Rabbi Tzvi Seidman Mishmar Parshas Vayikrah at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim

Okay. You know, sometimes you come into a place, you come into you go to the zoo. It's you go to the zoo and a lot of different attractions, a lot of different things going on. There's, you know, I know with the Bronx Zoo, there's, you know, the African plains and then there's the uh, you know, the the the birds and the reptiles and different areas and there's a massive map of all the different things and all the different attractions that you can get, you can you can visit and all the different things that can entertain you, etc. But the most important thing on the map is going to be a little red teardrop thing which says you are here, right? Because if you don't know where you are, the rest of it is really it's a waste. Like you could be a thousand miles away, you look at a map of the Bronzoo, it's not going to help you, right? So sometimes we just have to pull ourselves together and say where are we in a lot of different ways. Obviously this that's where are we? But sometimes just seasonally where are we right now? Seasonally, we're at a very, very unique time of the year, a unique time, a unique par, a unique, you know, season. And specifically today, I know it's already, but we still want to, you know, tap in a little bit toeshan, a very specific and unique day, um, on the Jewish calendar. And it's interesting how these things come together sometimes like you have like like an overload of the same theme is playing again and again. And you know sometimes when we have our you know the Thursday night we discuss a specific topic in aem a specific mitzvah a specific mid I think what we're going to try to just get a little grasp on tonight is more general it's more of like an approach to growth in different things and again it could be applied to all the different attractions in life as long as we know where we are we'll be able to use that I was asking about you know when I walked in but no problem is is a priority started. So um so where are we? So first let's let's just uh let's you know orient ourselves in the parish. We're between on and already began shabas and Monday and this and and this morning we didn't land because we had but we already began landing parro but the satur of parro we did not yet do. So we sort of set up the Mishkan and the Kalin and we reviewed in Bakuda exactly how everything was done and now we're stepping into action mode into avoid into the carbon we have we have and you know the parish are leading us through literal aid you know without any uh without any added terms generally means bringing carbon we know that today we don't have that we have avoid which is we could only do with our hearts with our mouths a little bit. First we did the physical making the mishk and now we're doing the >> of the meaning the making the mishk was was was preparation in order to be able to go ahead >> also it's two different >> yeah it's right now just think about it no that's of setting something up of creating of creating and then we come to the point of now we are going to serve we're going to bring >> etc right and that was alfiss the says that there were 10 unique things about this day one of them was was a first day there was a even though brought for the last seven days before but >> right the fire came down and tur that kasra brought it you know brought as a whole the first time for that was also fast forward to the times of the mikdash or subsequent years in the mishk every year there was a collection of starting from 30 days ago And then when we get to everyone in already brought was supposed to bring and then we're going to begin using that all those funds for the carbonist going forward for the next year. Any money that was left over from the previous year wasn't used anymore for the carbon carbon t. It was used if there was ever a quiet day on the muzz. So if there's a quiet time, they would bring they would use that money to buy more animals to bring carbon but more like voluntary not the not the steady sour but the the cycle of steady s also begins onesha there's also another element of which maybe you know I I'll say I don't have perfect clarity exactly how this works but I'll read to you um and maybe you can explain to me maybe someone has some insight exactly what this means. But there's another element of a little bit less known which began onesh and that is really we should have started the year today saying happy birthday because according to I think it's creation was his birthday but it was creation day was created according to the you know the world was created five days prior on and then The sixth day of creation when Adam was created was yes >> a lot of other things going on that's was there burgers here because I'm not familiar with the the deeper ideas but um I'd love to hear but I I'll read to you Mr. brew. And again, this is something I can't say I fully grasp. We know that every every um it's out here every every morning we wash when we get up. Why do we wash when we get up in the morning? M is if you ask the average person why you wash, they'll say because there's on the hand that's a nice idea. The brings that as well. That would not require and that's not one of the primary reasons brought in. >> Okay. is why we thought why do we think that way? >> The Mr. room mentions it and people you know people get involved in things that are a little bit mystical and things like that people get very excited about so it's something that kids remember and they hear it they hear it again and it's true I'm not saying it's not true brings it down >> it's not the real >> but there wouldn't be a to remove from the hands rather why is there between the rush and the rush says that the hands aren't clean because during the night a person's not in control of what he touches and therefore before he's going to Dining he has to wash his hands the raja which quotes in the beginning in the beginning because before ding should wash your hands in fact they've only held even at where you wash your hands make we only do it at but it's really something which is connected to preparation for that made again said there's a I'm explaining that that when your hands are not clean before you have to wash them and we make a >> and that is just you all day which means if you slept later on there abundance we make >> the reason for that is because is what the reason is and only one of the two reasons going to apply this reason would have applied but let's get to the other reason >> I'm not totally getting it we make a >> absolutely >> we every mitzvah of that we have >> every make a >> yeah we're going to make a of we make a mill make a near right make a near shabas these old >> because we're okay because we're about to do >> but we do it afterwards because we want to do it with clean hands. since we make a bra afterwards. But yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um so that's a rash. But I want to get to the sheet of the raja. The rajbah says that since when a person goes to sleep, when he gets up in the morning, he's a burial. He's like a new creature, a new creation. That's right. Because sleep is the 60th of death. So it's like it just came to life again. And therefore we thank and then he says and that we should wash our hands. When a person becomes a new creation he should wash his hands. Why? Because it's similar to a beginning as a brings us it's says as follows in the morning to make ourselves holy. We're not going to >> like true but we are entering a state of so when a person gets up in the morning and certainly when adamish was created the first time meaning when we get up in the morning it's like we were just created >> but certainly the first time we were created when adamish was created that is the beginning phase of an so >> but they had not make a they had to make a bra when they did >> it's likely that they did I don't know I don't know But we we >> I'm saying they >> could they made a They probably did. I'm assuming they did. I'm assuming they did. That's actually a Diso. So I'm sure they didn't make >> Hey, watch the >> right if they don't do it. It's pretty uh pretty the reason why that's why we do it. I heard that. >> But the idea being >> So the idea is the idea is what the Raj was telling us is that creation means you're about to go do a that's what creation is. Again, when we use just the word that's usually referring to I I don't again this I'm I'm I'm ready for I'm inviting feedback on this idea afterwards. Why is creation equal? But that's that's what the rajma told us. So let's just say that besides the which took place in the Mishkan besides her beginning the new cycle of the which begin from the new we begin spending the new years the fiscal year begins and the original creation of man which the raja tells us means beginning of was so I think it's an appropriate time now at least we know where we are you are here right we are at a a moment in the year and a moment in the par and a date on the calendar which is the beginning of a um now the next step is I was I was at an office as a in a building yesterday I had to get somewhere so they have one of these big screens where you come and also have the you are here thing that's what inspired me to this thing right and when you then they have a list of uh different locations in the building that you need to get to so if I need to get to this and this office you just tap on that then it gives you step-by-step instructions from where you are you go down the hallway till there elevator to the third floor that okay it's a big >> it was a big place yeah heard >> so step two after the you are here part now how do I get to where I want to get to so again like I said we're not discussing a specific mitzvah or a specific mid but in all areas of hashem how do you move from where I am to where I want to be to to my goal people have aspirations hopefully we all have some aspirations we like our aspirations to grow our goals to grow our shifas to go to grow. So how do I get from here to there? So there's an interesting gamarra. There's an interesting gamarra in the gamarra says as we all know when we dam we face misra, >> right? >> So some you know some variety here but >> so the says >> if a person doesn't know person doesn't know which way is misra while he's traveling. So just it's an interesting thing says if someone is in so when heavens he should face >> and the brings apost for that and then it says if someone's in when he dins he should face >> someone's in they face the >> you have to know who you are >> someone's on you should face >> you have to know where you are >> right that's a gamar so if you just read the gamar the mash explains it this way says that what's the ideal to tell somebody that's if you're standing here and you want to face a direct beline for the you're going to have a very hard time hitting that target but if you just aim for which is a couple of hundred miles wide so you can hit that target when you're in you're local so you can possibly hit but if you're in ina I don't know if you're going to be able to direct direct the closer you get every should be a different way >> okay so it gives those you know stages stages right so that's how you would read the gar the only issue with that is that if that's the case really what we're all trying to do >> what we're all really trying to do is to get to the keshakadasha if that would be the case then the would bring one p that you should dive in towards the keshakadashim now get as close as you can theor doesn't do that the brings a p for every single step >> it says brings a brings a which seems to say that there was a special den from towards leave out we're not up to that just towards and from towards Jerusale and and perhaps the idea of this is that geographically the farther you are the harder it is to get that point and therefore your is only get from but the same would go in what a person's up to where what his level is where he's up to in a certain mid in a certain mitzvah in a certain idea that he's working on of course the goal is to perfect it person wants to work on his uh his so his goal is to be 18 hours a day but we got to get steps the steps to get there the steps to get there we're so far from that point from that goal from the epitome so the idea is get your goal is your immediate goal is let's get a little closer Let's get let's get to an area that's more attainable. From here I could hit I could direct myself to so I'm just aiming for that and that itself is a step which is validated by a from is already accomplished and when you're going to come doing this in your person says okay I have this amount of learning time I'd like to add you know a little bit of in my day I'll learn from or learn a whatever it is that's not just I'm still not there because I didn't reach Mo that itself has value. there's value in that accomplishment. So when it comes to to getting towards the of course there is the the the march towards the peak towards the top of Everest. You want to get to the highest point but there are many plateaus along the way that they in and of themselves are goals as well. >> Don't overwhelm yourself, >> right? Don't overwhelm yourself and appreciate that you've reached that goal. I I set a small goal, an attainable goal and I reached it and now obviously the next step is going to be to get the next one. But not to ever lose lose sight of the value of having attained the first goal and then the next one. That's >> somebody somebody just um my he finished after like >> maybe he was doing it once a week. So what 25 years took him something I don't know long time he finished >> that's a big old hell of a >> that was his that was like his thing you know he's >> Yeah. So, you know, little things add up, but little things aren't really little things. Every little thing down here is massive up in Shmay. And I'll and I'll just, you know, there certain things that I'll compare to other thing. Like, for example, it says someone embarrasses another person, it's like he killed him. And we all understand that that murder is like, you know, it's it's it's the greatest thing that can be done. It's horrible. It's horrible. In every society, it's understood say something to another person. We don't we don't we don't see it as being so so grave so terrible right there a bunch of things like that someone's there's a lot of things compare now we always have a if something is if something is at a certain level when it comes to negative to punishments to to so that inar it's at least 500 times as strong says in a couple of places right so when you do a tiny little mitzvah which we seem as a tiny little thing I just took a tiny step towards growth ino in whatever it is we imagine that up there it's obviously a much much larger step it's a massive step up there right so we just have to keep sight of that now there's an interesting theor says the says I think I may have once mentioned this here it's one of my uh vers that I heard from so much I really enjoyed so I it's possible I once mentioned it here before but I think it's probably worth repeating says, and there's a song with this, so you may have heard it. Shem is going to make a circle for the Hashem is going to sit in the middle and says every person's going to point and say this is the it's a good song, right? So this is this is the the Hashem that we were hoping to attach to. So somebody once pointed out to me and said, "What's unique about sitting in the middle of a circle?" So you know, imagine that we're sitting here in a square and there's a bottle in the middle of the table. So what's our relation to this bottle? I'm 2 and 1/2 ft from this bottle. You're farther from the bottle because you're sitting towards the corner, right? And every person is, you know, has a different distance and different relationship with this bottle because, you know, they're coming from different angles. When there's a circle though, everybody has a direct line. Nobody's farther. Nobody's closer. However, everybody is unique. Everyone has their unique angle. Which means this person's avoid wasn't this person's. That sadic wasn't working on that. And that saddic was working on that and that saddic was working on that. And we can't say one is more valuable than the other. One is greater than the other. Each one has his mission. And everyone's coming from a different angle, but nobody's farther or closer because of the different angle that they're coming from. That's what's unique about the circle. And the is going to come lo is going to say all the that all of you did, he's going to go around this circle, all the all have great value to me. Um this is actually highlighted by something which we saw in the Mishk over the last few weeks. We've been learning about that there's a when describing the and the stones of the now if you asked a child or even an adult could you describe to me what the looked like. So what would they say? There were four rows three stones in each row. These stones were extremely expensive. Maybe you'll even say the story of dab of denino when they lost the stone they had to go buy one from him and it was worth a lot of money and these were the most precious gems in the world. When you read theim theukim don't put a very strong emphasis on the stones at least not in the beginning it calls them miluim whatnuim literally filler stones >> right >> she explains why they called filler stones because the had these little gold settings these little boxes little rectangles >> and the stones were there to fill that box >> fill a hole >> to fill a hole like to fill a gap like there was a space there so we put it in there like imagine you go to a jeweler and you say okay I'm going to You you pick a you know a piece of jewelry. I say I like this piece of jewelry. I could just any gaps I just stick some stones in there whatever. But I got the jewelry. I obviously it's the other way around. The stones are the value and the gold around it is just a setting in order to hold it. Otherwise how would it be how would it remain there? How would it stay in place? How would it be organized? So the gold is there to hold it. But the puss seems to say otherwise. The Pik seems to say that there isn't I I believe that maybe there's a there's a remnis here that there isn't a part that's insignificant even the gold around who brought the gold we don't know their names all of who brought the stones then brought the stones these are the leaders of brought them and the is saying of course the ni has tremendous value and the kaid comes through those stones through the batum we're not downplaying that in any way but he he gives the same value to the gold that that surrounds him to the community around Let's call it the everyday guy. Just the that's going around his business doing what he has to do. He's getting up in the morning. He's ding. He's learning a little. He's doing his business honestly. He's going through his day like that has as much value. I'm not going to ignore that and say, "Oh, there's the stones." Yeah, of course they're being held by settings. No, no. There are settings. There are amazing, beautiful gold settings. Of course, the stones fill them. But we don't want to take away any value from the everyday man that's just doing what he has to do. He's just doing his job. You know, I I tell my sometimes sometimes, you know, we're traveling. We were on a bus once and we're stuck in traffic and we got to the front of the travel and see what's the cause and there's a guy there with the signs that go stop slow. Right? You know that guy >> right now if he wouldn't do his job flagger. We'd all be doomed. >> Hey, look at that. Is that is that so glorious that job? Maybe not. Do people give him a lot of credit? Maybe not. But he's doing his job. I hope. Right. But he's doing his job. And if he wouldn't do his job, so it wouldn't work. And he's got he should get his benefits at the end of the day. He's doing what he's got to do, right? So >> according to them, >> yeah, give him a wave on the way by a wave on the way by certainly won't hurt. Um but but the idea is if we just we go through the steps what we have to do and I'll just end with a with a story I read which I thought was beautiful. There's a woman her name was Basia I think was her first name. Mislook was her maiden name. Mislik. She wrote a book. She wrote a book called Voices in the Silence. It writes her story. She was she passed away a few years ago. She was probably in her 90s. She lived there at Surl, but she grew up in Russia, >> you know, 90 years ago. >> And she writes a book describing her lifetime there in in Russia. I don't know the exact era and how they were persecuted and her father used to teach terror privately and her father was taken away for like a year and they had no idea what happened to him. And then he came back was actually on Purim when Stalin was Stalin died and they let a bunch of political prisoners free and he just showed up. They thought he was dead for a year. They had no idea where he was and he walked back into the house. In any case, she describes one time she was her they used to host a lot of people shops but they had no food. They had no money. Everything was raed dust. There was nothing. So her mother used to send her out to go through the garbages to find scraps of potatoes or carrots or whatever. They would wash it off and they would cook that and that's what they would serve. And one one Thursday or Friday she was out there doing that and some thugs walked by and they started you know you knowounding her and throwing things at her or you know heckling her whatever it was screaming at her and she was very scared and she was very embarrassed and she came back home crying to her mother and she said I I can't do this anymore. I'm never doing this again. So her mother said I hear you and she describes it. She says but let me just paint a certain scene for you. Imagine Hashem comes to you and says Basio I want you to bring me a carbon. What me? I want you to bring me a carba. She goes, "Well, I don't have any animals to bring me, but I do have a little chicken in the yard. Is that going to suffice?" She said, "No, no. I don't want a chicken. I don't want I don't want a a lamb. I don't want a you know, a cow or an ox. I want some small pieces of potato and carrots that are on the bottom of the garbage. Could you get that for me?" So the mother asked her, "What would your reaction be?" She said, "I would run. I'd be so excited." Right? Hashem wants this for me. So he said, "That's how you should approach it. You approach it like that. Then I'm doing right now. I'm doing right now. Whatever part of the circle you're in, whichever angle you are surrounding the you're trying to get closer to from whichever angle it is from that and we're all in that circle, right? So whatever angle we're approaching from, whatever our is right now, we're taking those small steps forward, getting closer, right? Liked, right? We're getting those small steps closer in that circle closer to the whatever angle it is. Realize that we're really doing we don't have md today. We don't have to bring but we still have to connect to and we can still do that and that's will find pleasure. Hopefully in a week and a half from now we'll be able to eat the carbon. Very nice. Very nice.