Oh Wow! Watermelon! (Rabbi Dovid Kaplan) (Parsha Mattos)

Mezonos, so I make both. I take a little bit and a little bit. Because the outside is mezonos and it's sweet. It's not just that it's got a flavor. It's like they asked the question about what brocha. Please close those doors, guys. Close. Huh? It's all done. It's fine. It's fine. They asked the That's a question that is Steve, you with me? That's a question that they asked The question they asked about schnitzel. Oh, yeah. Because schnitzel Please close that door. Schnitzel is a Schnitzel is a strange creature because the halacha says clearly Halacha says clearly Please close that door. The halacha says clearly that anything that is cooked baked or made with mezonos so automatically you make a mezonos on it. A schnitzel is fried with a batter. So, by the letter of halacha by the letter of halacha, you only make mezonos on schnitzel by the letter of halacha. But everybody knows that if I make a schnitzel, I'm not eating schnitzel for the mezonos. I'm eating it for the chicken. It's chicken with a with a batter. So there are there are but they but that rule of taffel that rule Please close that door. That rule of Lock it. Lock it so that it stays shut and people come in there through the other door. There's no lock over there? There's So, the the what do you call it? By the letter of the law, you should be making a what do you call it on a on schnitzel? By the letter by by the description of the halacha, you should make a mezonos. However, we're eating schnitzel cuz we're eating chicken. Somebody say, "What are we having for lunch today?" They don't say mezonos. They say, "We're having chicken." All right. Cuz we all know we're eating a schnitzel for the chicken. So, there are those that say that the batter on the schnitzel is only there so it won't stick to the pan. But I That's not I I don't agree with that because then why are you putting why are you making putting garlic in the batter to flavor the batter? So at the end of the day the post can say you make a shaha kol lunch schnitzel. But it's not 100% clear why but you do. You make a shaha kol lunch schnitzel. You don't make a mezones lunch schnitzel. The other place where you get this question it's an interesting question and again the answer is the answer is shaha kol. But the question they ask is about chocolate a chocolate bar because the beans chocolate beans are grown on a tree. It's a chocolate the chocolate beans are grown on a It's a chocolate what do you call it? It's not It's not an adama it's an ates. And the chocolate beans and the cocoa beans and the cocoa beans are grown for the sake of making chocolate. So by the again by the letter of halacha you can make a very strong argument that it should be a ates. And there are those that say that it's a ates but the biggest post like your Einstein and Rav Elyashiv all say you make a shaha kol. And the other place this appears is by is by by licorice. Cuz cuz Twizzlers are made it's made out of flour that's got some sort of goop in there. But I'm not eating you know I'm not eating cake. You're eating it so we make a shaha kol on licorice even though by again by what the description of the halacha says you could make an argument for a mezones. Right? But we don't. So let's At the end of the day the end of the day they're all shaha kols. Schnitzel and and chocolate and the what do you call it? And the what do you call it? Licorice they are at the end of the day they are shaha kol. Okay? But that's why it it's it's an interesting thing. Okay. Now I want to show you there are two more points here in parshas Pinchas then we're going to go on to Mattos Masse. To just Masse sorry. In America I think it's a double America they're reading a double When When they No next week they're going to read the double. Next week they read the double. So now they're reading Pinchas this week. Okay. Boy, is that confusing. Okay. So if you take a look, first of all, let's go to the daughters of Tzelafchad. Perek chof hey. Um Perek chof hey Sorry, perek chof zayin. Chof zayin, chof zayin, chof zayin. So, um It says like this, vatikravna. Top of page 886. Vatikravna b'not Tzelafchad ben Chefer ben Gilead ben Machir ben Menashe l'mishpachas Menashe ben Yosef. The daughters of Tzelafchad come near. V'eleh sh'mot b'notav, Machlah, Noa, v'Choglah, u'Milkah, v'Tirtzah. The daughters of of Tzelafchad come. Vat'amodna lifnei Moshe v'Elazar hakkohen u'lifnei n'si'ei ha'edah v'chol ha'edah leimor. Avinu meis bamidbar. Our father died in the desert. V'hu lo hayah b'soch ha'edah hanoadim al Hashem b'adas Korach. He wasn't among the congregation of Korach who rebelled against Moshe. Ki b'cheto meis. He died of his own sin. U'banim lo hayu lo. He didn't have children. He didn't have sons. Lamah yigara shem avinu mitoch mishpachto ki ein lo ben. Why should our father his name go lost, meaning his property will shift to somebody else? T'nah lanu achuzah b'soch achei avinu. Give us a portion. Say the girls. Vayikrav Moshe es mishpatan lifnei Hashem. Now, first of all, right before Just before you make it colder in the room, um take a look back at the end of parshas Korach. Uh sorry, Shlach. At the end of parshas Shlach. Now you can make it colder in the room. Okay. On page 816. Page 816. 816. So says on page 816 top of page 816. On top of page 816, by you been a soul by mid where the Jewish people were in the desert. By you been a soul by mid where the beam to each but kosher shades of me on a Shabbos there's a man who was gathering wood on Shabbos. By a cream of a soul multi multi kosher shades of me on a motion allow on a call I didn't pay attention carefully. They found this man gathering wood on Shabbos. By a nickel so by mish bar kilo porridge by a soul low. It wasn't clear what to do with this guy. Who was this guy? This is the guy so love cut he's the father of these girls. Why was he gathering wood on Shabbos? Because once there was a decree on the Jewish people that they're going to be in the desert for 40 years right after the the maraglin so they started a rumor to source brings down in shot to source I forgot where it is but to source brings down that there was a rumor that the laws of Shabbos no longer apply. The laws of Shabbos only going to apply if they were to go directly into the land of Israel. So they started this rumor that at the laws of Shabbos are relaxed cuz they're in the desert now for 40 years. So it's love cut goes and he wants to show them that no it's not that way and he purposely waits until two witnesses warn him and he goes and he gathers wood on Shabbos which is necessary to arise so and they bring him to motion up a dough. And motion up a dough says let's check motion up a dough is going to check with a ship. What what what's going to happen? So they come to motion up a dough and they say look our mother we don't have any sons. Now if we don't count his boys if we don't count his boys our mother should go through Yibbum. She should go have a Yibbum, but she should marry our father's brother, right? If a If a If a If a If a man dies and leaves no children, so then his wife does Yibbum or Chalitza, right? So, the girls come along with, you know, "Moshe, you know, they got to They got to fetch him at the thumbs." You know, "If we don't count, then our mother should get Chalitza. And if we do count, then she doesn't get Chalitza She doesn't get Yibbum because we do count, so then we should get a portion of the land." So, what do we do? Vayakrevu Moshe Shiftenu Lifnei Hashem. You notice there's a big nun over there. Why is there a big nun? So, the answer is the Torah says there are 50 gates of wisdom. A nun is the the gematria of 50. There are 50 gates of wisdom. The Torah says Moshe Rabbeinu was only given access to 49. That means there was a level of wisdom that even hidden from Moshe Rabbeinu. And Moshe Rabbeinu now needs to consult with Hakadosh Baruchu regarding these Benos Tzelafchad. That they want a portion in the land of Israel. So, eventually Moshe consults. He says they are going to get a portion and so on and so forth. The commentaries say that there's an interesting Midrash. And the Midrash says like this, this is remarkable because this is very much applies to us nowadays. The Midrash says that um anyone who goes against the flow of his generation gets reward parallel to the entire generation. And the Midrash gives three examples. The Midrash says Noach who went against his generation, Avraham Avinu who went against his generation, and Lot because Lot went against the people of Sodom. He didn't go against his own generation, but he certainly went against the people of Sodom. Remember Lot brought the guests into his home. So, you have Noach who goes against the corruption of the generation of the flood. You've got Avraham Avinu who becomes a monotheist who goes against the entire generation of idols idol worshipers and pagans and idol worshipers. And the third one is Lot who is not a tzaddik. He goes on to say Lot's not a tzaddik, but he goes against the entire flow of of Sodom. In the city of Sodom, there was a rule you don't bring in guests and you're not kind to people and Lot was the one who opened up his door. He invited the angels into his house. And therefore they get the reward the entire generation would have gotten that one individual gets that reward. Says the Medrish, that's what the daughters of Tzelafchad did. The daughters of Tzelafchad, what did the Jewish people say? What did the men say? If you look back for a second at 14:4, turn to Yud Daled Daled. On page 808 804. 802, sorry. 802. So the men when they got all upset, look what the men said at bottom of 802. Vayomru ish el achiv. Nitna rosh venashuva Mitzrayima. When the spies brought back the negative report, the men said, "You know what? Yo, let's go back to Egypt." So there was a certain mood of rejecting the land of Israel. And what do these girls say? "We want a portion in the land of Israel." Says the Medrish, they're going against the flow of their entire generation. And therefore they get the reward they get a reward somehow, however God measures reward, proportional to the entire generation. So the Medrish says. You understand the application? Are you with me on the application? You understand where this applies? That means anybody nowadays who demonstrates decency, commitment to Torah where a whole world is going in the opposite direction, decency, a rejection of various uh uh don't even know what the what the correct adjective is. For for for the for the values of the world today. And anybody who is willing to to to to to to not be you know, nowadays if you're decent, what we call decent the world calls phobic. Right? So who's the villain? We're the villains. Right, we're the villains cuz cuz we got cuz we're maintaining Torah values. Therefore, we're the villains. So so so now all of a sudden they passed Roe v. Wade is overturned. So the whole world is up in arms. The oy gevalt. You mean you can't murder babies anymore? Right? So now you're you're the villains. Right, you became the villains. And so somebody is willing a world that's a world that's out of control and a world that's what do you call it that people are people are caught up in this and that and the other. With all the indi- Let's say that one example. One example, the internet. The internet. Oh listen you know, one of the Gedolei Yisrael said, you know, there's a prohibition for a man to be alone in a in a room with a woman who's not his wife. You know that? That's called yichud. Not allowed to be alone with a woman that's not your wife or your mother or your daughter or your bubby or whatever it is, but not with somebody else. So one of the Gedolim said, you know what? No man should be alone in a room with an unfiltered internet. How do you like that? Why? Because a man is alone with an unfiltered internet would have to be on the level of Yosef Hatzadik not to sin. And frankly, we're not on the level of Yosef Hatzadik. Right? So if a person exercises restraint in this area where an entire world has decided, hey, let's be hefker. A whole world is like, you know what? Let's be And you're old fashioned and you have morals and values and this that and the other. And a person goes against the flow. So it's not just the what do you call it? It's not just that you get the reward for not doing it. You're going to get a reward proportional to the entire generation was doing the opposite. Persons will you say, "No, we're not going to do that. No, that's not decent. No, that's inappropriate." And whether it's what I I you know, there's so many examples I can't even can't even They're too many to enumerate, right? So, you have a mishigas. Somehow somebody decided, "What would your What would your reaction be if somebody was walking down the street, a man is walking on the street only wearing shorts? No shirt, no pants or no no just shorts on the street right here at and the and the and you know, right on the streets of your show. What would you Would you be upset? Would you be kind of bothered by that? A little bit, you know, I think that's a that's you know, you're getting on the train with no shirt at all. Even a man. I mean, I'm talking before we even get to non-men. Before we even get to non- Before we get to non-males, all right? Even a male who's who's walking around like that, right? A female who's walking around like she's got clothing allergies, right? And they'll also say, "But if it What if there's sand and water nearby? If there's a hot day and there's sand and water and everybody's running around in what is essentially their undergarments, right? That's okay. As long as there's sand and water nearby then it's okay. Then it's okay for everybody walk around looking like Tarzan, right? Then it's okay, right? So, why? Because we all decided that's okay, right? But any normal person says, "Hey, no, it's not okay at all. It's not okay at all that everybody look over leaves to look at that We don't understand that this inappropriate." And a person who says, "You know, we're not going to do that." You know, they they have they have separate beaches beaches. And then everybody laughs at the from separate beaches. They're all the from around separate beaches, right? But that's the the those are the facts, gentlemen. Those are the facts. The fact is that we understand that it's indecent. I but the world laughs at us. Okay, but we're going against the flow. And if you go against the flow, it's difficult to go against the flow. Very difficult to go against the flow. Person is willing to go against the flow. So, a person is going to be rewarded for everything. They They have problems on college campuses. They don't understand what we have against what we have against college campuses. Like, you know, you take go back to the Torah section where the angels come to Lot. And the people of Sodom surround the house. And they say, "Let's have those men out here because we want to commit sodomy." Which is where the word comes from. Sodom and sodomy, that's where it comes from. So, what does Lot say? "Here, take my daughters and do whatever you want with them. Just leave the guests. I'll protect the guests." So, what's everybody's reaction? "I could you believe it? Could you believe it? A father would do that?" A father would die rather than let his daughters be violated, right? Every father would would would would die rather than let his fathers be violated. What father is going to send his daughters out and say, "Here guys, have a good time." And the answer is millions of fathers across the world do it today. And not only that, they pay about 30 or 40,000 dollars a year to have it done. Cuz they pay tuition for their daughters to go to college. So, what happens to daughters go to college? What do you think's going to happen? Right? So, girls go to college campus and the 50% of them 50% of the girls are anorexic, 50% are depressed, and another 50% commit suicide. I know that that doesn't add up properly, but that's you know, those are approximately the numbers. Why? Why? Because a girl goes off to college campus and she's going to be used and abused for 4 years. What she's supposed to do? This is her These are her peers and her contemporaries. And everybody's talked you into that being being liberal and being this and being that. And a person says, "What are you out of your mind? You just read about Lot and you were say you're shaking your head about Lot and you did it yourself. You sent your What are you expecting?" Then you get a phone call, "Oh Mom, I have I have gotten abortion." Uh, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. Right? You can't believe it. What were you expecting? What were you expecting? You send your son off and he tells you he's getting he's into my car. You send your son home off to university. He tells you he's Mazel tov. I got some good There's a good bad news. The good news I'm engaged, the bad news is she's not Jewish. Huh? I can't believe it. I can't believe it, huh? You can't believe it. What were you expecting? And so the Torah says that somebody comes along and he's willing to go against the flow. He's willing to say, "Hey, people, wake up. This isn't decent. This isn't decent. You know what? What's the alternative?" What's the alternative? You mean you have no alternative, so you're going to send your daughter off into that cage of that den of iniquity? So she could go to some frat party and sorority party and drink alcohol and then next day say, "I can't believe I did that." He dove into a punch bowl like a fish out of water. Then he said, "I can't believe I did that." Right? And nobody else could could believe it either. Right? It so happens that he come along and said then you get rewarded Can they get cooler? So certainly a person who says, "You know what? I'm not going to buy into this nonsense. This society is trying to kidnap me. I'm going to change my life. I'm going to live a decent life and you can make me live a decent a decent life to the best of my ability." None of us are perfect. So a person like that is going to get reward connect with the entire generation. They get rewarded proportionate to the entire generation. That's what the Torah teaches. It's a frightening thought. It's a happy thought, but it's a frightening thought. Take a look at the next section. Now, this also begs a begs a begs a question. You know, I used to take my son my kids at the Shabbos table when they were little. So we'd sit at the Shabbos table and you know, you Then there was time for for for the goodies. So I'd bring out, you know, some either candy or licorice or something and I would torture them. I take a piece of licorice and I'd say, "Yeah, listen, I'm going to think of you now." And I'd take a bite of licorice. I'm I'm thinking of you. It's really good cuz it good it tastes good. The kids are just kind of looking at me like this. You know, you know, eventually you know, you have to all you know, you have to have a little you have to get a little job satisfaction. Eventually I give them the candy. I That's torturing them. Okay? Now, let me ask you a question. Imagine I walk into a room with a chocolate bar. And you're fleishig. You know, the kid mother kid kid says the mother kid says, "Mommy, I want a piece of chocolate." She says, "You can't shmooley You can't shmooley you're fleishig." So, you want to see how fast You want to see how fast I can become milkig? That doesn't work that way. You have to wait. Now, imagine I have a chocolate bar and you're fleishig. Would you like to watch me eat it? If you can't eat it yourself, would you like to watch me eat it? Yes, no. You would? Yes. How many of you would want to watch and how many would feel that watching is the biggest form of torture? How many of you say torture? Who would want to watch somebody else eat something? What's the Why would you want to watch somebody else eat something? They're enjoying it. Oh, that's what you want to do. I'm not interested in watching other people enjoy it, believe me. You know, do you know that there was a Do you know that they tried putting out a newspaper that reported only good news? This one won This one won the lottery and this one got a brand new car. This is Uncle died and left them a house. This is Just good news from all over the world. It bombed. Bombed. It was Why Why do I want to read about your good fortune? What's that going to do for me? That's why I don't want to go to Dubai. People are all running to Dubai like it's going out of style. It's the last place in the world I want to go to is Dubai. Why would I want to go to Dubai and look at opulence that I'm never going to have? Welcome to Dubai. We got more gold here than you've got than you're ever going to have in a lifetime in this little drawer. Why Why do I want to go there for? To get tortured and watch policemen drive in Lamborghinis? I don't even have a car. What do I Oh, wow, you know, they have a Lambo. That's great. I'm just so happy. Why would I want to go do that to myself? Okay? Now, with that in mind, by the way, my son went My wife often said to me there are certain things I did to my kids that I could be arrested for, which is probably true. My son once came home from Yeshiva Ketana. Which means about 15, 16. So, they'd go out They're out of the house from about 7:00 in the morning till 10:00 at night. So, he comes home from Yeshiva Ketana and I set him up on the table, a big salami. He'd come in starving. He had a big salami sandwich on a baguette with a Pepsi and potato chips. And he comes in, I said, "Are you hungry?" And he goes and he sits down. He goes he washes and he washes. He takes a bite of the salami. And I said to him, "Who's smarter, me or you?" So, he gives me a look like this. I said, "Who's smarter, me or you?" He goes, "You are." I said, "You're right." I open up the freezer and I pull out this chocolate monstrosity, a chocolate bar with almonds and nuts and what do you call it? He's fleishig. Right? So, but I had bought one for him. I had bought one for him so he could take this to school the next morning. Right? So, my wife says to me, "Oh, that's so cruel." I said, "Listen, he's got to know Daddy's in charge." And he was eating this big salami sandwich. So, why am I bringing this up? Take a look at the Torah. Vayamar Hashem el Moshe, Hashem says to Moshe, "Aleh el Har Ha'avarim azeh, go up to this mountain. Ure'eh et ha'aretz asher nasati livnei Yisrael." I want you to page 888. I want you to look at this land which I've given the Jewish people. "Vera'isa otah, you shall look at it. Vene'esafta el amekha gamota ka'asher ne'esaf Aharon achicha." You're going to look at it, but then you're going to die. Now, what is this for? Hey Moshe, come on up to the mountain, see? You're not going in. Why in the world would I could have walked up to do that to Moshe Rabbeinu? What What kind What kind of torture is it to take Moshe up to a mountain, show him the land of Israel, and say, "Haha, but you're not going in." Why would I could have walked up to do that? How could I have walked up to do that? So, the answer is it's obviously not. The answer is that Kodesh Baruch Hu is not torturing Moshe Rabbeinu. Everything Moshe Rabbeinu did you ever wonder why is it why is it we have Jews have a connection to Eretz Yisrael? We've always had a yearning for Eretz Yisrael and even secular Jews who are far removed from Judaism, their Judaism is very much Israel. And they'll buy Israel bonds even though it's misused by corrupt Israeli politicians, but buy Israel bonds. That's their There's something about Israel. What is And then in Shemoneh Esrei we're davening for the return to Yerushalayim. Right? I don't know that second or third generation Italians in America are still hoping one day to go back to Italy. I mean And I don't know that that second or third generation Greeks are hoping one day to go back to Greece. And I don't know that second or third generation Venezuelans are hoping to go back to Venezuela. I would assume they're not, right? I would assume the first generation Venezuelans would like to get out of there. That's what I would assume. I don't think I think nobody's yearning to get back to where they were except the Jews. And even the Jews in chutz la'aretz who are living in well ensconced in Monsey or in Canada or in Chile or wherever they are, and at the end of the day what are they all thinking about? There's that connection to Eretz Yisrael. There's a connection to to to to to to Israel. Why? Where'd that come from? Where'd that come from? What Where's Where is What happened? The answer is it happened right here. That HaKodesh Baruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu, "Why don't you go look into the land of Israel? Not to torture you. I want you to look into the land of Israel cuz what Moshe Rabbeinu did everything he did has an eternal effect on the Jewish people. He brought down the Torah and the Torah is the connection for the Jewish people. He took us out of Mitzrayim. We are constantly constantly reminding yourself of that leaving of Egypt. And Moshe Rabbeinu looking into Eretz Yisrael, he's creating the yearning that Moshe Rabbeinu has to go into Eretz Yisrael. That's the yearning that we have to go into Eretz Yisrael. Our desire and connection to is because this is another act of Moshe Rabbeinu. It's not just Moshe Rabbeinu like it wow, wow, you know, boy, I'd love to live over there, you know. So, well, maybe I can get it and then I say that Moshe Rabbeinu is looking into Eretz Yisrael as a way of us being able to have that eternal connection to Eretz Yisrael. That's how you find Jews all over the world, all over the world. Even those who write against the Jewish people, even the self-hating Jews who who who theoretically say we should give back the land of Israel to the Palestinians or whoever it is that wants to throw us into the sea, they don't really believe it. No, everybody knows that even when they were beginning the state of Israel when they they they there was a hava amina they had a they crossed their minds that that instead of it they were going to Uganda. That wasn't going to happen. There are no Jews are going to go to Uganda. The Jews are Jews are not going to Yes, they you know, let's go to Uganda, right? Now, that wasn't going to happen. Nobody's going to leave Europe to go to Uganda. They'll leave Europe to go to to go to to Palestine. They're not going to leave Europe to go to Uganda. Why? Because we have a connection to the land of Israel. We have a connection and our connection to the land is different than anybody else's connection. In Chicago, I grew up Chicago there there you had Germans and you had Irish and you had Germans and you had Polish and uh none of them were running back to their lands. I don't remember the Polish Jews the not the Jews the Polish the the Polish the Polish neighborhood I don't know anybody from the Polish neighborhood who's going back to Poland. I don't know any of the Irish who are going back to Ireland. Now, I didn't see any any mass movement among them. And the Jews who were always like let's get together and celebrate Israel's independence I said something about Israel. That's why America was always suspect. Jews were always suspect of and they're always accused of a dual loyalty. Cuz no matter where the Jews are, whether The are in England or the Jews are in Argentina or the Jews are in Mexico, or Jews are in America. There's always that dual There's always that Israel thing. And I don't see that Israel thing by the by the by the Polish and by the Irish and by the Scott. I didn't see that Israel that that that they have that connection to their to their land. Okay, let's go on to the next parsha. So that the what do you call the the Ameri Oh, they're they're not even here yet. Okay. Um Sorry, take a look at perek chof ches, so one more one more point here. Perek chof ches pasuk vav, 890. One last point in Pinchas. So, um the uh the Torah here starts describing the korbanos. And the the various sacrifices. And on page 890, if you look about uh nine lines from the top, Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe lemor, Tzav es bnei Yisrael ve'amarta aleihem, es korbani lachmi le'ishshei re'ach nicho'ach le'mo'adi tishmeru lehakriv li. Now, every day there is going to be an offering. And if you notice, it says it's called What is the daily offering called? The olas tamid, the constant uh the What's the word? The consistent offering, the constant offering. How does the Torah describe it? Take a look at pasuk vav. Olas tamid ha'asuyah behar Sinai lere'ach nicho'ach isha lashem. It's called the olas tamid, like the one that was done at Har Sinai. And the one that they bring every day is called the olas tamid. And every day the service in the Beit Hamikdash began with the olas tamid, and it culminated with the second olas. They brought one in the morning, one in the afternoon. And that was All other sacrifices were between those two sacrifices. And then the Torah in pasuk vav describes it as being the olas tamid, just like the one at Har Sinai. Why does the Torah make mention of Har Sinai? Does any Is there a siddur available there on the table? Is there anywhere Is there a sitter anywhere? Yeah. Why is it called a Why is it called an Olah's stomach? Thank you very much, Steve. Why is it called an Olah's stomach? What's I mean, why is it Why What's the comparison to our Cnight? So, one of our ships says, "Imagine the first time they brought this Olah in Har Cnight." Imagine the first time they brought this the sacrifice out. What do you think the mood was? The first time you're bringing it Huh? Very high. Very high. Wow, we're serving Hashem. We're bringing an offering, a sacrifice. Again, it's hard for us to relate to It's hard for us to relate to a society where they brought sacrifices, but they did. Animals rights people notwithstanding, they did. They brought sacrifices and I'm sure that the first time they did it, it's like the first time of anything. The first time a person puts on tfillin, he's all buzzed up putting on tfillin. The first time a person does a lulav and an esrog, he's all buzzed up. Right? The first time a person davens for the amud. The first time you Elaine at your bar mitzvah. The first time a person does anything, there's a certain excitement. The first time you go on a certain roller coaster. I don't know if any of you have. Probably you did. But, the first time Do any of Have any of you ever skydived? Have any of you ever skydived? No, huh? Buck, buck, buck, buck. What a bunch of chickens, right? You never skydived? Yeah, neither have I. The Neither have I. It's probably the last thing in the world I would do. The Have you bungee jumped? You Who's bungee jumped? You did? Did you really? Uh no, no. I'm talking about where you kind of hurl yourself off a bridge when you're attached by a rubber band, that sort of thing. Yeah. I was 10 years old. You bungee jumped? Or you got bungee pushed? All right, you're 10 years old. So, you jumped from a high high. How high? 50 m. 50 m. 50 m. Are Are serious? And when being you're around like that? Yeah. horrible. It was horrible. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Oh gee, I can't believe that. And they couldn't sleep for 3 days. Why? What was her He got Yeah, he was I I I I can't Well, you know, some people do that sort of I mean, I play chess, but okay, you know, it's a And the uh that's a The cake coaster is fine. It's the one that swings. Oh, the sky coaster. Oh, yeah, the old sky coaster. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, sky coaster. Anything that has the word sky in it, I avoid, right? If you got to get sky there, you know, that's already too high for me. So So, the first time you do it, it's really exciting. Roller coaster I'm sure you guys have been on roller coasters. That's what I think. And after a while, it gets, you know, once you've done it, so it loses some of the What do you call it? Comes along the Torah Torah said, "You're going to bring an olah tamid." The danger with doing something repetitively is that it loses the pizzazz. It loses the snap. Therefore, the Torah says, "Olah tamid hasuya b'Har Sinai." The same way that it was done at Har Sinai, with a certain excitement, with a certain energy, that's the energy that the olah tamid should always be done with through history. When they bring this olah tamid in the Beit Hamikdash, I want to read you something cuz in in the month of Elul, you know, that there's a tradition that at the end of davening, we say we say Tehillim, we say L'David Hashem Ori. Okay? And in L'David Hashem Ori is a unbelievable unbelievable insight. Uh uh I heard this um b'shem Reb Yitzchak Yerucham um Bordiansky, who's the mashgiach of the Knesses Yisrael Yeshiva. And he says like this, "Achat sha'alti me'et Hashem otah avakesh." We ask one thing of Hashem. Shiv We say this every The Ashkenazim say this every morning and night in the month of Elul. We say this. Uh uh I don't know if if this is sorry, does this the Sefardim say this? Uh has the the Sefardim say the Sefardim say this in Elul? I don't know if Sefardim say it. Some people only say it in the morning. Different minhagim, it's a custom. So, the pasuk here says Achas sha'alti me'et Hashem avakesh, I ask one thing. Shivti be'veit Hashem kol yemei chaiyai, I ask that I dwell in the house of God my entire life. What's the house of God, gentlemen? Obviously a beit midrash or basically you know a shul, beit midrash where we sit and learn Torah. Lachazot benoam Hashem, to see the beauty gaze at the beauty of Hashem. Ulivaker beheichalo, and to visit in his sanctuary. So, the question is, well it starts out with I want to dwell in the house of Hashem. I mean permanent resident. Then it says and to visit in his sanctuary. Now, you can say well, the house of Hashem and the sanctuary are two different places. But, assuming that it alludes to the holy areas that we that we populate like a shul or a or a beit midrash where people study Torah. So, why does it start out with I want to live in the house of Hashem and I want to visit. You want to live there or you want to visit? Which one do you want to do? And the answer is, I've been living in Israel for a long time. I see tourists come to Israel. Every once in a while you see tourists. You can tell they're wearing white shoes. Uh what do you call it, you know, uh midaberim kacha, you know, and and you see the tourists and they're getting all excited. Wow, a falafel shop, right? Wow, they you know, uh you know, there's the Kotel, you know, wow, you know, let's get The tourists get very excited about these things. When you've been living there for a while you're no longer so excited, isn't it true? The same thing when I go to Florida, you know, if I went to Florida, I I thought I thought I was there in Florida once uh twice. What I remember going to Florida, wow, I'm going to Florida. And then on your way to Florida you see people leaving Florida. I mean if it's so wonderful, why is everybody leaving? Right? And and you know, when I go to London, I love London. You know, I said to someone, I love London. The guy said to me, a guy from London said to me, "You must have been here less than a week." I was Well, I was there I was actually there for 6 days. All right, you know. So So you know, I understand what But I to me it's sure cuz when you're visiting it's always more exciting. When you're visiting, it's exciting. When you live somewhere, when you live somewhere, see you take it for granted. Not only that, it's very deceptive cuz when I travel I was on a on a recent trip. So I was in a certain Jewish community and I was thinking to myself, "Wow, you know, it's so relaxing here. It's such a nice place to live and everything else." Sure it's relaxing cuz I was there as a visitor. The people who were driving carpool and were trying to put some food on the table and were running around without a minute to breathe don't think it's so relaxing. They think it's relaxing being in Israel. That's cuz they haven't been stuck in a traffic jam when the president is here for an hour and 20 minutes. All right. So when they come to Israel off in Israel, you know, So everywhere you live, when you live it's one perception and you could take it for granted. When you're visitor, you're all excited. The feel of Hashem is we want to live in the house of Hashem. We want our life to be in a base medrish. We want our life to be immersed in Torah, in Torah values. But we want it to be like a visit. That means that we should always retain that excitement when we're doing it. There are two. We want to live it, but we want the excite We want two things. I want it all the time, but I don't want to take it for granted. Every time I put on tfillin without obviously getting pretending to be excitement excited, but I don't want to yawn when I'm putting on my tfillin. I don't want to yawn when I'm putting when I'm davening shmona esrei. I want it to be the same excitement every time. If you need an example, I don't know anybody who gets tired from one week to the next of eating cholent. All right? Every time you get to the Shabbos table and bring out lemon meringue pie for dessert. Well, Lemon meringue pie, how boring. No, no, no. It's always the same. It's always the same excitement. That's the same excitement that we want for all mitzvahs, not just for cholent and lemon meringue pie. Right? And I noticed an interesting phenomenon. Whenever they serve watermelon, you ever been at a table where people serve watermelon? Every time they bring out watermelon, there's always somebody that says, "Oh, wow, watermelon." You know, I don't know why that is. Something about the way it's like, "Yeah, I know what it is. Yeah, I know." But true or not true, as soon as they bring it out, there's always somebody that says, "Nobody ever says, 'Oh, wow, cinnamon cake.'" You know, nobody say, you know, "Oh, oh, wow, chicken." Nobody ever say that, but with a watermelon has a special place. I'm not sure what it is. It occupies a Maybe and even looks happy. Watermelon, you know, it's sliced in half, it looks like a smile, you know, kind of green and red, you know, it's got all those happy colors. I'm not sure what it is. That's what we're asking for. Achas Shalti, we want to live it. We want to live it, but we want to be excited about it constantly. Yeah, go ahead, Barry. I just wanted to ask you. Do you remember there was a idea that the Levites should also keep on the enthusiasm for their service and like it was kind of their their I have here, you know, like Yeah. Everybody should. Everybody should. Everybody should maintain that enthusiasm. We all have and and that's always the danger when you start taking it for where you know, you just go through the motions. Go through the motions. It's difficult. We have to constantly constantly remind ourselves of the importance of what we're doing. All right, see you tomorrow. Okay.