#534: Amida: Al Ha'Tzadikim (Part 3)

s spp is generously sponsored by the Saka family and is sponsored as well by a and aam Foreman we're grateful to them all the we're up to the we concluded our introduction we gave the historical background and precedent tells us this and its conclusion affirming that hem is true to his word stands by and uplifts the righteous was uttered by the Mal the Angels when they saw the promise to Yakov come true that ysf closed yakov's eyes and in fact indeed Hashem holds his promise to the sikim the K writes K points out this BR includes every letter of the alive Bas whenever we see an illusion a reference to the complete alive Bas the entire alphabet it means to tell us from Ala to s from the beginning to the end it is complete why because the righteous fulfill the entire Torah from alaf to T the righteous upon whom we rely we lean and all good and BR comes in our world they complete the Fulfillment Torah the AL was for was for Torah so let's begin we have five categories of people we are doing for here we begin with sadik and we're going to have to Define each one there's several interpretations of each and it's important we say this BR three times a day we should know who we're thinking about who we're talking about I think it's incredibly helpful if in fact for these five categories we have an image I don't mean necessarily a particular person although that's helpful but a category of people who are the sadim that we're daving for who are the that we're daving for who are the who are the elders who are the pl the remnants of the S those who count s the people who who are we talking about talking about G we're talking about converts do you know and do you realize that every day you say AA three times a day in which you doav for the well-being for the protection for the security for the safety with admiration and reverence for the converts of the Jewish people the converts in our midst it's incredible we people don't think about it so who are these five categories who should we be thinking about what kind of an image should we have and why are we invoking them so we start with the and are we going in ascending order or descending order who's greater the sadik or the who's greater because the answer to that will determine are we going in ascending or in descending order as you can imagine this is an age- old debate and of course based on our very definitions what's the definition of a sad of the righteous we can translate the words sad is righteous and is stal and pay no that is a modern title of a group of people a movement that adopted that term but the term long precedes the movement so the word means is pious good so did that help now we have who's greater a righteous person or a Pious person what is righteous and what is pious we didn't really help ourselves there we could put this to a vote but I'm not sure that will help so what are the sadim so one interpretation is sikim are meticulous and Performing hashem's Mitzvah his expectations of them people understand that sikim are those who've never sinned sikim are those who've never in fact even made a mistake never even made a mistake right are those who are born righteous who are B born perfect who have no temptation who never indulged in impulse who never did anything wrong never did any mistake you grow up with any sadim they're very obnoxious and annoying they're not because they're tadik but they make us feel about ourselves you know the tadak is the one who doesn't struggle doesn't have to overcome didn't fall and get up doesn't have to bounce back they're sadic they're a sadic they're righteous they never struggled who's the theid is the individual who maybe made a mistake According to some the the is the about the is the one who struggles is imperfect who fell down and had to get back up who fell back and had to move forward the is the one who is who struggles who engages in the struggle so who's greater the sad the perfect the one who has no impulse doesn't struggle doesn't have temptation is sort of inclined to do the right thing the goody T shoes or the the one who is not perfect has made mistakes but is the one who asked to nevertheless overcome them who has to bounce back from them who has to go forward with them which one is greater and this is a great debate we won't do justice to it right now not tonight or even in s Snippets alt together it deserves much more treatment the ra talks about who's greater According to some the based on Sal in his book on also talks about that this was the debate between none other than Yosef and Yehuda yosf and Yehuda was not a case of sibling rivalry but in fact this was the debate the question of who would be the Monarch who should who should distinguish thems to be the leader of CLA Israel which is the Paradigm what do we strive for who do we honor who do we Elevate the sadic the perfect or the the one who has to the one who has to overcome this was the debate you see this with Yuda Yehuda Yosef we'll start with Yosef Yosef couldn't couldn't endure the imperfections of his brothers he's a tattletail he turns them into the father he says these are their struggles they're imperfect others others because Yosef represents and strives for a certain Perfection a certain sidus a certain Holiness a certain being separated ail Ys is a person who's a loner he's described Torah refers to ysep as N means separate and apart and holy who's distinguished May from his brothers from his brothers says he brings from his grandfather that the philosophy of Yehuda was the opposite not to separate not to isolate not to be a part not to protect and preserve and strive for a perfect righteousness but Yehuda was the yud was the that MOS gave that was to bring it to the people to bring it to the people to bring it down to the every man to take those who struggle who aren't perfect who live in this world and to elevate them and to elevate them nonetheless interestingly we'll have to pick up with this next timeus alludes to he heard from his grandfather that this debate between yosf and Yehuda was a disagreement among the founders and The Originators the pioneers of the entire movement the Reb expands on that and says who is he referring to this was the debate between ksk and G it's not exactly s Snippets it's more people of the book but kot kot the ISS he had an intolerance for imperfection he would rather have quality over quantity it was about the elite it was about the elite it was about sikim whereas G was about it was about elu to bring bring it down to the people and to spread it and to be able to reach quantity even if it lacked in quality this is a debate of Yehuda and Ys this is theb ofad and which one is greater we'll continue with next time