Thought for the Week Behar & Bechukosai Healthy Self Esteem & Man's Worthiness, Rabbi Yaakov Winner

How are you? I hope everyone is hope everyone is healthy, strong and happy physically and spiritually. As usual, we'll start off with and today we're going to speak a bit about something similar to charity. It falls into the category of charity. So Msiah now we're going to start with a prayer which is going to be connected to the subject also we're going to be speaking about today is the superior quality of man the intrinsic value of man and we say as when we get up we say we thank you that you returned my soul which is talking personal and that means the Jewish soul if a person's a Jew but then we say a prayer which is connected to the human body. Blessed are you Hashem who has formed man in wisdom and created within him numerous orififices and cavities. And then it speaks about if anything would go wrong in one part of your body, it would be a complete disaster. And we thank God says, "Thank you, Hashem, who heals all flesh and performs wonders." So technically obviously by a Jew everything which is physical is spiritual and all that Hashem created was for his glory. Our body is a tool to serve Hashem. Our body is a window to appreciate the greatness of Hashem when we see the wonders of creation. But technically in a certain sense the concept of the wondous body applies also to the body of a non-Jew. There's wonders in creation. Just like we say the human body is a wondrous thing. It's amazing. So let's now talk about this week's para what I'm going to say today. What triggered it was a talk of the Reb. If you look in the gutsh, it's brought down very um briefly on the verse that I'm going to speak about and that made me think about certain universal elementary fundamental concepts as a human being as the as as the intrinsic value of life etc. What is that in the last capital of the whole this week is and so in the last chapter of which is full of laws. It says that Hashem spoke to you should speak to you should tell them when a man will express a vow to Hashem regarding a valuation of souls. So what that means is when a person pledges this is called consecration, estimation, valuation. So when the person says for example my value is upon me he says the value of myself that it's which I will give to charity for the mdish for the work in the bdish or he says the value of so and so is upon me. He could say the value of houses. He could say the value of fields. He could say the value of animals. But it starts with what the says over here. The value of a human being. So then the go on to determine about which person you said the value of. How do we estimate how much you have to donate? So there's different levels. If you said the value of someone who is who is under five years old, above five years old, over 20 years old, over 60 years old. So there's a price. Now part of the idea of the mitzvah and there's a couple of mitzvah connected to this idea of is that the price is determined but by what the Torah says here. In other words, in a certain sense, it's not really logical because the price is no difference whether the person's rich, whether the person's poor, whether the person's wise, or whether the person's simple, or whether the person is Jewish or non-Jewish. That's something which is special. Oh, now listen up. The Reb spoke about this and basically there are two questions here. One question is right before the beginning of chapter 27, the last of it says that these are the laws that Hashem gave between him and the Jews in the hands of Moa. So now there's a major question and the Reb calls it a klutz kasha. Not every time when there's a kasha does the call it a klutz kasha klutz kasha means even a klutz you don't have to be a super genius to ask this question it's very obvious the obvious question which anybody would ask and why is it that after we just said that these are the laws that hashem gave to the Jews and hari we start now our whole story within isn't included in those laws so this makes the whole chapter 27 outstanding and unique like it's not included in that general statement that these are the laws that Hashem gave to Vietnam Sinai. Of course, he also gave the laws of Sinai because everything was given at Sinai. Anyways, I'm not going to go into the details. Look in the and he brings you which bring in in 1974 the spoke about it. He'll tell you where to look it up in I forgot which volume. In any case, you might have guessed it based on what I said before. The reason why this is separate than all the previous laws because these are laws that are related also to nonJews. both in the fact that a non-Jew could pledge a donation to the temple and both in the sense that we want to value. What does it mean the person I said I'm going to make a person's plain a lie? We're not even counting whether the person's a Jew or not. The worthiness is only based on gender and age. why each thing has this value in the end of the day is because that's what Hashem decided and that's part of the mitzvah that who's the one who who determines the price. There's no Federal Reserve. There's no people that sit and think the interest rate should go up or they should go down or this is the value today and this might be the value tomorrow and the value could change. No, these values were given by God and he decided that when you say I give the value of a human being even though that human being you were talking about was a Jew we don't look like that it all falls into this category a human this age a male is like this a female is like this yada yada so that means I don't want to also the gets into certain details and I don't want to say how this you might have questions what about everything that was before this chapter 27 of a doesn't include go and what about the things that he includes now further some of the things he says later at the end of in chapter 27 might be only for Jews so those are details you have to look up in the and the addresses it but I'm talking about the major point and what lesson I got from this so the first lesson I want to say is in general that there's a certain element of equality between a Jew and a non-Jew. Even though we say and even though we say obviously there's a Jew and there's a Gentile and there's an immeasurable distance because we are the chosen people but God forbid to say we're racist. And if I was talking to somebody and this is right now a very big issue when we have these mushy who are on social media who look at the Jews as a Jewish religion is racist. So if I would speak to them I would say first and foremost I'll prove it to you that every single observant Jew loves Gentiles more than you do. Why? Let's say I'm saying theoretically. I'll ask the person a question. Do you believe that Johnny Boy, Frank, Tom has a godly soul? Sorry, I shouldn't call it a godly soul. A spark of God or not? Well, I do believe so. And therefore, I respect him as I respect divinity. There's an aspect of infinity, divinity that's in that person. And this is what the Mishna tells us. Pick the gimmel. Everyone knows this. Beloved is man byem for he was created in the image of hem. The name Adam is because he's similar. He was made in the image of sorry. And then not only he was created in the image of God. But and an even greater love of Hashem was shown to him that he was told he was notified. It was made known to him that imagine somebody's told my friend you have a spark of divinity in you. You have a spark of infinity in you. That spark of God himself and infinity warrants that you should be respected to no end is a fundamental rule in Jewish law in general. And why? Because we see the divine spark in you as the famous we love creations because in every single creation there's a spark of God. So now let's say I'm talking to some social media person. I want to ask him a question. Do you view Tom and Harry as somebody that's a spark of God or not? I do. And therefore I respect him to a certain degree infinitely. Now, so in other words, I believe mathematically, scientifically, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my great greatgrandfather treated mo treated Gentiles generally speaking a lot better than you and your father and your grandfather treated Gentiles. Unless you also believe that every single human being has an image of God, is an image of God. That's one thing off the bat. And I believe, if I may say so, we could say that over here by the fact that this is a that these laws over here apply in a certain sense equally to Jews and non-Jews reflects the inherent value of a human being that every single human being in a certain level has the same value monetarily speaking when it comes to this these laws and also that every single human being could make a contribution we don't distinguish so that's one point. But now let's talk about the beginning of a yikra to the end of a yikra. And now we're going to take it in in a bit of an opposite direction based on a story of the alterba. Even though when we speak about the nigla in the law of we just said that it's equal but actually there's a story tale. There was a very famous his name was he was a it was said about him that the third said I have two and a half was a half aid because he was a half a wow this is not said by almost any other person the only one that comes close of is humbler those two are in a category beyond and different and outstanding unparalleled in relation to all throughout the whole history of and the kabad movement more than 200 years plus. So the story goes Rabbil Par was a very young man and according to most versions he never saw the alterba the first leader but he had a very strong desire to see the alterba and here the alterb was going to a certain town and where the alterba was going to talk and say Torah and he knew that it's going to be packed crowd so he came early and he hid under a bed in the room where the alterb would be. The alterb came into that room and he started speaking. Now this parach had a question. You know people sometimes they wanted to test a leader of aidic movement. They wanted to see what type of scholar genius gone that leader was. And once they would ask him a question that they were bothered by, this person would ask the Reb some question that he was thinking an answer for for years. And if that person would be able to answer that deep question so then they would know, oh this man is unbelievable. He's really a genius because I had this question and I know so much myself. But I didn't have an answer. But I asked him and he had an answer. He had he had learned the there's a sh called which talks about all these laws that we speaking about in these So parach is there and he's in the hiding under the bed and his plan was to ask a question in and he's hiding under the bed he from his spot he can't see the alterb and the begins his if there's a young man that has a question in the subject of which means evaluations. So first he has to eval evalate evaluate calculate measure up himself. In other words, how worthy are you? When heard this so on the part of the he justed when he woke up he fainted. When he woke up the alterb was gone. The whole show was over so to speak. And that's how he never got a chance to see the alterb. But obviously when this story happened, he really became so inspired. Wow, the alterb was able to read the thoughts that were in my head. He must be a holy holy man. So over here we see the story that we're talking about which is evaluations. And the Reb alterb told that person at that stage in his life that sometimes you have to look at yourself and don't think you're king of the world etc. Now what does that mean? So here we're going to come to another brilliant brilliant point which I'm sure I spoke about this many times because I'm so amazed by it. I'm actually astonished. We'll see the beginning of a and the end of a how it's connected. And this is so we have to see the beginning to the end and the end connected to the beginning and that is the first which is wow wow wow. It says and then it says called out to him and then he spoke and Rashi says over here the amazing words that Before there was any dialogue, before there's any conversation, before there's any discussion again, before any before any and before how does it work? What's the relationship? First, Hashem gives you a base essential level. of self-esteem, of confidence, somebody up there loves you. And it's not just somebody, it's Hashem himself. Every single time he communicated with whenever he spoke about a command or anything, there was a call. That was the call. He called him by his first name. It was a call of love, a call of affection, a term of endearment. What kind of awesome lesson is this in life in general? Which means first we create the essential bond, trust, call it whatever you want. And then we could talk about how man serves God. Before man serves God, before fulfilling commandments, first Hashem says, "I love you." Now the lesson of here in life and this is what I want to bring out the story of the says measure yourself do you measure up that comes after obviously every knows and feels that he's he's an only child he's like a prince and God loves you infinitely and you're special infinitely and your worthiness is immeasurable. infinity itself as we recently had said that in every single Jew there's more wealth and resources just like the scientists will never uncover the full potential of what's on the earth. It's impossible to measure the worthiness and the value of every single Jew. That's what the said. So what's the connection with the beginning of the pa the end of the para that even if we're speaking about a concept of worthiness number one even in this story of it's not logical it's not based on wisdom it's not based on wealth it's not based on any quality you could think of and say this is going to make something worth more or not no god decided males from this age to that age is worth this much that's how much you'd have to pay if you said those words etc etc but it's not talking about any sort of quality quality that he could start explaining why this is worth more worth less there's a basic quality to every single person and that's where everything starts and when told him because at that time in his life he needed to get that message I imagine at that point in life he needed to get a message of humility he needed to get a message that he shouldn't think he's superior to somebody else and obviously when the alterb said it received it in the in the right way and then he became one of the greatest greatest and followers of the ways of just to bring another example on the opposite extreme and this is teaches me a lesson that I love to no end and I'll explain we recently had an in the 16th of year that it says as follows the freed writes my grandfather who was the fourth went to his name was Ab and he was a simple man. And my grandfather who was the Reb said to him, "Elia, I envy you. You travel to various fairs, you meet many people, and when in the middle of doing business, you get caught up in a discussion with someone in a Jewish saying, a saying from etc. and you inspire him to study, etc. and then this causes joy on high. And the Almighty rewards such trade with the blessings of children, health and sustenance. The larger the fair, the more work there is and the greater livelihood earned. So here you have imagine himself the greatest and leader walks over to the average wood chopper and water carrier and says barrel I envy you and he told the water carrier that he's envious of the water carrier Here's Mosha Raen was in the mountain 120 days and lived and didn't eat food and didn't drink. Here's Mosha that downloaded the entire for future generations. Here's he's the complete can do it to Hashem on this planet earth. and he walks over to a simple water carrier, a brick layer, a truck driver, construction worker, and he tells him, "I'm jealous of you. And what you can accomplish, I can't accomplish." And since he's so therefore, he tells them it's true. And the same things over here when when the leader of the entire generation, and he comes over to and he says, "I'm envy you." That was true. There's something that could do that he can't do that can't do and that's why we need and he tells him he's jealous of him and it's not printed here but in the original story where the story comes from when he heard from that the Marash told him I envy you he was shocked he couldn't move he was he started trembling the Reb is telling me that he's envious of me how could that be but in any case He did tell him that and because that's the message that he's meant to hear and that's the truth of and so what message do we take from the contrast between whatever told and what told so which I I've seen this in many many in many situations we can give a lecture just on this subject and that is there's The words from the I said this word before is like the it says by the when there was somebody that became impure with Tomas the himself who purified this person who was impure that's part of why This mitzvah is so paradoxically does not compute with logic is because the becomes impure. The one who occupies himself in purifying the impure person who was pure becomes impure when he was purifying that person and the one who was becomes pure through this process. So the way it's explained is similar to that idea of the red hypher. It's it causes those pure to become impure and it causes the pure to become impure. What does that mean? It means that there's two types of people. Somebody walks into a and he thinks he's on top of the world. Like I said before, he thinks God has to make a new ganaden. He looks down at others. He thinks he thinks he's superior. He thinks he's elite. He's full of condensation to others. It's a problem. A lot of people have that problem. In a very in a very subtle term, when you talk about somebody, you don't want to say he's really arrogant. You say he's very very aware of his qualities. But that's that's really a dig. It's trying to say he's a bit too much aware of his qualities and it caused him to have a bit of hoiness and arrogance. Let's say obviously there's a balance. So such a person has to walk into a fabin and somebody has to tell him my friend some some Jew or even good friends. Hello Ruain you didn't begin to really work on yourself. You're doing this. You're doing this. You're doing this. Did you ever take a good look into your character traits that maybe there's room to improve? Maybe you should be a bit more humble. Maybe you should be a bit more warm. Maybe you should be have a bit more patience for others, etc., etc. So that person who thinks he's God's gift to mankind and Hashem has to create a new galen to reward him, he has to come to and be told, "Hello, take a microscope and look inside yourself and see if you're really really pushing yourself. If you're really really stretching yourself, if you're really really serving God or you're doing something that only fits into comfort zone and doing it for maybe ulterior motives. So that's similar to whatever told that if you have a before you have on before you have questions in the about the subject of estimations look in yourself like in other words reckoning of the soul you have to make a good reckoning of your own soul and where you're holding before you start making questions on the but then we have the other extreme that's This person think he was to he thought he was squeaky clean, perfect, holy and righteous. He has to be told, "Hello, you're not Mr. Perfect. You also have to improve. You also have to change. You also have to grow. You also have to shift." Then you have the other extreme. Somebody is really brokenhearted. Someone who who's who doesn't it doesn't feel so positive about himself. What am I what difference am I making in the world? No one thinks about me. No one cares about me. I don't make a difference. I'm just a simple ignoramis illiterate etc etc. Like rebella he wasn't so smart. He wasn't an academic as it says in he was more of a simple sort of person. Such a person matisim he has to get the message your worthiness has no end. You can't even imagine how special you are. You can't even imagine how important you are. And guess what? YOU'RE SO IMPORTANT THAT I'M JEALOUS of you. The greatest person, the greatest Jew of his generation tells this truck rider or this construction worker, I'm jealous of you because WHAT YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH, I CAN'T ACCOMPLISH, ETC. So the lesson of this is two lessons. First of all, I'm talking to myself. I hope that I'm healthy enough to be able to accept criticism. I hope I'm healthy enough to be humble. I hope I'm healthy enough to say that I'm not the best. I hope I'm healthy enough to feel that I'm far from perfect. I hope I'm healthy enough that I could look at my worthiness and see that maybe I'm not in the top of the ladder if you look at the overall picture. But it doesn't make a difference because Hashem still loves me to no end. That's the base line that starts with the beginning of the yo. Hashem is calling me with Allah. Even if I'm a construction worker, even if I'm a low life, Hashem and who knows I'm not perfect. I've done some some things that I that I'm not even regretting enough that I that I did them. Still, Hashem loves me. And at the same time, because of that, I should look into myself and realize how I do have to improve and I'm not perfect. So, that's far as I'm talking about myself. But in general, we have to know when we're dealing with people that the point of this V is that the status quo has to change. Both people that walk to the FBI and whether the one who thought he was king of the world or whether the one who thought he's too low to have any real connection, they walked out of FBI different. One guy who thought he was the king of the world walks out with humility. And the other one who thought that he's a nothing, he's he's dirt. He's he's he's extra change. He's he's a reject. He's sure I am. He walks out uplifted. Wow. Wow. Wow. I'm part of the Reb's army. I'm part of Hashem's army. I'm part of making this world a dwelling place for Hashem. So, this is the lesson that we take. We see the connection of the beginning of the and the end of the safer. Generally speaking, the main message is that each one of us, Hashem is calling to but at the same time that should draw out from us as we said last week God's call a man's response and because it's based on the positive we could also be judgmental about ourselves to try to always improve and our challen challenging ourselves and improving brings us even more joy and more positivity. Chabas. Kachchabas. Good chabas.