Shavuos Perspectives - Bamidbar (Rabbi Dovid Kaplan) (Weekly Parsha)

about shuis and we're coming up on shuis. I want to talk a little bit about shuis and then tomorrow we're going to continue with the para but I want to I want to show you a couple of uh couple of very important ideas here come straight out of the gammora. So first of all you know there is a minug we spoke about the minancho is to eat cheesecake it's not a minute to eat cheesecake a minute to have a milk meal then therefore there are those who uh their way of doing it is cheesecake I have ice cream personally so just telling you guy but we we splurge on you know somebody they have these expensive ice cream bars you know the real fancy one that cost 12 shekels beach or something, you know. That's our that's my milk. I'm sure. Do we know what they was back then? We don't know what they what they ate, but we know that there are several reasons for the Milk. One is that apparently Ben Israel ate milks at Hari. That's one reason. The other is because Hari was called Hargavnunim. Now, Gavnunim really means uh different colors, but it's also it's related to the word gina, which is cheese. And uh so that's that's where the minute comes from. And frankly, I think it's because people like cheesecake, you know, that's that's just, you know, okay, now we could cheesecake out. But another thing, what's that? They just received the laws of shafting and everything. And by the time they would prepare everything, they would that's why they ate milk. That's why they ate milk at Hari because they didn't know the how to how to how to chef. Okay. Whatever it is, whatever it is, there's a little more ishu than that. Okay. That's why I want to Okay. I want to I want to read you two gumaras here. Okay. The two gumaras which are fundamentals in in Yiddish but they apply to the first one is the gumarim and 68b if anybody wants to write it down. Now here there's a discussion between Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Yahushua in the Gomorrah. What do you do on Yiff? You know, we have three yontiffs during the year besides rashes shana and yum kipper which are a little more a little less festive because we're so focused on davening and getting judged and uh and and and hoping for a good accounting but you know you have sh you have sukus and you have pes so gor says what do you do on y so v a person either you eat and drink spend the days eating and drinking or you spend the day uh uh sitting and learning. Either you're in the base medish or you're in the dining room. Those are your choices on yontiff. Right? Those are you and you can do whichever one you want. That's what you get either. How do you like celebrating? You like celebrating with food. All those in favor say I. Right. Or do you like celebrating by sitting in the base medish and learning about adim? All those in favor say I. Yeah. I didn't think so. So the uh so so that's that's what rebel says I got a better idea compromise divide it up half the day is for eating and drinking and half the day you got to learn okay that's generally what we do that's generally what we do is you know you have a nice you go to shul you davin then you come home you have a suda then you take a nap then you get up what do you do when you get up from your nap So some people just eat some more you know get up from your nap and go to the base and learn make the day you know. Okay now both of them agree that oneres everybody agrees which is everybody agrees at least half the day. In other words, on pes and on sukis you could say you could do what you want all day on shis everybody agrees at least half the day has to be spent doing what gentlemen learning learning Torah obviously not not everybody agrees that on you have to spend half the day eating and drinking not learning Torah half the day in other words what the gark calls for learning is called laashem and eating and drinking is called for you and on shis everybody agrees that on at everybody ages you also need to part of the time is going to be now you would say laashem right says the gorm interesting not what we would have thought and then the gor says even more puzzling say my what's the in Torah because that's the day the Torah was given. Well, quite the contrary. Well, if that's the day the Torah was given, we should be spending half the day learning Torah. So, how does going ask makes a statement and then backs up the statement with something which is exactly the opposite of what you would thought. Typical Gomorrah, typical in typical Gomorrah fashion. Okay, why is that? The answer is that we have to understand what the nature of Torah is. What's the nature of Torah? So, to answer that, we'll take a look at the Gomorra Shabas. So we're going to come back to this gammar over here in in in in in uh in what do you call in in now the gorab says on 88a this is a famous gamar that you've all learned the gumar says and the Torah says in inmos the Jewish people they uh they when they went to receive the Torah they were at the base of the mountain they stood at the base of the mountain and the gor says on that it's his name made this teacher is famous lines, famous idea that you've all heard. The Jewish people like a barrel. He said the following. If you're the Torah, very good. That's where you're going to be buried. Now, what does that mean? Jewish people have a mountain held over them. And Hashem is saying, "Do you want the Torah? You want the Torah?" You know, gentlemen, look up. If this is the Jewish people, understand they saw something that no one in history has ever seen. They have these guys, what I told you, the guys, they called extreme sports. They call extreme sports, right? What we call extreme stupidity. They call extreme sports. So, there are people who climb mountains. Everest, K2, uh, and they do uh, what do you call it? rock climbing with no ropes and no safety nets. All sorts of really fun things, what they call extreme sports. I mean, I play chess and eat corn chips at the same time. Now, that's pretty extreme, but that's about as dangerous as it gets. These guys do things that are, you know, stuff like that. Now, no mountain climber in history, no matter how high they've gotten, they never saw what the Jewish people saw. The Jewish people saw the underside of a mountain. No one's ever seen that before. Now, look up. That's the underside of the mountain, gentlemen. We are now have a mountain dangling over our head. Now, what would your reaction be if Hashem said, "You want the Torah?" And we're looking up at a mountain dangling over. You know, my reaction, I am so Torah. I my favorite Torah. Torah and to Torah and bowling. You know that that's just just give me give me more Torah. You know, the mountain is a whole other question for a second. The mount we're looking up at the underside of a mountain. Okay. So the plain meaning of the Gomorrah is clearly and the Maral says that the Gomorrah does not mean literally that they were threatened by a mountain. It means that the choice to receive the Torah was so obvious that it it'd be the equivalent of somebody who's looking up and sees a mountain and somebody saying to him, you want the Torah or do you want to die? So that's how obvious the choice was. But okay, let's go with the let's go with the words of the Gomorrah. The way the Gomorrah sounds. Now there are two problems with this Gomorrah. Number one, let's take the second problem first. Hashem said if you don't accept the if you accept the Torah very good if not sham take that's where you're going to be buried. Now if you drop a mountain how do you say here in Hebrew Khan or po right? What does sham mean? There so Hashem says if not if you don't accept the Torah shre you'll be buried there. I I mean honestly if I was writing the Gomorrah and I wanted to threaten somebody said if you don't accept the Torah you're gonna be you know if you drop a mountain on somebody are they sham or they're po they're very po very very po you are as po as po gets right po take for us right here boys right it's not like oh oh sham because they're going to go splat and somebody's going to go over there no no no po you're going to be buried so why does it want to say sham question number one what's that future tense sham is present tense Oh, that's not here there here there are the same tense but you're you're on the fairly the right track. Okay, one second. That's the first question. This the that's the second qu the first question is a bigger question and that is I think we've mentioned this before. You know if your brother came running into the house in a cold sweat or your sister more likely comes running into the house and she's in a she's breathing hard in a cold sweat like that and I said what what's wrong? What's wrong? says, "I was outside and I saw a cat." And to me, the cat was like a tiger. So, I understand that she's telling you an analogy because she wants to let you know how afraid she is of cats. To her, a cat seemed like a tiger. But if your sister would would run into the house and you say, "What's wrong?" She goes, "I I saw a tiger outside, but to me, it seemed like a like a cat." So then that would only be confirming what you've always thought about your sister, right? You know that something up there's loose, right? Why? Why? You know, if I saw a tiger, if I saw a tiger outside, I would say, you know, I'd say I was outside. I saw a tiger and it looked like a tiger. I don't need I wouldn't tell you that it look I would if I saw a cat. Well, I I'd also say to you it looked like a cat. All right, but that's I'm a chicken. But if I saw a cat and I wanted to emphasize it, so I would upgrade. I wouldn't downgrade. Downgrading on an analogy makes no sense. You follow? Okay. I think I told you I was on a The last time I went on a teal with Orsame was 30 years ago for good reason. And we went to Engeti. And when we got to the path, as soon as we got onto the path, there was this hiking path. And I see a sign that says, "Beware of bobcats." And I remember thinking to myself, what am I supposed to do with this information, right? Why are they telling me this? Like if I see if what if a bobcat comes towards, what am I supposed to say, hey Bob, you know, uh, don't mess, you know, I'm aware of you. Yeah. Why are you? Unless they were simply telling me that at any point here on this hike, get ready to say your final creeshma because you're about to go. So I'm not sure exactly why they were telling me that. If I saw a tiger outside, I would come in and I would say, "Hey, you know, I saw a tiger." And to me, it seemed like a tiger. Now, if somebody's holding a mountain over you, what would you say? Okay. If I saw a mountain, I said, "Whoa, a mountain." And it looks like a mountain. That's pretty threatening. If somebody was holding a basket over me and I was scared of baskets, I might say, "He held the basket over the Jewish people like a mountain. You know how scared I was of that basket? To me was like a mountain. The last thing that I would say is Hashem held a a mountain over them like a barrel. You know, I held a mountain over like a mountain. Why? Oh. Oh, it's a mountain. Big deal. Uh-oh. It's a barrel. That makes no sense. Correct. You hear the prophet of the Gomorrah. Okay. So, the plain meaning again of the Gomorrah, there's always an I got it. So, there's the plain meaning. But at a deeper level, what the Gomorrah is saying is Hakur was telling people the nature of Torah. He was telling the Jewish people the nature of the Torah. If you take a barrel and it's inverted and I lower a barrel down over you, what would happen? You'd be trapped inside the barrel, right? So was holding the mountain over to the Jewish people. The mountain was hollowed out like an inverted barrel. And he was saying to the Jewish people, if you accept this mountain when I lower it down over you, if you accept it, mut, it's the best thing you could do. If not, sham take for us. What does that mean? Anybody who's experienced anything in Torah life, we all know that in Torah life, there are rules, regulations, restrictions, and it's, you know, very demanding. If you lower a mountain down over somebody, what would happen? You're trapped inside the mountain, right? You can't get out. The walls, the mountains hollowed out and you're trapped inside the walls of the mountain. On the other hand, you can't get out, but nothing else could penetrate in. nothing can get it through the walls of the mountain to get to you. So is saying to the Jewish people, listen, I'm going to give you the Torah. The Torah is like being inside a hollowedout mountain and you've got rules, regulations, you've got obligations, and it's demanding. On the other hand, you're being protected from what's out there in the non- Torah world, from the vulgarity, the lack of rules, regulations, the lack of any sort of structure, all the heeras in that world, you're protected from it. So, I'm telling you, if you accept the Torah mut, that's the best thing you could do for yourself to live in this world. You don't want the Torah. You don't want to be in the mountain. That world out there will bury you. The world out there will bury you. In this world, it'll bury you. We're not even talking about the reward in the world to come. The nature of Torah is like a hollowedout mountain. We're we're we're we've got these, you know, it's kind of narrow. Yeah, you can't eat this and you can't think this and you can't do this and you can't look at this and you can't and you can't you can't. On the other hand, we're protected from all the things that everybody else can do and do do. Now, you got to make a choice. Which one do you want? Do you want the mount inside the mountain or you want to really go out there? What? It's such a beautiful world out there. Just wonderful. Just wonderful with the liberals and and and the and the and the what do you call it? and and the and all the the all the things that that that we never thought of in the past that all a sudden it's all anything decent anything indecent is considered good and anything decent is considered not is considered indecent that's the way the world works today do you know that go in the curses and the curses in in Vayikra sorry in Dvorim it says later on in history you're going to be considered a madman those who are decent are going to be considered a mad man you know we're phobic about this, that, and the other. If you don't do weed because it's legal, they say, "What's wrong with you? You're you're you're you're weird, right?" Because we we legalized it. So, if they would legalize heroin, so we'd also be legal for for for not for for if if they would make a law that you have to drive drunk, and we don't. So, then we're the we're the outlaws over you. You understand? The world's mad. And they look at us like, "We're mishuga." And that's what the Torah says. one day those who are decent are going to be considered mishuga. So, so the Torah is here. What the Torah here is telling you is what's the nature of Torah? What happened at Hari? What were they accepting? The biggest I we've said this many times. The biggest mistake that people make when they look in from the outside at the religious world, they think that the what they call, you know, those black th those blackheaded, black suited clones. What they think is that we've made some sort of deal with God that we will forfeit and sacrifice all the pleasures of this world for some sort of abstract un undefined spiritual reward in the world to come. And nothing could be further from the truth because the people the from people have the best life in this world. It's a life with purpose. It's a life with with with with a little bit of discipline. It's a life with a little with rules. And that ironically adds to the pleasure of this world. And then there's a reward waiting for a person in the world to come. So over here to Gore and Shabas is saying that the Torah is telling you what what's contained in Torah. And that's why Akosh holds the mountain over. The analogy is not a downgrade. He's telling you what that mountain was. That mountain was like an inverted barrel. And a is telling you that this is what Torah is all about. That's what that's and that's why it's shum that world will bury you. You know where we find this in history where we find it later on in history when the Jewish people at the time of the of the of the Kaneka sorry Purim. So what happened? They decided to go join that world. Morai said, "Don't go to the feast of Akash. Don't go to the party, the 180day party." 180 days, half a year party. I mean, that could it okay? It doesn't quite match up to four years in college, but but it's a it was it was one of the biggest parties in history. I knew a guy I knew I had had a Tom and he told me he had a friend in Colorado University who didn't even want to lose univer he didn't want to leave after four years because he was making so much money selling weed that was better than any other parnosa he would have gotten he said he used to come in with a guitar case full of weed selling it on the campus it's a good parnasa don't knock it you know okay so so he had a 180day party of a what happened the Jewish people Morai said don't go no the king said we have to go this that don't go so They joined the party and what happened as a result of going out to that world there was a decree of Hmon that that world will now bury you. There's a decree of annihilation against the Jewish people. Exactly what the Gomorrah is saying in Chabas. Exactly what the Gor is saying. Okay. Step one. Step two. Ravose said on on on when Ravose got to Shivuis Ravoseph who we've had in the Gomorrah. So Rav Yoseph said um where is it? Yeah. Ravose an shuis he would say iglatilsa I want you to make me a three-year-old calf she and make a three-year-old calf. A three the three-year-old calf is apparently the best meat. And Ravose said shuis I want you to make me a good thick steak. probably had the cheesecake at the first meal. Then he had a nice thick steak on that means I'm going to really celebrate this one. Why? He said he explained why he wants that if not for this day. How many Yosephes are out are out there are out there in the marketplace? And what did Yurse mean by that? that because of this day, the day the Torah was given, I'm celebrating because look at all the other Yosephes out in the marketplace. Look at all the other Yosephes out there. So, what did Yoseph mean by that? So, listen to the golden words of Rashi. He meant Torah. I learned Torah. Venice Torah elevated me. There's a lot of guys out there named Yseph. What difference would there be between me and them? What's the difference between me and them? Says Ravoseph. The only he became the rashish shiva. By the way, Ravseph at the end of life became the rashish shiva. He was known as Ravse himself. His nickname was he was referred to as Senai. He was the consumate encyclopedic scholar as opposed to Rabba who was his contemporary who was the penetrating analysis. Ravosef was the Rheim Kinyfki of his day. He just knew everything. He was he was encyclopedic. So Rav says not for Torah. A lot of guys out there named Yoseph. So what's the difference between me and them? The difference is I've learned Torah. That's why I became Rav Yoseph. There's no there's no haughtiness over here. Review is is calling a spade a spade. So what was it he celebrating? He's celebrating what Torah has done for him and therefore he wants to celebrate it properly in the most physical way possible. There's nothing more physical than meat. Nothing more physical than meat. Meat is that's why the part the red cow also you burn the ashes of the red cow to to to to to purify somebody who came in contact with a dead body because a dead body is pure physicality. There's on the shama there. So how do you purify? I mean take a red cow, a cow, meat, beef. It's more physical than anything else. Certainly sushi, right? Doesn't say burn sushi and sprinkle it on the guy who became tame. You should probably burn sushi anyway but not eat it. But it doesn't say doesn't say it's a a physical. So Ravioseph wants to celebrate physical celebration in the most physical way. A good thick steak. Get get that. Yeah, Jack. That'd be good. Yeah. A nice iglatilsa for shu. So when you order your meal, you get me an iglletsa. A nice. What's going on here? Now listen carefully. What did Ribosef mean that all those other guys out there would be called Yoseph? I heard a profound explanation Rainebachal one of the Russa were here at Orsame. said when Ravosef said how many Yosephes there are out there you know the name Yoseph in English is Joe right say I'd be just another Joe but but because I learned Torah I was reseing stability a purpose a direction a discipline how many Yosephes would be out there I Yoseph would be out there all over the place. I'd be a fragmented personality. One day I'd be into this nourish guy. One day I'd be into into money and the next day I'd be into my into into my entertainment and the next day I'd be into gambling and the next day I'd be into drugs. The next day well all the things that do all the wonderful things the world has to offer. What stopped Yoseph from doing that? It's only Torah and therefore he's celebrating Torah. I knew a guy named ironically the guy's name was Yoseph. At 50 years old, he was a lawyer billing at $600 an hour. All right. It wasn't all his. Some of it went to the company, to the firm. He was billing at $600 an hour. $600 an hour. That's more than rabbis make it or someh by the way. I don't know if you're aware of that. All the rabbis combined in the course of a year. So the So he's billing at $600 an hour. And that wasn't his main parnosa. His main parnosa was real estate. He was rich out of his gills. And his son told me, I met his son. His son told me that at when he hit 50 years old, he was bored with life. Kids were out of the house. He was absolutely bored. He's making all this money. He doesn't know what to do with it. So his wife suggested that in order to fill his occupy his time, he should take a trip. He should make a trip to Bolivia. That'll be a good a good way to spend your time. Go to Bolivia. And you know as well as I do that you would never heard of or certainly know where Bolivia is unless you played risk, right? You know as well as I do. The only reason we've even heard of a place is because we played risk which by the way I'm I'm a demon at risk. But the the take will take you all on but as long as I get Australia but the uh the what do you call the so so he said she said go take a trip to to to to Bolivia. That's exactly what Ravosef is saying. If not for Torah where would he end up? I'd be out there. All right. Be in Bolivia. He's a fragmented personality. That's that's number one. Number two, listen to the words of Rashi. Okay. Now, listen. You guys have learned enough Gomorrah now that you know that every word of Rashi, where's Vinnie? Binnie, right? We got to figure out what Rashi is saying, right? Exactly. Rashi can be read in several ways. Every word of Rashi here means something. So, listen to what words of Rashi again. He said, 'If not for the fact that I learned Torah, there are a lot of guys out there named Yoseph. What difference would there be between me and them? Well, gentlemen, the Gomorrah says, "If Yseph was blind, Joseph was blind, which is one of the reasons why he had encyclopedic knowledge because when you're blind, you got to memorize it and retain it." And there's a certain urgency and probably have an edge on everybody else. Just like they say blind people hear better. Rabbi Sinclair told me, Rabb Sinclair told me he was once in the recording studio and somebody dropped a needle and people were looking for it. Stevie Wonder was there and Stevie Wonder walked right across the room, bent down and picked it up. That's what Sinclair told me because apparently he heard the ding when the needle hit the ground and he the hearing was so precise that he walked over and told that's what he said. I personally didn't like his music, but you know, he was good at needles. So, so the the the the what do you call the the uh uh the the the the the the the Ravioseph is blind. Now listen to what Rashi says. Ravioseph said, "If not for Torah, there are a lot of guys out there. What difference would there be between me and them?" Gentlemen, if a blind man walked into the room, what's the first thing you would notice? You would notice that there's probably no greater difference between two human beings than a person who could see and a person who's blind, right? There's no difference. I mean of all of all the handicaps that a person wouldn't want to be blind. So says what difference what difference is there between you and everybody else? Well they can see and you can't see. That's a pretty big difference. Yoseph is saying you're right. That's a difference that's this big. But the difference between a man who's learned Torah and a man who hasn't learned Torah is even bigger than the difference between a man who can physically see and a man who can't. How do you like that? That's a bigger difference. It's a difference in behavior and it's a difference in how his head works and how his mind works. A man who's learned Torah, it's a completely different behavior. You look at look at how you know look around at older and look at the Ravits of the world and the Moshifies of the world and you can't compare them to regular human being. The kazh says walks around the kazonish says looks like a human being but he's really an angel among men. Is a completely different completely different outlook different head. You've learned enough gor to know you do you learn gabbor for about 40 50 or 60 years your head works differently. You've got a different outlook. Sure you could see physically but he could see you know you've heard right. So there was a guy came to Zam Orbach before he came to he was an older guy and he wasn't married and he apparently he was uh no prize and he was socially socially uh awkward and uh uh he he was getting a little older and he wanted to get married and start on but he had an older mother and he made a precondition any girl that marries him has to be willing to allow his mother to live with them. Now, if you want to know what serious pain is, it's a younger couple that allow the couple gets married and the wife's mother lives with them. That's pain. So, his friend said to him, you know, Salman, listen, you know, you're no prize yourself. And uh to make a precondition like that, you know, you're really shooting yourself. This is just not going to work. Now, he said, "No, I have to." They said, "You got to institutionalize your mother. You can't have your mother living with you." He said, "No, I need a girl with a golden heart who's going to allow my mother to live with us." They said, "Zallman, it's not going to work." They said, they started arguing. Said, "You know what? Do us go speak to Zamor." He was on his he was reashi and revelash were the two after. So he said, "Go speak to so." So he said, "Okay, I will." And he went to Zman and he said to Zam, "This is my precondition. My friends are telling me it doesn't kind of work. What should I do? comes out and says, "You should stick with your condition. I you should find a girl who has a golden heart who is willing to have your mother live with you and I give you a braha that you should find her soon." The very next girl he goes out with, sure enough, they go out and they get engaged and the girl accepts the condition and wonderful. And he comes back to say, "Rebby, your brother worked. I found a girl. She's a golden heart." She will love my mother live with us. And and says, "Maza, Maza, now institutionalize your mother. What? He said, "Put your mother in an institution. You can't have your mother live with you when you get married." He said, "Yeah, but Rebby, you told me." I said, "I know exactly what I told you. I told you to find a girl with a golden heart who's willing to have your mother live with you. Now you found that girl and now you can't blame her. You could blame me cuz I'm telling you that you can't have your mother live with you, you nutcase, before you before you before when you first get married. Now in put your mother in institution." That's a person with Torah vision. You understand what is everybody every was no no he said yes yes yes yes because he had a plan that's what Torah does to a person that's what shuis is about is about not only by the way this whole idea of staying up at night staying up all night and learning uh at least part of the night you know so it's a wonderful thing if you could handle it a wonderful thing if you could handle it you just got to remember that you got a dvening at the far at the at the at the second at the at the end of it you got a long diving it's a Davu and there's Migillas Rus and there's what do you call it's it's a it's a bit of a you know I personally do not stay up all night. I don't stay up all night. I found that that I that I don't gain my my it's a good thing to do if you've never done it just the gishmach the energy and stuff. What I do on those rare occasions where I have stayed up all night is I went I've gone to sleep. I stay up until four o'clock when it's already shak then I go to sleep for about four hours and I get up at 8 or 8:30 and go to schulz I could dive in like a mench to davin at the end of the night is very very difficult okay you guys go to the kaisel I think so you're energized anyway and you've had a lot of coke at night you know that's what they I mean you know cola the liquid and and that'll keep you that'll keep you going to uh that'll keep you know that that should keep you going and it's a good thing to do but I I found that I you know I learned till about 1:00 at night and one o'clock in the morning my mind once my head turns off and I'm just like looking at words like that I may go to sleep and I end up I made a calculation I end up getting more learning in over the course of shu I get up in the morning I've learned learn before do learn after diving it's it's a different but if you've never done it it's a good thing to do but what you should really be thinking about on shuis and when you're diving but you're thinking about is you know you ended up here a lot of guys didn't end up here you ended up here for however your whatever the path was that brought all of us here we ended up here. So we have a debt of gratitude we have to be thankful he's given us something that a lot of most people in the world don't have and tells us himself this is the best way to live and so should be a day it's a day of gratitude it's a day you should be thanking hey thank you very much for bringing me here thank you very much for bring I don't mean to or I mean bringing me to this lifestyle which I which I either did not know about or I knew about and didn't get into it and now I'm into it and a person has No, you have you have a extreme debt of gratitude. You have an opportunity, by the way, three times a day. Every time you say, right, we thank you. But stop for a second. When you say mod, stop for a second. Say say thank you for everything. Don't say it. Think all the things you have to say be thankful for. But one of the things to be thankful for. One of the things to be thankful for is that's the that's the uh that's the the long and short of it. So, uh, tomorrow we're going to do go back to the parses here, but I just wanted you to know this about, uh, about Schwissu, what it is that Schwiss is about. All right. Okay. Uh-huh.