether it's it's Halacha, grief, or you know, life life is life. It's tough. It could be tough. So, you have to know that you're marrying Leah, not marrying Rachel. Leah is Almana discussing. Leah means not my version of my spouse, but my spouse. And you know what? People hate Leah. They don't like Leah. They love Rachel. We love the spouse that fits in to our paradigm. THAT'S WHAT I LIKE. YOU KNOW WHY? Cuz that fits. It suits my ego. It's like somebody once came to a rabbi and he says, "You know, I can't be married." He says, "Why?" He says, "SIMPLY, I THOUGHT I'm getting a BMW. I got a Buick." Remember the Buicks? Father drove a Buick? No. She drove a blue station wagon, yeah? A blue station wagon. I thought I'm getting a BMW, I got a Buick. So, the rabbi told him, "Well, the problem is you were looking for a car, not for a spouse." Right? With a car, what you see is what you get, unless the car dealer is a crook. Huh? Shem doesn't change, we change. Elokim is your God. It's your version. It's what you NOW, THAT'S TRUE. THAT COULD BE TRUE. I'm not saying it's dysfunctional. It could be. But it's yours. Anochi is me, who I am. Says the Baal HaTanya, "Midas HaKavod, Vayidaber Elokim es kol hadvarim ha'eileh." All these words, in other words, the whole Torah was what? Lema'an to be able to accomplish, to be able to reveal that Anochi should BECOME ELOKIM. YOUR GOD SHOULD BE ANOCHI. SO, they should match. They should match. Or the way he puts it here in his Lashon HaKodesh, it should be Giluy Ohr Ein Sof Baruch Hu Mamash bidvarim gashmiyus. The Ohr Ein Sof Baruch Hu Mamash, which is Ein Sof, which is infinite, so can't be my version of it, cuz my version is my version. That was the Chiddush of Matan Torah. The whole drama, the Ra'ash, the Kolos, the Brokim was not to tell us Lo Sirtzach, he shouldn't kill. That's the seven Mitzvos Bnei Noach we're told. That's of course a Yesod. It's to be able to in the Lo Sirtzach experience and in all of the Aseres HaDibros that Anochi should become Elokim. In other words, your version of God should be God. Your version of God should be God, which is also a name. I'm saying it cuz I have no other name. That's why the name that he always chooses is Ein Sof. Ein Sof means infinity. It's harder to do a picture for infinity. Think Now, make a picture of infinity. Infinity will usually not be scary. Infinity will usually not be black. And infinity will usually not be your enemy. Right? Cuz what does infinity mean? Infinity means reality. Reality. Now, we don't have a picture for that. It's It's It's a maturing process to get from Elokim to Hashem to Anochi. We'll see these three stages here, Anochi, Hashem, Elokim. So, Vayidaber Elokim es kol hadvarim ha'eileh is what? The whole point was there should be Anochi, Hashem, Elokim, that Anochi should be b'bchinus giluy. That the two should match. The true essence of who I am, that should be who you have who you have. I should become yours. I should be yours. In other words, you should have a relationship with me for real, with the real me, not a relationship with an image of me that may be me and may not be me, or may just be a poor reflection, or may be completely erroneous, and may be completely completely erroneous. After one of the Shiurim on Sunday, somebody came over to me, a woman actually, and uh she said something very interesting. She said that uh she's very sensitive, she's spiritually very sensitive. So, she said that her whole life, as her married life, she was extremely frustrated with her husband. That he's not this, he's not this, he's not that. She's always angry and nervous and frustrated and annoyed. Then she started to work on herself. She learned about different things and she started to really develop herself, work on herself. And she At some point she realized that, you know, she The only person you could change is yourself. You can't change anybody else in the world. The only real person you could change is yourself, right? The Sfas Emes HaLanto said famously that uh when he was young, he decided he's going to change the world. When he got older, he said he can't change the world, he'll change the country. And then he realized he'll change the city. Then he decided the community, and then he realized he can't even change his family. He says, "Now I'm an old man and I realize the only person I could change is myself. So, I'm working on myself." And then he added, "And if I would have realized this when I was young, by now I could have changed the world." So, that's what she tells me about herself. And then she says, "And I did a lot a lot of work. And then when I came to the other side, I realized that my husband was there already. All my annoyance, all my frustration was Torah Shebaal Peh. Torah Shebaal Peh, the whole function of Torah Shebaal Peh is to be megaleh Torah Shebiksav, to explain it, to elaborate on it, to clarify what it means. As well as Mishneh Torah. Mishneh Torah is what Moshe told the Jewish people, not what Hashem told Moshe. In other words, it was something that was revealed because they heard it straight from Moshe. With the other Sefarim, Hashem spoke to Moshe privately, and then Moshe gave it over to the Jewish people. Now, when we say Moshe spoke Mishneh Torah, it doesn't mean he stam said his own words. He said it as a prophet. So, why did the Gemara say that Mishneh Torah Moshe midpi atzmo amrah? Mishneh Torah Moshe said himself. The Gemara in Megillah, the Tosfos says b'Ruach HaKodesh. So, what's the difference between uh between Mishneh Torah and the other Sefarim? The point is that by Mishneh Torah, the ideas were, so to speak, filtered through Moshe's mind. It was Moshe speaking. Moshe was a prophet, but it was Moshe speaking. With the first Sefarim, it, so to speak, wasn't filtered through Moshe's mind. So, that's why Eileh refers to Mishneh Torah. So, Vayidaber Elokim es kol hadvarim ha'eileh leima'ar means what? That all of this all of this, the whole is galuy, is all niklal in the Aseres HaDibros. What Hashem spoke was es kol hadvarim ha'eileh, all these words, in other words, even Torah Shebiksav and Torah Shebaal Peh, even Mishneh Torah, it's all part of kol hadvarim ha'eileh, that all aspects of Torah, also those that are part of Eileh, Mishneh Torah and Torah Shebaal Peh, are all included in the Aseres HaDibros. So, what he's going to discuss about Matan Torah, the koach of Aseres HaDibros includes all parts of Torah. And all of them was Vayidaber Elokim, he said דווקא midas Elokim, which is midas HaDin, because because uh um Hashem communicated to the Jewish people even the that which was revealed to the Jewish people. So, that required there should be some Tzimtzum to be able to compress that infinity to be able to relate it to the Jewish people. From this he went on to discuss why there was such noise, such fanfare, such drama by Matan Torah. Just to communicate or they seem to be elementals, basic stuff of every civilization. Why did you need such a big rash? He says because the rash, tumult of Matan Torah the commotion, the tremendous drama of Matan Torah wasn't just to give over a Mitzvah or or or or or or or Rather it represented something. Because the was that the person should be able to experience the the infinite one himself which is literally infinite. And that's enclosed in Torah which is his wisdom and he and his wisdom are one. So, therefore you can't separate between him and his wisdom. So, in the Torah you have literally the life. And this Torah was given to a material person dealing with material issues of life so that the should be expressed and revealed he says in in the physical, in the physical life of the person. And that's the meaning of the word The word is also superfluous. Usually means to repeat to other people. To repeat but here everybody was there. So, why did it say it? The is he is that every Jew for all generations Hashem spoke all of these words that they should be able for Jews throughout all the generations they should be able to reveal that that I I represent the essence which is beyond description, beyond the resume, beyond names beyond the way you experience me, you describe me, you define me. It's I I which is the essence should be able to become that should become your God. What is your God? So, it's interesting the only shame of Hashem that becomes individual to people is shame of him. Right? There's no changes in shame or shame or other names of Hashem. They always remain identical, uniform. When it comes to shame of suddenly it becomes a custom made name. How do you do that with you want to say it's you or there's no way. With shame of it suddenly becomes individualized. My God it's suddenly ours. Mine. What do you mean it's mine? It's not mine. It's God. I I own I own him, I created him, I formed him. It's mine. What does it mean mine? So, the way the explains it is that this this is what represents. Represents how I experience him. It's it's what God means for me and what he means for me may not be what he means for you. It could be something else for every person. That's what we say it's opposite views. How can they both be he's contradicting himself? We don't say because that's what is it's plural. Why is it plural? is singular. All the are singular. is plural to the point that sometimes used even in in in which one view doesn't mean it means judges they're called him. And it's plural also. But that's the word. is not because there's more than one because of it. Because is diversified in the human experience of him. In other words, there's the what God means to me what Hashem means to you. How I feel it, how you feel it, how you describe it, how I describe it. They may be they may be they may be all accurate. They may be some somewhat accurate. In this there may be distortions also. That doesn't have to do with that has to do with the way we perceive it as I mentioned. You know, different people how they perceive their relationship what God means for them. But even in the most powerful so to speak functional, wholesome, loving way is my experience of it. So, you say there's complete unity. Complete unity and that's why it's because it's diversified. So, you can have saying two opposite things and both are because truth doesn't exist only one it's not one color. Every color represents something of the of the larger picture like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Every piece of the jigsaw puzzle expresses some truth of the ultimate picture. No piece on its own captures all the truth but every piece captures some of the truth and together they recreate the whole truth. So, it therefore becomes individualized. Our God, my God. What's the meaning of that should become that that my essence should become should become that was the of Matan Torah all the all the all the all the all the all the all the All these words that a Jew should be able to say, to reveal that my me. Who is me? Me is without a name. It's not me the way you define me, my version your version of me. Me I should be able to become yours. The should relationship should be with with the infinite himself. So, he continues day. You see where we're holding. Yeah, it's page 30 the second column 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 lines from the top by mid birth 30. Make sure you're in by mid birth 30. To reach the first you need Zion to become. On this the says in A seven weeks you should count may from when you begin to take the sickle to the stalk. Which of course refers to the carbon fiber. You took the sickle. It's a sickle. to the standing stalks of barley. You cut it with a sickle and you grind it into flour and you offer the carbon fiber to the and that's when you start counting. This is the to Literally means the standing stalks of wheat, of barley, of grain. They're called it. They stand tall in the field and you come and you cut them, you harvest them and you bring the carbon fiber. But the represents spiritually the natural of one's beastly consciousness. One's natural dispositions and emotions. On their they could be defined by a means egotistical. Completely self contained. Why is it called a like a stalk? The stalk is standing there erect powerful, firm, strong. The a person's natural emotions are very very very very very very very very They're very powerful. They stand it's not easy to affect your it. They stand very very strong, unwavering. I mean the wind could sway the stalk a little here, a little there but ultimately if it's a if it's a healthy if it's a healthy stalk it's not shriveled up, it stands strongly and the same is with the they're very strong and they don't they don't they're not transformed easily. What you got to take the sickle to the stalk. I need to work with them. I need to humble them in two stages. One is called one is called it. means from the word it. Right? Like the expression expression I said to me. It literally means to compel, to force. From the word transformation. In English to translate means subjugation. means transformation. There's two stages of how you deal with your it. One is you subjugate and one is you metamorphosize, you transform. And they're two phases one follows the other. means I don't transform my it but I identify it and I don't allow it to control my behavior. That's called it. So, for example I may have a bad temper. I may be I want to maybe punch the way I mean I want maybe want to break the window. I may want to holler. I may want to insult. I can't transform my it's there. But can I I can identify where it's coming from and I could say I don't want this part of me to rule my life. I don't want it to dominate my thoughts, my words, my actions. That itself is a very significant step in life. To identify the various forces that exist in your the various emotions and therefore to say despite you despite this emotion being so powerful I will be I will identify it and quarantine it and put it in its place. Imagine you're driving a car and there's somebody in back seat and when you stop at a red light HE SAYS, "NO, GO GO GO TAKE THE RED LIGHT." SO YOU SAY, "But this truck's COMING THE OTHER WAY. IT'S DANGEROUS. They can be hurt. I CAN BE HURT." "NO, TAKE THE RED LIGHT. TAKE THE RED LIGHT." SO WHAT DO you do? You take the red light or you say, you know, thank God I'm sitting at the wheel. Thank God if he would be sitting at the wheel it would be very dangerous. Now imagine THAT VOICE IS INSIDE YOU. IT'S NOT IN THE BACK SEAT. The back seat driver is you. That voice is in you. Okay, but you're sitting at the wheel. That's the key. The problem is we become victims. We don't think we're sitting at the wheel anymore. So the one screaming TAKE THE RED LIGHT you say, "Okay, take the wheel. Why are you giving me the wheel?" So it's a voice. So what? Not every voice not every emotion is Kadashim. You still have control over your life. That's a Scafia. Scafia means you're you put it in its place. You put it in its place. It's already a deeper state. You work on yourself to the point that you rid yourself. You transform yourself. That's already a later stage. So generally in these are the two streams in in especially there's a Scafia and there's a Samcha. You pick up a sickle to the comma to cut the harvest to cut the the comma or the son. Literally means to to I don't want to say destroy but it means they should seize from the word kill. To transform them to iron. Now when you read this without context what does it sound like? It sound like you take your emotions you your natural and you cut them down. Right? You cut them down. But let's look the next line because this is such a key to see the context. Here's the key. What's your objective? The meters activity that your natural seven meters of the animal soul should become Zion to spar lock. The Russian is seven ALWAYS TO SPAR LOCK. WHO'S LOCK? I'll be shot seven weeks you should count to you. To you. What's the something much deeper? You want to take your seven meters of the and you want to spar lock. You want them they should start shining AND REFLECTING LOCK YOU THE YOU WANT your meters should be aligned mirroring and reflecting God's meters. That's what that's that's what it means to make them from iron. Yes iron doesn't mean you destroy them so that you don't feel. That's not what is Scafia and means you don't feel. So you know what the best thing is? You just shoot the guy. And then he won't have any bad meters anymore. Right? But that's not a solution. The point is to align your meters that they should reflect their true source. What's their source? The Hasham Allah. The true the truth of your your for my seven meters to function in their most optimal way is when they mirror their own source. When they project the divine meters which is the source of my meters. That's why you say lock. So if you wouldn't read this line you would say go to the sickle cut it destroy it exterminate it. Right? That's what it sounds like but then he adds one thing. You want them to be bottle What does bottle mean? That's why I always tell you means alignment. They should become included in meters. Shame on you. Momish. Right. That's what iron is. Iron means that they lack the substantiality of brutness. They have the the the energy of the divine which we call iron because it's not something tangible. So we define it as nothing. In other words iron is is is complementary. Iron is complementary. In the higher space it's the other way around. Right? The yes is is cheap and the iron is real. So that's what he's saying. THAT'S SEVEN TO SPAR LOCK TO THE THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. YOU WANT to take the sickle to the meters to the comma. On their own the meters are comma. You want to align them they should become bottle and in the to you are the seven meters meaning your own meters are also submerged in your own infinite energy. This is the we say in every and what's the period comma This comma literally means every standing creature says this comma that it's the natural meters in a person so you transform this comma to iron to to become aligned and one with you. That's what he said in the minor that we learned earlier that is like the word with that your meters should be the they should reflect the 10 they should reflect they should reflect meters. So What is he saying? What he's saying here is that to be able to get to one needs the introduction of seven to spar lock comma. Now it's interesting because you know how they define the comma. Right? The mission that brings in the name of the that you have to count when you're standing. Even though you're if you did it when you're sitting but the you have to stand why? So the bring and it's brought in because it says the comma. I'll take the comma the comma you have to be you have to be standing. That's what everything in represents something in the why do you have to be standing because that's what is? If I don't have if I'm not a I can't be the yes. You know what I mean? If I'm if I'm crushed there's nothing to be to work on the meters means you have meters. You have emotions and you're choosing to align your emotions with God emotions. And that's a very critical point in all these things that we discuss in all of these my mind. That Hasham is always a choice. It's a choice. In other words if I take you take your two year old child and you tell your child you're a nothing and your emotions are nothing you the emotions from yes to iron. But what? You turn them not into a divine iron you just turned it into into nothingness. They won't feel I I can promise you they won't feel. This happens. This happens. Tell a three year old your emotions don't mean anything. They're grab they're animalistic they're beastly. They're yes yes stop being a yes. What do you have? You have a zombie. That's not called it's called being a zombie. It's called a death sentence an emotional death sentence. That's not God is not a zombie. Not a paralyzed lifeless zombie. So the comma you stand. That's why has to be standing. In other words means it's don't don't sit. Don't sit by So it's fascinating how the mice and the spiritual idea really mirror each other because when I'm sitting we I'm bent in. REAL FOR A STANDING PERSON STAND STAND UP STRAIGHT DON'T limp and don't sit. Stand erect. In other words what is it representing? I have my METERS AND THEY'RE POWERFUL AND I'M WORKING WITH THEM. THAT'S EXACTLY what you do. If you don't have meters nothing to work with. SO YOU HAVE COMMA. YOU DON'T SAY, "OH IT'S SUCH A PITY. I wish THE STALK OF BARLEY WOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN CUT AND GROUND UP." NO, IT HAS TO BE STANDING IN THE FIELD ERECT. And you GO WITH A SICKLE AND YOU HARVEST IT AND YOU GRIND IT. In other words this is the it's a choice you make. It's a choice you make. It's not that you're forced because when you're forced you're not doing anything. It's being done for you and what's left? What's left is nothing. So this is a choice a person makes. So the is standing not just physically. In it's physically in it's emotionally. My meters are standing. A person has very powerful dispositions and very very powerful emotions. And what's the challenge? The challenge is to cut them from from their and align them with with their source. Now here we also discover an important idea when we speak about working on somebody's meters. Often you'll talk about a fact that a person needs to remove or or or challenge or refine his bad meters. Let's say anger or arrogance or cruelty or such types such types of meters. Narcissism selfishness etc. The focus though here is not just on the meter raw. It's on something even deeper than that. And that's the of the meter. The of the meter. For example, you can have a person we'll call him a baal chesed. He likes doing chesed, right? Or he likes the reward of that comes with chesed. I don't only mean the reward he's going to be honored at the dinner. That's a special level. I'm not talking about that type of person. I'm talking about the inner reward. Maybe even the feeling of oilam haba, right? I'm going to get oilam haba. It feels good. I could tell myself I'm a good good person. People invest a lot in being able to telling themselves they're a good person. Right? I do chesed. I do more chesed. And so on and so forth. What's the issue here? The issue is they may be doing chesed, but they did not liberate themselves from the yesh. In other words, they're completely they're not feeling necessarily uh the the the the Put it this way. The the avodah here in the middos is that the middos should be aligned with Hashem's middos. In other words, it's not just I'm doing the right thing because of my nature or because of a reward. The chesed is a different type of chesed. It's not a yesh's diker chesed. It's a bottle diker chesed. And the same is true with gevurah, with tiferes. It's refined. There's a divinity to it. There's a godliness to it. There's an aidelkeit to it. The person has actually transcended their ego. Because a person can have good middos, but if their middos are completely focused on their own perfection, I want perfection. I want s'char. I want to feel good about myself. Ultimately, the comma I did not challenge. The comma is still there. I'm still completely caught up in the ego of my emotions. I did not transcend the ego of my emotions. It's still completely for me. My sense of egotism is at the core of all of these positive emotions. I'm helping you, I want reward. I'm helping you cuz it feels good. I'm helping you, I want to be called a baal chesed to myself or to others, but even to myself. And then at night I go to bed and I tell myself, look how much chesed I did, consciously or subconsciously. That's not what we're addressing. We're addressing something much deeper. And that is the yesod of the yesh's of the middos. That the middos should transcend the sense of self-centeredness, even spiritual self-centeredness. It's also a form of self-centeredness. The real bittel of a middah means that your middah reflects the divine middah. What does it mean the middah reflects the divine middah? That the person's middos are oisgehaldt to middos. The middos themselves are not characterized by a yesh's. Sometimes it's the software that I change, but not the hardware. So I'm I'm I'm talking doing chesed, and I'm even feeling an inyan of chesed. But the person still remains stuck in the paradigm of egotism, detached from their source. So may ha'achel chemes ba'kamma is a transformation of the middah where the person can really really feel the other human being because of the refinement of their soul, the refinement of their character. That's a that's that's a very important hadgasha here in the avodah of middos that the yesod of kedusha is bittel. Bittel means oneness with Hashem. Dveikus with Hashem. That's what the yesod the yesod of kedusha is. If that's missing, the divi- the divinity of the middos, it's still a comma. So it's not just, okay, I learned I don't say lashon hara, right? Or I I do nice things. That's all gevaldike inyanim. It's certainly better than saying lashon hara and not doing nice things. And I I I'm not getting I'm not going to get angry and so forth. But sometimes that only deals with the software and the person still remained completely imprisoned and confined in their absolute sense of egotism. And they're just serving themselves. What does it mean serving themselves? Their selves has different priorities. But they didn't go out of that. They did not go out of that trap of of serving themselves. The Maharal writes that it's it's quite it's important words. That somebody who serves Hashem in order to get oilam haba, he's not serving Hashem, he's serving himself. So one person does things in order to make money. Another person does things in order to make spiritual money. But they're still doing it for the same reason. They're doing it completely for self-centered purposes. He says it's not called avas Hashem, it's called avas atzmi. I do it for myself. So these words of the Maharal are very heavy because this means what does it really mean to serve God? What does it mean to serve God? We're talking about you do it for oilam haba, s'char, oilam haba. So you're doing it for yourself. Not this world, next world. So you believe in another world. Other people don't believe in another world. Or you think you believe in another world or you were taught to believe in another world or you're afraid. Avodas Hashem begins with another stage. Avodas Hashem begins when a person discovers that their true self their true self is selfless. Their true self is deeply connected to Hashem not just because I want the reward, so therefore I'm just using it for me. The question is, what what s'char for me is? One person wants cotton candy. You get a little older, you want an iPhone. You get a little older, you want some kavod. You get a little older, you want some oilam haba. So that's just the question of what. But the concept is the same. Huh? Whatever Whatever it is. Yeah. Now again, it's better than you know, you're doing everything for You're doing good things. Whatever the purpose is, shaim mitoch shelo lishmah. We're not chas v'shalom criticizing the notion itself. But the true concept of avodas Hashem, al pi pnimiyus ha'Torah, is transcendence. What do we mean by transcendence? Transcendence means that the person elevates not just the middos themselves, but the yeshus of the middos. The middos are not any more yesh's dik. I'm not any more a spiritually self-centered person. So sometimes you have a person, they're doing and feeling nice and beautiful things, but the internal galus the galus pnimiyus of avodas Hashem, they could not get out of. Why could they not get out of it? Because sof kol sof, at the core of everything is an endless ego. And everything is to serve to serve that ego. So there's something Huh? What? That's natural, yeah. I'm just explaining what he's saying. What is s'char? You don't even know what I'm talking about. Ad kan dayka. Rabbeinu Yonah says like Rebono shel Olam didn't make the world because of his feeling good. You know, to to do chesed to the world. He created the world with middos of chesed, but not because it made him feel good. So the whole reason why the world was created was so he could get reward. Wasn't that why Hashem created the world so he could give us reward? He didn't want to just give us reward, he wanted us to have to do something to get it. We have to do to get s'char. If we get rewarded, then why are we saying we're trying to get rewarded is not good? Now you're asking a good question. Now you're asking a very good question. Isn't it true that the whole reason the world was created cuz Hashem wanted to give people s'char? So to say not to do something ba's'char is absurd. That's the whole core of existence. The whole core of existence is God says, I want to reward you. I'm not going to give you free lunch. Right? Nahama d'chisufa. You're talking about the Ramchal. What Which sefer are you talking about? You're talking about a specific sefer or just how you were Huh? It says in the question. What? No, I'm just asking a question. No, no, I'm saying this thing you're quoting, that the world was created to get s'char. Okay, fifth grade, fine. I just want to clarify. You still remember, huh? These things you remember. So he's asking a gevaldike question. The whole tachlis is Hashem says, I want to give, but I'm not giving free lunch. Why am I not giving free lunch? It's the famous vort. People are nahama d'chisufa, bread of shame. When you get something for free, you don't like it. Well, most people probably today would like it. But officially, when you get something for free, you don't like it. Okay. So you have to work hard. So Hashem says, work hard and I'll give you s'char. This is the highest s'char of all. Huh? But this is ultimately the highest s'char. This meaning and purposefulness is the highest s'char. So suddenly when we say it's not about s'char, what what do we mean it's not about s'char? That's ridiculous. Why should I do it if not for s'char? The whole tachlis is for s'char. Right? That's your shaila. That's a good question. That's a very good question. Okay, we have to address it a little more ba'arichus. We may not do it. We'll do that. I hope tomorrow. And uh try to understand this a little bit. Okay, chavrusa. Okay. 30 by midbar, yeah? I know I have a choyiv from yesterday's question about s'char and and oinish and oilam haba. So we'll get to it b'ezras Hashem. I just I have to formulate it in my mind. So it's not formulated yet. I uh an organized more detailed response. So, base of Hashem I'll remain a ba'al chiyuv. Okay? Let's continue perek bais. U'viur hadavar. U'viur hadavar, the explanation of the inyan. Explanation of which inyan? She'vai davar Elokimus kol advorim maila, the tachlis of kol advorim maila is leimor anochi Hashem Elokecha. That anochi should become Elokecha. But the hachana to this happens through s'firas ha'omer. To explain this inyan, that the whole tachlis of kol advorim maila is a beautiful chiddush here in my one saw. He titches it's really the nekuda of this ma'amar, but the way he does it, you know, in his style of the two liners. So, he says "Vai dabber Elokimus kol advorim maila leimor anochi Hashem Elokecha" is the p'shat that Hashem spoke all these words, kol ha'Torah kula, leimor that a Jew should be able to say anochi Hashem Elokecha. In other words, that the tachlis of the whole Torah and the nekuda in Torah is for a person to be able to experience anochi Hashem Elokecha. Kol advorim maila. Any nekuda in Torah a person comes across, it's not connected to anochi Hashem Elokecha. He's speaking with a about a specific halacha, but sof kol sof, if you get it, the tachlis of every nekuda in Torah is that a Jew should be able to say anochi Hashem Elokecha. How does Torah do that? What's the connection to Torah? So, this is what he starts explaining, u'viur hadavar. Hinei noidei ma'amar Chazal, Chazal tell us she'nimnu v'gamru. Chazal tell us, it's a Gemara in Kiddushin, that Talmud gadol mima'aseh. The Gemara brings the machlokes between the Tana'im, what's gadol, Talmud or ma'aseh? What's greater, learning or doing? The Gemara's answer is Talmud gadol sha'Talmud meivi lidei ma'aseh. So, nimnu v'gamru that Talmud is gadol. Talmud ultimately is greater. The Gemara d'chaka says "Talmud gadol she'meivi lidei ma'aseh." But we don't say ma'aseh gadol, we say Talmud gadol. Talmud is greater. Va'amru al pasuk The Gemara says on the pasuk "V'chol chafatzim lo yishvu ba, afilu chefzei shamayim." Famous Gemara in Mo'ed Katan. The HaMelech says in Mishlei "Kol chafatzim, all chafatzim, all objects in the world, even desirable things, chefetz, lo yishvu ba, don't compare to it." Zog the Gemara, "Afilu chefzei shamayim." Even chefzei shamayim, holy objectives, don't compare to Torah. They don't come close to Torah. U'viur Yerushalmi is sam and dam and Yerushalmi in Pe'ah there's a shita sha'afilu, listen to expression of Yerushalmi, sha'afilu l'davar echad min ha'Torah ein kol ha'mitzvos k'dai. All the mitzvos, all mitzvos can't compare to one vart of Torah. These are very loaded perspectives of Chazal about Torah versus chefzei shamayim. We're not talking Torah versus cheap objects. We're talking about mitzvos. So, the Yerushalmi has a shita that all the mitzvos put together don't match up with one davar of Torah, one halacha, one idea, one inyan of Torah. And yet Chazal tell us in Kiddushin "Talmud gadol sha'Talmud meivi lidei ma'aseh." In other words, the reason Talmud is great is because it brings lidei ma'aseh. So, the mashma'us is that ma'aseh ultimately is the ikar. It's just you can't have ma'aseh without Talmud. So, of course you need Talmud, but not Talmud gadol because Talmud gadol, Talmud gadol because that's what you need as a prerequisite. You can't do if you don't learn. So, we have here two streams in Chazal. On one level Yerushalmi tells us all the mitzvos can't compare to one vart of Torah. The Gemara in Mo'ed Katan tells us "Kol chafatzim, even chefzei shamayim don't compare to Torah." In Kiddushin we say "Talmud gadol mima'aseh." But there's a reason, because it's meivi lidei ma'aseh. What if it wouldn't be meivi lidei ma'aseh? It wouldn't be Talmud gadol mima'aseh. So, how do we understand this? How do we understand this? I just want to say one thing on a social level. People who are complete don't really know the world of Chassidus from the inside, only from reading a few outside books, have the common conven- have the common saying that there were two streams in Yiddishkeit. There was the stream of, so to speak, the Vilna Gaon, the world of Lithuania, which was Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah. And then there was the stream of the Ba'al Shem Tov and the students who said, "Yeah, what feelings and passions and emotions and ecstasy and so on and so forth." So, I always tell them you obviously have not learned more than uh you never learned any ma'amar in Likkutei Torah because if there's a truth to that or not is a good question. But uh it's completely a narrow perspective, completely not understanding the whole world of Chassidus and certainly not of Chassidus of the Ba'al HaTanya, Chassidus Chabad. You could see here right away, right? I was giving one example of probably uh I can give you uh literally 90,000 examples just from Likkutei Torah and from his other s'farim, but uh you right away see here how he's going to introduce already that in Chazal you have this nekuda that all the mitzvos don't even come close to davar min divrei Torah. And yet we see on the other hand the emphasis on ma'aseh mitzvos. And how do we understand how does Yiddishkeit look at learning? How does Yiddishkeit look at ma'aseh? Yeah? What what's this Yerushalmi "Afilu chefzei shamayim"? That's a Gemara. That's Mo'ed Katan. That's a Bavli. That's a Bavli. Bavli in Mo'ed Katan daf tes. So, so what is chaf- "Afilu chefzei shamayim"? Mitzvos. Is that what it's referring to? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or the reward of the mitzvos? No, no. Chefzei shamayim means chefetz that's for heaven. Tzitzis, tefillin, mezuzos, sefer Torah, a a chefetz of shamayim. Huh? A chefetz of shamayim. Yeah. Chefetz both means an object and also means desire, something desirable, like chafetz. Ela, the emes is the Gemara asks this question. We don't have to go far. Gemara about in Bavli Ramu K'riah d'dadi. Gemara in Mo'ed Katan daf tes. The Gemara says a contradiction of two psukim. K'siv "Kol chafatzim lo yishvu ba, afilu chefzei shamayim." U'KSIV "KOL CHAFATZAI'CHA LO YISHVU BA." The mashma chafatzai'cha v'lo chefzei shamayim. There's two psukim in Mishlei. One pasuk in Mishlei perek ches says "Kol chafatzim lo yishvu ba." All chafatzim, stam chafatzim, even shamayim. Another pasuk in Mishlei perek gimmel says "Kol chafatzai'cha lo yishvu ba." Your chafatzim don't equate with Torah, but chefzei shamayim do. Freig the Gemara, we have here an inherent contradiction in Mishlei. What doesn't come close to Torah? Your personal issues, your personal needs, your personal chafatzim, or even chefzei shamayim? And for the Gemara, m'shani. Zog the Gemara, this is in maseches Mo'ed Katan daf tes. Kam b'mitzva she'efshar la'asosa al yedei acheirim, kam b'mitzva she'efshar la'asosa al yedei acheirim, depends. If the mitzva can be done through somebody else, it does not come close to Torah. And therefore, even chefzei shamayim don't come close to Torah. If it's a mitzva that can't be done through somebody else, in other words, the mitzva will not be done, then it triumphs over Torah, then you stop learning in order to do the mitzva. That's the klal. So, therefore huh? What? I asked what chafetz means. Chafetz means uh objects, uh assets, things, things. So, there's things that are personal and there's things that are heavenly, like mitzvos. So, one pasuk says that that doesn't come close to Torah. One pasuk says it it is. Huh? Mitzvos are chefetz. No, no. All mitzvos are called chefzei shamayim, objects of heaven. Are they tangible or are they not? No, no, no. No, no. No, objects of heaven. Lulav and esrog, it's not a personal material thing, it's an object of heaven. Meaning God wants me to shake a lulav and esrog. Putting on tefillin, putting on a mezuzah, any mitzva in the world. From b'dikas chametz to eating matzah, from blowing shofar to lighting Chanukah candles, any any mitzva from the taryag mitzvos of Torah. Tefillah, whatever it is, shacharis, mincha, ma'ariv. Doing a favor to somebody, g'milus chassadim, tzedakah, bikur cholim. Hachnasas orchim, malvis es mes, nichum aveilim, any of the mitzvos, d'Rabbanan or d'Oraisa, that's called chefzei shamayim. Objects of heaven. Meaning you're dealing with an object of heaven. If I take a dollar, I give it to a poor person, it's not a dollar, it's a mitzva, it's an object of heaven. Right? So, the Gemara says it depends. If it's a mitzva that will could be done through other people, then you should continue learning. So, for example, I have a sukka. I have to build a sukka. There's a mitzva called sukka. Do I stop learning or don't I stop learning? I'm a Yid who sits and learns. It's erev sukkos in the morning. My wife says we need a sukka. Do I tell my wife there's a Yerushalmi that says that all the mitzvos in the world don't come close to Torah. So, you want me now to stop for eight hours and build a sukka? Is that what? So, what's the answer? The answer is if there's somebody who's going to build your sukka, k'son t'heid, let them do it. But if nobody's going to build a sukka, so then you got to stop and build your sukka. That's what the Gemara says. Mitzva she'efshar la'asosa al yedei acheirim. If it's a mitzva you can delegate, somebody else can do it. There's a mitzva of somebody needs tzedakah. There's a mitzva of pidyon, whatever the mitzva is. A mitzva of pidyon shvuyim. If somebody's going to do it, continue learning. If somebody's not going to do it, then you have to stop learning in order to do the mitzvah. We don't say by Talmud Torah, "Osek b'mitzvah patur min hamitzvah." Since I'm learning, I'm patur from it. We don't say that by Talmud Torah. It's interesting why not. Why not? The pashut answer is there's other answers. The pashut answer is we'll soon see a deeper answer because if you say "Osek b'mitzvah patur min hamitzvah" by Talmud Torah, you you wouldn't do any mitzvah in the world, right? Cuz you could always be an osek b'mitzvah as Talmud Torah. Al kol panim, this is what the Gemara says in Moed Katan. Val kol panim, but what do we see from here? That mitzvah she'efshar la'asosa d'acharei mevatlinan mipnei Talmud Torah. A mitzvah that you could do, even according to the Bavli, you are mevatal. You're not mevatal. You're you're A mitzvah that you could do, you're mevatal the mitzvah because of Talmud Torah. Talmud Torah wins. Va'afilu kol hamitzvos einan k'dayan filu l'davar echad midivrei Torah k'dei sheyishame'u. So, even the Bavli who doesn't say such a strong statement like in Yerushalmi that all the mitzvos don't match up to Torah, EVEN THE BAVLI is mighty that Torah is greater than mitzvos. Cuz the Talmud Bavli says if somebody else could do the mitzvah, don't do it yourself. You learn Torah. But Yerushalmi goes even more. The Yerushalmi says that ALL THE MITZVOS TOGETHER DON'T COME CLOSE TO divrei divrei Torah. So, both Gemaras, Bavli and Yerushalmi, clearly put Torah on an elevated pedestal transcending mitzvos. Val kol panim, but now this whole idea is l'chora not comprehensible incomprehensible. Halacha Talmud Torah hu osek b'feirush b'veiur hamitzvah k'tzad ti'aseh os. What's Talmud Torah? What are you learning when you're learning? You're basically learning explaining a mitzvah how to do it. That's what you're learning. We learned today Maseches Beitzah. So, what did we learn today? We learned today Maseches Beitzah about how to celebrate Yom Tov. It says in Torah you shouldn't do melacha on Yom Tov. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? WHAT DOES TORAH MEAN? You shouldn't do melacha, but you could do OCHEL NEFESH. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? AM I ALLOWED TO GRIND kernels into flour? That's what we learned. So, what did we learn about? We were learning pshat how to do the mitzvah of simchas Yom Tov. Right? You're learning any maseches. You're learning Maseches Shabbos. What are you learning? You're learning when the Torah says don't DO MELACHA, WHAT'S PSHAT? ALL THE PULPULIM, all the sugiyos, all the rishonim, all the acharonim, that's what you learn. Any maseches in the world. You're learning Maseches Trumos U'Ma'asros. What are you learning? How they give trumah. What they give, what not give, who give, when give, how give it, what stage, at what point. You're learning Maseches Sukkah. What are you learning Maseches Sukkah? There's a mitzvah to build a sukkah. What's a sukkah? How to build it? What's kosher? What's not kosher? How many walls? What type of schach? How tall? How short? The walls here, the crooked wall, WHATEVER IT IS. SO, I don't understand. Valama yigdal koach umalos ha'osek b'feirush b'veiur hamitzvah yosef uma'aseh mitzvah atzmah l'eis mevatal mitzvah she'efshar la'asosa d'acharei. Does this make sense? To learn about how to do the mitzvah is superior to doing it to the point that if somebody else can do it, I shouldn't stop learning it? It's pshat chuchmas k'gadol umatzmiach. Hafrashas trumah d'Orach Chaim. I have grain and produce in Eretz Yisrael. I have to give trumah. I have to give trumah to 2% to the kohen. Efshar l'dayeishliach. I could do it myself. I can go to my field and separate the grain, 2%, and go to the kohen and say, "Here's your trumah." But let's say I can appoint a shliach. What's the halacha? B'shvil osek haTorah she'yeileif na la'asok b'hilchos trumah. I call it my I call it my child. I call it my friend. I say, "Trumah d'Orach Chaim." I'm learning. Take the trumah. He's very very graphic example. Take the trumah and go give it to the kohen. Do it for me. It'll take you 45 minutes. Yeah, he lives in the other side of town. Take the trumah. So, he says, "Why can't you do it yourself, my dear friend?" He says, "I'm learning." Uh, "What are you learning?" So, you open up, he's learning Mishnayos Maseches Trumah. What are you learning about? You're learning about that you have TO GIVE TRUMAH. HOW DO YOU DO IT? WHEN YOU DO IT? I DON'T UNDERSTAND. Here you have an opportunity to practice what you preach. SO, CHAZAL SAY DON'T PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH. PREACH AND DON'T PRACTICE CUZ SOMEBODY ELSE LET SOMEBODY ELSE PRACTICE IT. SO, it's a strange thing. It's a strange thing. V'IHU OSEK B'FEIRUSH b'veiur hamitzvah uma'aseh d'acharei. In no other area of life does this exist. Imagine a doctor is sitting and toiling over medical texts, medical books. He's toiling and he's hot ofein he's trying to understand, yeah, how this part of the the brain works and how this part of the heart works and how the kidney works AND HE'S HOT OFEIN and hot ofein and trying to master new development. AND SUDDENLY THEY CALL HIM AND SAY, "THIS MAN'S HEART STOPPED." YEAH? This man had a stroke. THIS MAN'S BLOOD WHATEVER. SO, HE SAYS, "SEND THE RESIDENT." SAY, "WHY? What are you doing?" He says, "I'm trying to figure out how you heal somebody who had this illness." Chacham, instead of sitting here, go do it. Go do IT. YOUR WHOLE TACHLIS WHY YOU'RE LEARNING YOUR TEXT IS FOR WHAT? For what? To be able to practice it, to be able to do it. So, now you have an opportunity to practice it. Say, "Sorry, I'm busy with the text." YOU'RE LEARNING MASECHES TRUMAH. GO DO IT. THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE LEARNING ABOUT. NO? CHAZAL say you continue LEARNING IF SOMEBODY ELSE CAN DO THE MITZVAH. IF NOBODY else can do the mitzvah, you don't have a choice, you stop. There's a pshat. Havana here you have to understand. What's the vart? What's the vart? Achayinu yediu hapshat eitz zeh sh'tika she'eila, no? It's a sh'tika she'eila. Not really. It's not a sh'tika she'eila. Okay. Cuz if you have a that doctor isn't in the learning, then everything will the other people will not know what to do for others. They're not advanced. But this is not only on Gedolei Hador who are formulating the halachos. We're talking about an ordinary Yid. We're not only talking about that individual unique person who's basically in charge of writing the medical texts. Achayinu yediu hapshat is as follows. The pshat is as follows. K'ma'amar Chazal, the Gemara says that the Mishnah says in Pirkei Avos, "Im ein chochmah, ein yirah. Im ein yirah, ein chochmah." Which is our chibbur n'ichlas Hashem. If there's no wisdom, there's no orah of Hashem. If there's no orah, there's no wisdom. So, how do you begin? You're telling me if you start with chochmah, it's not going to work cuz you need yirah. On the other hand, if you start with yirah, it's not going to work cuz you need chochmah. "Im ein chochmah, ein yirah. Im ein yirah, ein chochmah." So, I ask, how do you start? Which one do you start with? Or really the question on a more abstract level is what's the connection between chochmah and yirah? L'chora, chochmah is you're learning. You're learning chochmah. You're learning wisdom. How is that connected? If there's no yirah, there's no chochmah. What? So, the Inyanim b'hektem l'vaya. This Inyan needs a big hakdamah. And here he goes into introduce one of the big yesodos of Toras Hanistar, especially Toras Hakabalah and Chassidus. To give a general biur, he can change subject completely, to give a general hakdamah to understand the big yesod, which will then bring us back to the two streams of Torah and mitzvos. You see, this ma'amar Chazal works for people who Some people are bookworms. We all know with our own kids, some have, you know, zitzfleisch. Some are baruch Hashem matzliach in learning. They take to the books. So, such a statement works wonderfully. Especially if somebody is not social and you know, loves intellectualism and loves sitting with sefarim and with the books, so it works very well. It works very well. So, for somebody who fits that category, they don't have this problem because our rabbeim, it's a wonderful thing. Less action and more intellectual thought. But the question is al libei d'emes. In other words, the fact that it works for some people and it works beautifully for some people, does it make them better? I mean, I think what many people are struggling today in the community is something very profound, and that is what is really a Talmud Chacham. If you were born with a higher IQ and therefore you learn more and it came easier for you and you remember it much better, especially if you have a photographic memory, and you love learning, and this is this is basically your yetzer hara also loves learning, so it works for you, does that really put you in a greater category than somebody else? Does that really make sense? Does it really make sense that somebody who is blessed with certain talents and gifts and resources and it always worked for them, so therefore they're a Talmud Chacham by nature, does this put the person by definition on a pedestal which really transcends everybody else? It's a little difficult to understand because you may have another person who's struggling with different issues and they may have to work much harder in their stuff. So, it's very important that Yiddishkeit doesn't stoop down to become a primitive religion where really primitive concepts are embraced. For example, the idea that a person becomes inherently superior just because of the fact that they have certain intellectual gifts that other people don't have. It would be very strange to assume such. Even though it becomes conventional by a lot of people. And uh you know, there's no necessarily prerequisite of deep personal refinement. It's simply a person has a better head and segate besser. So you'll have in one Yeshiva, you'll have a bocher that it was always easy for him and automatically he's considered, yeah, the greatest the greatest the best of the best. You have another person who may have to struggle with an amud gemara and the other person take him an hour and him will take a week. And he's considered completely different. Now there's something unjust about that. There's something very very wrong about that because it's not based on MS and it's not based on primus. It's based mamesh on social superficial status. So in Hollywood they have one type of social status and my house they have a different social status. But essentially it's based on the fact that it's not worked out necessarily and it's not coming from somebody's personal avoida and yegiya and refinement. It's mamesh a gift that was given to him. So really that's a form of racism. It's a form of racism. Yet we are we we we we support that very heavily. We support that with lots of casualties as a result. Lots and lots of casualties that's spoken about and even more that's not spoken about. A very deep frustration that comes from people really feeling what's the what's missing? What's missing is the godliness of it. The godliness of it. And this is very very critical to understand as an introduction here cuz what he's going to discuss now about Torah and mitzvahs going to be from completely completely different angle. Not the social status that you were in Yeshiva for 9 years in the best Yeshivas, right? And you did well and therefore automatically you're completely on a different madrega even though in the privacy of your life you may be far more brute and far more narcissistic than anybody else and it may be that your whole Torah is was very narcissistic. Because as is often the case the ultimate motivating factor is simply superficial egotism which has very little to do with genuine confidence or genuine relationship with God or genuine spiritual experience. It's simply the system worked for you. My son goes to particular Yeshiva. It's a pretty intense Yeshiva. So I asked him what do you say about how is the Yeshiva? So he says they don't completely don't respect individuality. They want everybody to fit into a box, their box. He says it happens to be that I'm lucky because by nature I fit into that box. He says but it happens to be by nature I work with that box. But he says anybody who by nature doesn't fit into that box is completely crushed there. Completely completely crushed because this is the box. Either you fit in or you don't fit in. When we discuss Torah in that context, it's very hard to understand that all the mitzvahs are not kedai l'divrei Torah. What is this in Torah? What is this in Torah? If Torah is basically the social I don't mean I don't mean the same way but it's basically in the secular world they have Tony Awards, right? So basically celebrities in that world, right? They're elevated and they become unique people. So what do you have to do to make it in Mishpacha in the magazines like Mishpacha they have four pages of pictures of gedolim how they light Chanukah candles, how they do ptikas chametz uh Thank God they don't do them doing asher yatzar but but uh They walk here, they walk there, they look at you, they don't look at you. What do you have to do to make it into that list? I once asked a bocher what's your ambition in life? He says he wants to make it into that page. He want and that's why he sits and learns yomam valayla to make it into that page. Okay. I guess it's better than maybe other motivations but there's something something very very toxic about that. Something very off especially for 98% of people who are not going to make it into that page. What they said about somebody, they wrote it up about it or his Yeshiva. I thought it was degrading. They made it as a compliment. I didn't understand. But when he was a boy in Yeshiva he had in his dormitory room pictures of a lot of gedolim and in middle he had an empty frame. So they asked him what's the empty frame? He says this is for me. This empty frame is for me. So what do you feel about that? You know, what do you feel about that? Is it basically that we simply took something and we turned it into a shtikel idol. K'vayoch. Now it happens to be we took a holy thing as we'll soon see we took the holiest thing but we turned it into an idol became a form of self-worship. It's celebrity culture. It's a celebrity culture and you happen to have a better IQ which is God's choice not your choice and you happen to be antisocial and you even have Asperger's so you don't even like dealing with people. So it's wonderful. So just because this person has many challenges and they have a good IQ so by default you become you become a Now I the fact that people get covered gezunte heit. But the question is is there a parameter here that's not very healthy, it's not very functional, it's not very normal cuz somebody doesn't fit into that is seen as a second class citizen or worse a third class citizen. So it's extremely important to elevate the conversation of Yiddishkeit to a far deeper space, a far deeper level. Learning Torah has an unbelievable quality that he's going to discuss but we'll soon see what that quality is. And when one appreciates what that quality is then the issues of equality, of racism of kids struggling, of different IQs is seen in a completely different context. And in order to understand this he gives a long hakdama which is going to basically explore two yesodos that we'll continue tomorrow known as uh mamale kol olam and versus sovev kol olam which was touched upon in different mymorim but here it's going to be prei baruchus in order to understand the two streams of Torah and mitzvahs which basically constitute Yiddishkeit. So why do we do Why is that This class is brought to you by the Yeshiva.net. Please help us continue the classes. Make even a small contribution at www.theyeshiva.net/donate.