Beha'aloscha Uphold The Truth, No Matter What People Think

Hi, this is Rabbi Alansky with the Parsha in 5, where in 5 minutes we try to give you a little insight into the Parsha to enhance your whole Shabbos, your whole week, maybe your whole life. Parshas Beha'alotecha. At the beginning of Beha'alotecha, we have the story of the Leviim becoming Leviim. And what do we do? Well, part of the process is that we have to shave them. And when I say shave them, I don't just mean their hair, I mean their payos, I mean their beard, mustache, everything. They come out looking like an egg. And that was a necessary preparation for a Levi. And then uh Aaron and his sons have to pick them up and have to wave them, yeah. This is one of the things that got Korach a little crazy, yeah. He he says, "Moshe had to devise this whole thing just to make you look like an idiot, cuz this way you shave, so you look like a baby, and then his brother picks you up and waves you again. He wants to make you look silly." God forbid, of course, but this is a necessary preparation. Why? So, Rashi says a curious thing. The firstborn was supposed to have the avodah, but they lost it because of the eigel, the golden calf. The Leviim did not serve the golden calf. And so, they served the eigel. And the eigel was like avodah zarah. It wasn't really avodah zarah, but it was like avodah zarah. And avodah zarah is called zivchei meisim, offerings to the dead. And a metzora, a person with tzaraas, is called dead. And just like a metzora has to shave off all of his hair, so too does a Levi. Wow. As they say in Yiddish, a bit of a far-fetched. They served the eggel and the eggel is like mason and the mason is like mason and the mason gets his head shaved and the Levium are coming in place of the firstborn so they get their head shaved. It seems a little bit of a far opinion. So, Moshe Sternbuch says the following idea which is a beautiful idea. He says Rashi wanted to make a connection between the Levium and the mason because he wanted to explain to you conceptually why the Levite was shaving his head. When have you ever seen somebody in chemotherapy and they look completely bald like that? There's no facial hair at all. People tend to stare. It looks very unusual. That's why we do it to a mason because a mason spoke Russian horror that made people look strangely at other people so we make him feel strange. And says Rashi Sternbuch, the Levium were going to become the leadership cast in cloud Israel. They had to learn an important lesson. You got to be prepared to have people look at you strange. Because you have to do the right thing regardless if people are going to give you a hard time. As Rabbi Israel Salanter said, any rub who nobody wants to run out of town is not a rub. But any rub who lets himself get run out of town is not a man. A person has to stand up and say, "I'm willing to take uncomfortable positions. It doesn't matter what you think of me. Rabbi Avraham Chaim Foiyer Shlita, who I have this close to have a relationship with, he got a job in a shul. I don't mention where cuz I mentioned one of the stories there once and someone from the shul who used to dive in there got upset, so I won't mention where cuz he's been in a number of shuls. And when they hired him, they said, "Okay, how many year contract do you want?" And he said, "None." "None." "You know, anytime you want, you can fire me. Give me a couple months. I can write, I can teach, I can get another rabbi job. I never want to hear anybody say, 'Oh, we're stuck with this rabbi. We're stuck with this rabbi cuz he has a contract.' I don't have a contract. Anytime you want, you can fire me." And they were shocked cuz rabbis don't usually do that. Rabbis want to make sure that they position is secure. And uh that's because he wanted to be able to say and do whatever he wanted without having to worry, "Oh, they're going to fire me. I'm ready to get fired. I'm not going to play it safe." And that's something that every one of us has to understand. Anybody who's still alive today as a firm Jew is part of a leadership class and the world knows it if you don't. And people have no problem coming over to you and holding you responsible for all of Torah. And so you have to be strong and you have to take positions even if they may seem like they're unpopular and make you feel uncomfortable. Follow the truth wherever it leads. Have a good Shabbos.