Beshalach: Mind BLOWING | The Brisker Rav on the Israeli Soldiers

So, today's class is dedicated in honor of the first yard site of Hannah Hannah Bas Reb Dovid Zichrona L'Vracha a woman of tremendous chesed and kindness generosity and benevolence dedicated by her daughter and grandson from Sydney, Australia. Thank you to Hayden Neshama Bas Tzurah B'Tzror HaChaim. It's also dedicated L'Ilui Nishmas HaRav Reb Uriel Ravnoi Zichrona L'Vracha dedicated by his father and the entire family the family dedicated by Dr. Reb Shaltiel Z'ev Ravnoi and the entire family in loving memory of his son Reb Uriel Ravnoi who was actually a student of mine many years ago. A special young man who passed away young in tribute to his yard site on the eighth day of Shvat Tehei Nishmaso Tzurah B'Tzror HaChaim. Thank you. I miss him. Also dedicated L'Zecher Nishmas Reb Chaim Reb Michal Reb Chaim Weldler in honor of his 20th yard site on the 12th day of Shvat yesterday Yud Beis Shvat Tehei Nishmaso Tzurah B'Tzror HaChaim may they remain eternal sources of light, blessing and inspiration for you, their families and all of Klal Yisrael and thank you very much. Maybe we should just maybe a lack that. Thank you. Okay. Today we're going to take a story that at the surface it looks like one story, but if you dig a little deeper, a whole other story gets revealed and unveiled. And the story has particularly very practical and profound relevance to our times, as we will see. It gives us the perspective of Yiddishkeit, true authentic Yiddishkeit. How do we look at another person, how we feel and empathize with another person. And I think we'll give us at least a little perspective and how and how we view our soldiers, the Israeli soldiers fighting now in Gaza. So, let's begin. These are very famous Parshas Beshalach tells the story of Krias Yam Suf. At last, the Jewish people have been freed from slavery and bondage where they were in Egypt for 210 years. Every tyrant ultimately has his day. Every dictator, every government and regime based on abuse and evil and horror and bloodshed and violence and oppression, they sow hatred and violence, they create bloodshed and tragedy, they destroy many lives, but ultimately, evil is not eternal. It comes to an end. And Moshiach told to come to Paroh and said and say to him, "Your time has come. Your game is over." But as uh Yogi Berra said, "It's not over till it's over." So, it wasn't over yet till it was over. Huh? In this case, till the Jews sang. Az Yashir Moshe. And the Parshas Beshalach, it's finally over. In the sense that the Egyptians who let the Jews leave regret it. Pharaoh regrets his decision and he chases and pursues the Jews who are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. In front In front of them is the Yam Suf, the Red Sea. Behind them are the Egyptian troops and the Torah says Pharaoh takes 600 of Rechev Bachur, the choicest of chariots, the best soldiers, his greatest commanders, and many warriors to pursue the Hebrew slaves and bring them back to Egypt so they could continue to serve them as slaves. And of course, we all know the continuation of the story. Moshe The Jewish people scream to Moshe. Moshe screams to Hashem. Hashem says, "Why are you screaming? It's time to travel." Let's see how the Torah describes the story of the parting of the sea. And it's such a central story in Jewish history that we say it every day in Shacharis. Before Yishtabach, we mention the story and then we go through the entire song that the Jews sang after it. So, it's Beshalach Perek Yud Daled, Pasuk Tet-Vav. That's Exodus 14, chapter 14, verse 15. You have it here, the first source sheet. Vayomer Adonai el Moshe, "Mah Titzak Elai? Daber el Bnei Yisrael Veyisa'u." Hashem tells Moshe, "Why are you screaming to me? It's not a time, as Rashi says, not a time to scream and cry. It's a time to travel. Speak to the Jewish people, Veyisa'u, move on. You're on a journey. Continue. Don't stop." But very nice, but there's a sea. Right? So, sea, I mean, we could continue the journey, but to where? We're going to all die. So, he says, "Ve'atah Na, this is your job. Hareim et Matecha, lift your stick. Unete Et Yadcha al Hayam and stretch out, extend your hand, your arm over the sea. And split it. Veyavo'u Bnei Yisrael Betoch Hayam Bayabashah. Let the Jewish people enter into the Yam, but it will be Bayabashah, it will be dry land." And that's what indeed happens. Pasuk Chaf Alef, Vayet Moshe et Yado al Hayam, Moshe extends his hand on the sea. Entire night of eastern wind and eastern wind was blowing and it parted the sea. It becomes dry and then the buckle buckle means the sea the water split split into into two so there's a pathway. The Jewish people enter into the arm into the sea but by a busha in dry land because it split. So they're actually in the space of the sea in the cavity in the depth but it's by a busha. And the water supernaturally becomes a hammer becomes a fortress a wall from the right side and from the left side. So it's not just the water parted but there's now two walls a hammer on both sides. This is actually the story. This is the story of the sea parted the Jewish people went in and they have a wall from both sides. Now we come to the next part of the story by you the from its by a wire closes by the river of Russia with the higher And now Egypt and all the troops and everyone they follow they pursue the Jewish people so what do they do they go into the arm which is dry of course. So now comes the next part of the story. The Jews have passed the Egyptians went through went in. Extend your hand once again over the sea this time to revert the water back to its natural state. Let the water come back on all of the chariots and troops of the Egyptians. That's what happens by 8 motion by the alarm by a shower of nice back of the sun and it's time nothing to cross by now I shall miss my time with the higher. Motion extends his hand over the sea. It's early morning and the sea returns back to natural strength as the Egyptians were running into it. And they're shaken up. They're overwhelmed by the water. The water returns. It covers the chariots. It covers the troops. It covers the entire army who went into the sea. Nobody was left. And then comes the last possible of tests. And the Jewish people walked through in dry land in the sea and the water was a wall from the right side and the left side. And all the commentators point out this possible. First of all, it was said already earlier. And second of all, it's in the wrong place. At this point, the Jewish people weren't walking through anymore. At this point, the water has already returned to drown the Egyptians. So first of all, you already said in the beginning. If you take a look, those almost the same words possible of days. It says the Jewish people went into the Yam. They went into the Yam and the water was a wall. So first of all, why repeat a verse that you said almost verbatim? Literally the same thing. Besides, it's out of place. Even if you want to repeat it twice, which itself is not understood. You you At this point, they're not walking through the sea anymore. They already went through the sea. That's why they didn't drown. If they would be walking now into the sea, it would have been dangerous. And yet after we finish the story, it's like almost hey, by the way, don't forget the first part of the story. And you have to understand how we're supposed to understand this. In one place, it says beside Yam by Yam Yam. And in half test, it says Ah. Ah, very good. Sneak preview. Very well. So if you want to understand this, you have to look for nuanced details. It's not a real It's a repetition, but it's not a real repetition. Because in the first place, take a look again at possible of days, 22. It says by a boy you been a Israel beside Yam by a sha. In it says what's the difference? But it's an interesting. The first time it says they came into the yam, they went in they went into the sea by a busha, but it was by land because it became dry. The second time it says they went into dry land which was in the sea. You say what's the difference? The bottom line is they're in the same place, but why does the title change? In fact, if you look at it right in the beginning, what does he say? And that's what they did. But the second time around changes the order. Why? It sort of said by a busha. And the other differences? Even a more subtle one. This is a little harder to catch. The difference between the description and and one is the change of order. Did they come into dry land? Did they come into the yam? But there's another difference. Literally in the spelling of a word. You see which word? One word is spelled huh? Khaimah. With a vav or without a vav? They say who cares? Khaimah is khaimah, but it's a safe attire it's not a who cares. Every letter is precise. It's meticulous. Even a regular writer, if you misspell a word, why did you take out the letter? That's why we have spell check. You still got to know English because of people who don't know English could be something embarra you know, even with spell check you can't deal with everything. But why does it say the first time with a vav vav mem hey which means a wall. Khaimah is a wall, a fortress. The second time without a vav. Without a vav. And of course, our sages always sensitive to these types of nuances right away understood there's a message here. The message is chaim with a vav can only be pronounced chaim. Chaim without a vav, remember in a safer Torah there's no nikudus. You know, we're cheating. We have it from a chumash, we do nikudus. But it's really cheating cuz in a safer Torah there's no nikudus. There's no vowels. So it doesn't say how to pronounce the word. You just have the letters. Now we know how to pronounce the words because that's part of the oral tradition. That's why you have to believe If you don't believe in Torah shebaal peh, it doesn't make sense because you're giving a text that can't be read. You need to know how to pronounce words. Lo sevashel gedi bachalev immo, I could have said lo sevashel gedi bachalav immo. I mean I I you could say bachalav immo, you could say bachelev immo. Don't cook a goat in the fat of its mother, which is also meat. No, it's milk. How do you know it's milk? Cuz we know how to pronounce the words. But the fact that in a safer Torah it's written without nikudus means that when the Torah was given, it was given in a way that it can be pronounced in different ways. That's part of the message. So if you have chaim with a vav, it means a wall. If you have ches mem hey without a vav, cheima. What does cheima mean? Anger. Cheima in Hebrew is ire, wrath. Yeah? That's the fact, cheima. Cheima ketzef is one of the expressions of a very profound anger. So they said "Vamayim lahem cheima." The water was angry. Interesting. The water was angry. The first time around the water wasn't angry. Take a look in the third source, Mechilta. BeYalkut Shimoni Beshalach. This is one of the oldest midrashim, Mechilta Beshalach. Angel was saying idol worshipers are walking in dry land. Even the sea got angry. IT SAYS WITHOUT a valve to teach me that the water became a wall and it was angry. Sometimes you can do things but you're still upset. The water did what it had to do but it was upset. The question is the water was so angry it only realized it got angry before. So the first time it repressed its anger. I know that we have those issues. We sometimes repress and take some time till you figure out you're upset, you don't know. Suddenly you have back pain, you have neck pain, you have stomach pain, YOU CAN'T SLEEP. OH, I'M ANGRY. OKAY, GOT IT. That's why you do somatic work to figure out what you're feeling. But we thought the Mayim should be in touch with its emotions. It was wasn't angry the first time it got angry later when the story is repeated at the end. Now, as I said, we all know when they came out of the sea the next thing right after this the Torah says Az Yashir Moshe. The Jewish people saw the miracles, they were in awe, they had a moon and then Az Yashir Moshe they start singing. And it's this beautiful song of 44 p'sukim from 44 verses where the Jewish people sing. And then, of course, Miriam sings her own song afterwards with the women. And this song we say every single day Az Yashir in Shiras Hayam. How does the song end? How does the song end? So it ends with the words Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Va'ed. And then the Torah says Ki Vas Sus Par'o B'Richbo U'V'Farashav Ba'Yam V'Yash Hashem Aleihem Mayim Because the the horses of Par'o and all of his chariots and all of his horsemen came into the sea and Hashem brought back on them the water of the sea and the Jewish people walked through the dry land B'Yabasha. This is how the Shira ends. You see here what's going on? What happened first? The Jewish people went through or the Egyptians were drowned? First the Jews went through and then the Egyptians would drown. That's what the Torah says. So, why here at the end of the shira they do it in the opposite order? Right, it should have been and then you also drowned the Egyptians. And here too, what's the order? Uvnei Yisrael halchu v'yabasha b'soch hayam. It's taken from pasuk chof tes, not from pasuk chof bet. Now I understand why the order was changed cuz it's taken from the pasuk that starts said after the Egyptians drowned. So, you see it's very meticulous. You see how precise it is. You get what I'm saying here? In the shira, in the song, they're not quoting the original verse. They're quoting the last verse. And that's why it says byabasha and then b'soch hayam. And that's why it says it after the story of the Egyptians drowning, just like in the Torah it is. So, when they're singing, they're not singing about the first time they went through, they're singing about the going through afterwards. All of this needs a lot of explanation. What is the Torah trying to hint in all of this? Okay, let's change the subject completely. We're going to get back to this b'ezras Hashem. When Paroh let the Jewish people go, he sent them off. He was desperate. Why was he desperate? Because the males were the firstborns, Paroh's makos Paroh were dying in Egypt. He thought he would die. Every house was struck by tragedy. And thus he Every house was struck by loss and thus he told Paroh, "Go, go, go." Middle of the night he woke up, "Leave." And he sent them all out. The next day they all left with their families and their livestock, etc. As they're leaving, as the Jews are leaving in Parshas Beshalach, Hashem tells Moshe, "I want you to start to I want you to go back. I want the Jews to go back and stay there in front of the yam." So, if you take a look at the words of Hashem to Moshe, he says very interesting words. This is Beshalach, this is your fourth sort, Beshalach perek yud gimmel. Pasuk yud zayin. And then perek yud daled, pasuk gimmel told the beginning of Beshalach. Vayehi Beshalach Paro es am Shem tells Moshe for Amar Paro livnei Yisrael nevuchim ba'aretz sagar aleihem hamidbar. When Paro is going to see the Jews going backwards, he's going to find out from his he sent emissaries with them. He sent messengers with the to monitor the situation. Paro is going to tell the Jews nevuchim hein, they're confused, they're lost. Sagar aleihem hamidbar, the wilderness is closing in on them. Meaning they don't know what they're doing. They're quarantined in the desert. They have no Google Maps, they have no GPS. He didn't know that they have GPS, you know, God's uh What's GPS? Uh He didn't know about that GPS. Sagar aleihem hamidbar, the desert is closing in on them and they're confused, they're overwhelmed. This is part of the plan and therefore it's going to give him the courage to pursue them and feel that he can bring back these vulnerable slaves to Egypt since they don't know where they're going and they're probably regretting the day they left Egypt because they're out of a civilization. They need to feed their children and they're in a wilderness where you cannot survive for very long. Va'amar Paro livnei Yisrael. Now, the question is what what does Hashem mean when he says Paro is going to tell the Jews they're confused? The Jews left already. So, Rashi says it doesn't mean he's going to tell to the Jews, it means he's going to say about the Jews. Va'amar Paro li doesn't mean literally li is to. Like Vayehi Hashem el Moshe li, you say right, he amra li Whatever. Ya Yaakov amar le Yainkel, Yaakov amar le Mayer. Li means to. Rashi says here it means about. But, the Targum Yonathan ben Uziel which is literally the earliest one of the earliest commentaries on the Chumash come from from the Tanna Yonathan ben Uziel who still lived in middle of the second but the towards the end of the second Beis Hamikdash as a student of Hillel Hazaken. So, Yonathan ben Uziel has a translation and he says Vayehi amar, take a look, unbelievable. Va'amar Paro el Bnei Yisrael means Paro will speak to the Jews. And he's going to tell them they're lost. But what do you mean he's going to tell them? He's in Egypt, they're in the desert. How is he going to tell them? Says the Yonasan ben Uziel, Vayomer Paro le Dasan va Aviram, Bnei Yisrael de ishta'aru be Mitzrayim. There's two Jews who stayed behind. Dasan and Aviram. They didn't want to leave. They stayed behind. So Paro is going to talk to them. Those are the Bnei Yisrael. Two Jews, Dasan and Aviram, and he's going to tell them, "Meturfin hinon Am Bnei Yisrael ba'arah. You know, you guys are brilliant because your stupid nation, your people, are just meturfin. They're lost, they're overwhelmed, they don't know what they're doing. You guys are the only clever Jews. You stayed behind with me. Here you'll have a life, here you'll have a future, here you have civilization, here you have an economy, here you have homes for your children, you have a good infrastructure." So when it says Vayomer Paro el Bnei Yisrael, Hashem is actually telling Moshe, that Paro is going to speak to Jews. He's going to speak to two Jews, Dasan and Aviram, who stayed behind in Egypt, and he's going to tell them, "Nevuchim hein ba'aretz, to'im al ha'am ba'midbar." That's basically how the Targum Yonasan ben Uziel says the story. Now, this is mind-boggling. I understand that sometimes people, regular people, can forget a pasuk. Okay. But Targum Yonasan ben Uziel, you're talking here about one of the greatest Tana'im, one of the greatest sages and teachers in history. Dasan and Aviram stayed back in Egypt? I don't understand. Continue reading Chumash. There was a revolt in the desert that was staged by who? By Korach and by two fellows, Dasan and Aviram. They made this huge machlokes. They staged this revolution, this mutiny against Moshe and Aharon. In fact, Moshe summons them cuz he wants to speak to them, make up with them, talk to them, see what they're saying, and they're going to send a message in Parshas Korach. And what are they going to say? You took us out of Mitzrayim just to kill us in the desert. Now you're going to rule over us even if you poke out our eyes. They say in Parshas Korach, we're not going to go up to you. That's how rebellious they were. And at the end, we know the story of Dathan and Abiram and Korach. When does that happen? That happens in Sefer Bamidbar. That's way after Beshalach. They left Mitzrayim. They crossed the sea. They went to Har Sinai. They're now 40 years in this It's already after the story of the spies. They're 40 years in the desert. And Korach revolts together with Dathan and Abiram. How the Targum Yonasan ben Uziel forgot kibiyachol a whole parsha in Chumash? You forgot the whole Parshas Korach? Like what what I don't Dathan and Abiram stayed They didn't stay in Egypt? You could say halavai they stayed in Egypt. It would have been a lot more peaceful in the desert. Moshe Rabbeinu suffered from these two guys constantly. SO IT'S NOT LIKE, YOU KNOW, IT'S somewhere there's a hint that Dathan and Abiram weren't there. THAT'S A WHOLE PARSHA IN CHUMASH, the whole Parshas Korach. Every child knows Dathan and Abiram staged a mutiny with their families. And they were rebellious. And Moshe tried to talk to them. And even before they were punished, he went to their tents to to try to He went to them to try to speak sense into their hearts. But they wouldn't accept him. They didn't want to say They didn't They weren't interested in him. They were rebellious. And suddenly here Yonasan ben Uziel says they never left Mitzrayim. They stayed with Par'oh. And Par'oh in fact told them, "You guys are smart. There's no reason to leave." Something is off. How does the Targum Yonasan ben Uziel give such an interpretation? So one has to conclude. But before that, we come also to another question. It's not as strong as the first question because the first question is like the whole parshas Korach contradicts you. They did not stay in Egypt. Sorry. Unless Dathan and Abiram had a copy of themselves of two people with the same name, but that doesn't make sense, of course. Another question is there's a very very famous madrich and Rashi brings it that the purpose of the plague of darkness was that all the Jews who did not want to leave Egypt didn't have to leave Egypt. They died during makas choshech, bimei afeilah, and they didn't leave Egypt. Suddenly, you see here Dathan and Abiram, they didn't leave Egypt. They didn't want to leave. And Par'oh is talking to them after yetzias Mitzrayim. So, that means they were completely intact. It's not as powerful as the first question cuz that doesn't say clearly in Chumash, but this first question is it says clearly that they were in the desert. So, obviously, they left. So, what we have to say is that they were in Egypt and then when Par'oh decided to go after the Jewish people what did they do? They went with Par'oh. They went with Par'oh to pursue the Jewish people. Now, they weren't part of the Jews. They stayed behind. So, they went with Par'oh. But then something very strange is happening here. Because the sea splits, the Jews are passing. Their intention is to bring back all the foolish Jews back to Mitzrayim together with them. Remember, they're they're supporters Par'oh likes them. Par'oh says, "You guys are good. So, now we're going to go and get the slaves back." So, they're going with Par'oh now. The sea split, the Jewish people passed, and now what happens? Par'oh and all the troops and presumably Dathan and Abiram went into the yam. So, what should have happened to them? I would THINK THEY WOULD DROWN, BUT SUDDENLY, THEY POP UP. THEY POP UP IN THE DESERT AND THEY'RE MAKING TROUBLE AGAIN and again and again until the climax with Korach. So, there's something very strange here about what does the Targum Yonathan ben Uziel feel about this whole story? When he tells us that they stayed back after Yetziat Mitzrayim, how did they get to the other side? What happened here? Uh So, here we begin to unravel a fascinating subplot in the story that the Torah does not want to explicitly share, and we can understand why, but it does want us to understand it, and it hints to it in every possible way. But, in order to gain more perspective, let's remember who Dathan and Abiram were. Dathan and Abiram are the quintessential troublemakers throughout the time of Yetziat Mitzrayim. In other words, WHEN THERE'S EVER AN OPPORTUNITY, they never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity. As Rabbi Ibn Ezra said about a certain group. If Moshe Rabbenu SAYS IT'S MORNING, AUTOMATICALLY YOU KNOW THEY'RE going to say it's night. Moshe says the Earth is round, the Earth is flat. The sun rises from the east, they'll say the sun rises from the west. You can rely on them. Moshe says right, they say left. It's almost instinctive. How do I know this? Cuz literally every story, they're somehow at the forefront of trouble. And it begins way, way early on. Moshe Rabbenu's first debut, you know, he he Dathan and Abiram become like his quintessential rivals cuz the first time he shows up, they're there. And they don't leave until a long, long time later. Moshe Rabbenu goes out, he sees an Egyptian beating a Jew, he kills the Egyptian, he saves the Jew. The second day he goes out and he sees two Hebrews quarreling with each other. Shnayim Anashim Ivrim Nitzim, he tells one, "Lama Sakarecha?" And the one guy says, "Oh, you're going to inform on me? You're going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?" And Moshe says, "Oh, no, they know the story." And indeed, Pharaoh is told about the story. Say Chazal, who are these two Hebrews fighting? Shnayim Anashim Ivrim Nitzim? So, through the Gzeirah Shavah, through their method of interpretation, they say of course it was Dathan and Abiram. So, Dathan and Abiram were the first ones right away to react to Moses. Moses said, "Why are you beating your friend?" And he says, "Oh, you're going to kill me, too?" And somebody told Pharaoh about it. And it came from one of them. How exactly it was told the Torah doesn't say, but you got but Pharaoh found out the story and Moses had to run away. So, he already understood that he's dealing with people who are not simple. They're certainly not going to be very friendly to him. In fact, later Hashem says you can go back to Egypt because those who wanted to kill you are gone. So, they say, "Who are these people?" The same people but they didn't die. They say they became poor. So much did they feel it was Dathan and Abiram that they're ready to change the meaning of death to poverty. So, you can go back to Egypt. So, if we see take a look in the next source Shemot chapter 2 verse 14 right in the beginning. But you have two people there and they are fighting and Moses says, "Why are you fighting?" Says Rashi, "Two people there are fighting." Who are these two people fighting? Dathan and Abiram came. How do I know? He said to them, "We're going to see them later in Parshat Beshalach this week." They part the sea, they go on the other side, they're saved, they need food, the manna comes down from heaven. Moses says, "Every day take the portions you need and eat it. Don't leave over for the next day. The next day you'll have your own food." But of course there's two people who will not listen to him and they leave over the manna and it becomes it becomes wormy, worms enter into it and it decomposes, becomes moldy, rotten. Gets filled and infested with worms and it smells and Moses is upset at them. Who are these two people? Rashi says, "Dathan and Abiram." You have manna. The manna is COMING DOWN TOMORROW. NOT COMING down tomorrow. You better make a savings account and put the food in the pantry cuz you're not going to have food tomorrow. So you would think, "Okay, we're done. It's enough stories." Next parsha shlach, the miraglim come back and dissuade the Jews from entering into the land. Let's go back to Egypt. One man told his brother, "Let's go back." Who told this to his brother? All the Jews said, "Let's go back." But there was specifically two people. One told his brother or his friend, "Let's go back to Egypt." Now we understand that they really liked Egypt. These guys like they never wanted to leave. This whole plan seemed strange to them. They didn't believe a word Mosha said. They didn't believe not in God, not in Mosha. But everybody says they're not in a vera. So already in Egypt they were fighting and fighting Mosha Rabenu. They thought the entire plan to rebel against Paroh is ridiculous and absurd. Doesn't make sense. Obviously, doesn't seem like they had any belief in a creator and certainly Mosha Rabenu as his messenger. So even when it comes to the manna, what they're going to put away food? They don't want to be hungry the next day. The miraglim say, "We can't go into the land of Israel." YEAH, WE DON'T KNOW THIS ALL THE WHILE LONG. We should go back to Egypt. That was our plan. You know, they're very consistent these guys. It's one thing you could say about them. They're very very consistent. And then the climax is in parshas Korach. In Korach the next verse Mosha tries to call them and speak to them. They say, "Lo na'aleh. We're not going up. You took us OUT OF EGYPT TO KILL US in the desert." Here again they go back to the same theme. You have based an entire You have based an entire faith. You created an entire nation based on a mythical idea that is impractical, not attainable, not feasible. You are destroying us. You didn't bring us to the land of milk and honey. You didn't give us a field. You didn't give us a vineyard. We will not go up even if you poke at our eyes. Which only brings us to a major major question. And that is, so what's happening here? If they are these people every time there's trouble, when they're fighting right in the beginning, it's them. With the man the man made them. With the maraglim it's them. With Korach it's them. Wow, they really have a resume these guys. There's nobody who fought Moshe like Dathan and Abiram. And yet they did not die during the darkness. They somehow made it through the Yam Suf, even when everybody drowned, they came out to the other side. What is happening here? Who is this Dathan and Abiram? What's going on here? And here we come across an extraordinary insight. Really just I would say mind-boggling. And I saw the insight first in a safer called Chidushei Maharil Diskin al ha-Torah. You may have heard Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin. Even if you haven't heard from him, I assume that probably the first 30 years of your life every month you got a envelope in your home from Bais Yaakov Diskin. You know what I mean? Bais Yaakov Diskin. Right? The Diskin Orphanage Center was created by him in the 1880s. Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin was one of the great great Lithuanian and Russian rabbis and sages and leaders in the 19th century. They called him the Saruf of Brisk, the the the fireball of of of Brisk. Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin is known as Maharil Diskin because his name was Rabbi Yehoshua Rabbi Yehoshua Yehuda Leib Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin. He was a great great gaon, a sage, a very big rav and a leader. And he served as rabbi in Lomza, in Mezrich, which is Ukraine, in Kovno, Lithuania, and Shklov, Belarus, and in Brisk, which is Lithuania, and then he escaped Brisk, and he went to Yerushalayim. The reason he escaped is it's not for this year, but very briefly, there was a couple, and uh it was time for the couple to separate, and for the woman to get a get. I'm saying the story for a specific reason, you'll figure out why. And uh the husband refused to give a get. So, she was an agunah, and he made a condition that she has to give him an enormous amount of money in order to pay him off to get the get, and the money has to be deposited by Rabbi Yehoshua Leibdiskin, the Rav, so the money will be by him in escrow, and after he guarantees that the money is there, he will give her the get, and she had no choice, so she put together the money with the help of, you know, people who cared, and the rabbi got the money, and he gave her a get. The rebbetzin, this is why you need good rebbetzins, took the money and gave it back to the woman. She took the money, she said, "This is a scandalous. This is ridiculous." She took the money, she gave it back to the woman. He found out, the the the husband, the ex-husband, he informed to the authorities that Rabbi Yehoshua Leibdiskin is a rebel, and you can't trust him, and he's a thief, and he's a thug, and he was imprisoned. He was imprisoned. The court found him innocent cuz they heard about what happened, but then started a whole messirah against him by his enemies, and he had to sneak out, and he ended up in Eretz Yisrael, and he became the leading posek for the Ashkenazim in Yerushalayim until he passed away Chanukah Taf Resh Nun Chet, which is 1898. In fact, they offered him in the 1880s to become the rabbi of America. He refused, which was probably smart, and he remained in Yerushalayim where he passed away 1898, the end of the 19th century. He was born 1818, Yud Kislev Tav Kuf Ayin Tes. This is Rebbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin. I say this to you because the insight he's going to say here Rebbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin was what you could call a Litvak shab Litvak. Meaning he was a quintessential Lithuanian sage. So the Torah he's going to say, you know, some people would call real chassidishe Torah, so to speak. Extremely warm and human, very sensitive and empathetic. But it shows you how Torah thinks, and that's why the fact that Rebbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin says this from all people. He was a rigorous, rigorous, rigorous mind, a real halachic uh personality to the in a very, very powerful way. He was known as a kanoy in Yerushalayim. True, rigorous, zealous, zealous in his yiras Shamayim. So the fact that he gives this interpretation shows you how a Torah mind thinks about things. And what it sees in Torah. And on the contrary, those who are greater zealots for yiras Shamayim how they feel when it comes to empathy for another person. What does Rebbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin say? He says there's one more story about Dasan and Aviram. We spoke about all the horrible things they did, but there's one more story about Dasan and Aviram. What's the other story? This is actually the first story before all the other stories, before the stories with Moshe, after the story of hitting. But this before the other stories, at the end of Shmais, there's another story about Dasan and Aviram. What happens there? Paroh after Moshe came to him and asked him to send the Jewish people out, he said they're a bunch of lazy people. You have time to think about freedom, you're not working hard enough. So what does Paroh do? He increases the quota of labor. Till then, the Jews were given straw so that they would make in bricks. When you make bricks, you take mud, you take, of course, earth, water, mud, and you mold them, and you bake them either in the sun or in a furnace. That's how they would make bricks. But, in order to make them solid, you need to put straw into the bricks. Where are you going to get straw? So, the Egyptians gave the slaves straw, and they had to produce every day a quota of bricks. Pharaoh said, "That's over. You go and find your own straw and collect the straw, BUT THE QUOTA OF bricks has to remain the same." Masquinus al avanim, the end, the cheshbon, the quota of the bricks the same. The Jewish people couldn't do it. Already under the circumstances, they were slave laborers. They were oppressed. They couldn't catch their breath. They didn't have a day and a night. That's why the women had to work so hard with the mirrors, Chazal say, in order to be able to create families. It was impossible. The last thing exhausted slaves want to do at night is spend time with somebody. They just If you have a hour to rest, it's like the Jews in the camps. They were starving. They were hunted down. They were beaten. They were killed. It was horrible, horrible. So, understand what it took from the women to be able to continue some type of family life, and that's why they donated the mirrors to the Mishkan, and Moshe Rabbeinu felt so astonished to make mirrors, to use mirrors that women used in their bedrooms, and this is going to be the main thing in the Mishkan for the Kiyor. Moshe Rabbeinu said so astonished. What did Hashem say? You know the Rashi by Yalkut Eilu Chavivin Alav Min Ha'Aker. This is the best contribution for the Mishkan. All the other contributions are nice, but these mirrors were responsible for the future of the Jewish people. Without these mirrors, there would be no Jewish children left. So, have respect, Moshe Rabbeinu, for these mirrors. It was an interesting debate between Moshe and the Rabbono Shel Olam K'vayach. So, what happened? So, the Torah says that they couldn't do it. They couldn't do it. Now, the way it was, you know, just like the the Nazis did this also, they appointed Jews to govern the Jews in the camps. Paroy did the same thing. His commanders appointed Jewish policemen so they would be in charge of the Jews. So, if something didn't happen, the police were blamed. So, the Torah says at the end of Shmois that the Jewish policemen could not demand this from the Jews. It was too much. So, what happened? They were beaten by Paroy's officers and commanders because they didn't force their brothers to produce the right quota cuz they couldn't. They saw how torturous it was. How simply impossible it was. And what happened was they went to Paroy and they said, "We're trying to be loyal citizens. We're trying. But this is causing us to betray you because we simply don't have the energy." And that's when Paroy said, "Ner pematem nerpem. You're a bunch of lazy people. You're lazy people and that's why you're saying, 'Oh, we can't work. We can't work.' BECAUSE YOU'RE LAZY. TISHBAD, MAKE it harder. You're going to produce the same amount and you will be beaten if not." Who do the policemen blame for all of this? The ones who instigated it. Who instigated it? Who made Paroy angry? Moshe Rabbeinu. If Moshe and Aaron wouldn't have come to Paroy and say, "Let's go free." Paroy would have said, "Oh, they're not thinking about freedom." Because Moshe and Aaron went to Paroy AND THEREFORE THEY TOLD HIM, "GOD SAYS, HASHEM SAYS, 'LET MY PEOPLE GO.'" Paroy got furious. Haha. We have this whole new revolution simmering in the JEWISH PSYCHE. NO GOOD. THEY'RE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH. SO, from the policeman's perspective, what were they looking at? They didn't know about who Moshe Rabbeinu really is, what his message was. They're living in a climate, they're living in a perspective that this is it. Paroy is the boss. There's no way out. So, either we're going to live with Paroy or WE'RE GOING TO DIE ON THE PAROY. WHO'S MAKING the trouble? Moisha. So, when Moisha comes out of Paroy, what do they do? They tell him God is going to punish you. You are the ones who are responsible for our genocide. We will all die because of you. You see who they're blaming? This is what happens to tortured slaves. Moisha Rabbeinu is trying to liberate them, but in their minds, he's the enemy. Paroy is not the enemy. Paroy is reality. You could call him the enemy, BUT HE'S REALITY. MOISHA is disturbing. Moisha is getting Paroy angry. If we can only please Paroy, if we COULD CALM DOWN PAROY, WE HAVE SURVIVED. WE'LL CONTINUE TO SURVIVE MISERABLY, but we will survive. Who were these policemen who were beaten? Who were these policemen who screamed at Moisha? Who were the policemen who went to Paroy and say, "Don't do this."? So, Rashi tells us, take a look in the next source. The second to the last verse on the first page, Shmais Hey Yud Daled, "Va Yuku Shotei Bnei Yisrael." The policemen were beaten. Why were they beaten? Because you did not get the quota of bricks. The next VERSE, "VA YAVOU SHOTEI BNEI YISRAEL." They screamed to Paroy, "LAMA ASISA KAN? WHY are you doing this to your servants? Va Chotas Amcha, you're causing us to sin against you." So, Paroy says, "You're a bunch of lazy people." And in verse Chof, they meet Moisha and Aaron standing when they came out of Paroy. And Yichaf Aleihem Va Yomeru Aleihem, "Yerei'em Hashem Aleihem Ve Yishpot. Asher Baashtem Es Reicheinu Beinei Paroy Uveinei Avadav Lehasis Cherev Beiyadeihem Lehorgeinu." God should see what you do and he will judge us. He will judge you. Because you have made, interesting words, you have made our smell, our odor, stink. "Yif Asitem Es Reicheinu." You made us uh You made our odor so putrid, putrid. We smell so bad in the eyes of Paroy and the eyes of his servant and this is going to give him an excuse to take a sword and kill us. And it's your fault. Says Rashi. But you forgot me so let's motion who are these people? That's another and the matter says they were the policeman. They would beat them. They went to power. They got so upset at my shoulder by now. They didn't believe in Google. They didn't believe I shall spoke to my show. They didn't believe in the promise of redemption. Comes to be sure laid this skin. And he says once you understand this story everything is different. That's another did not believe. That's another what we call different. I pick a person and we shall see. They didn't believe I shall. They didn't believe in my show. In fact, they rebelled at every possible moment. Because they simply did not accept this whole story. They thought you had to use my trying was a joke. They they push it did not have that sensitivity. Their antennas were not tuned into that and therefore they were such troublemakers. But it would be sure laid this can says so we have to understand one thing about them. And that is they actually heard about their brothers. They were ready to be beaten for the slaves. They went to power to scream even though they knew it's dangerous to go into a Hitler and try to speak sense into his mind. And they were not ready to demand it from the Jews. Let the Jews suffer because they cared. He said there were Jews in my trying who lived in their ivory towers. They didn't care. That's another wept for their brothers. They didn't believe. They didn't have a spiritual connection. They didn't believe in my show. They didn't believe in I shall. But what? They had a heart. They had empathy and they were ready to be physically beaten and they were for their brothers. So let's see that we should laid this can the next if you turn over your source sheet, what he says. They sacrificed their life and were whipped. Why? To ease the burden from the Jews. When they told Moshe, "You made us smell." They meant physically. When they were beaten by the Egyptians, it was in a way that their odor became horrible from the from the whips. So, they probably smelled. That's what they meant. He says there were other policemen who were beaten. And later, when Hashem says to Moshe, "Choose 70 people and they will have divine inspiration together with you." Who does he choose? The policemen from Egypt. He says, "But the Naviram, he couldn't choose for that." That's Balak. You know why? To have you have to believe that there's a higher source. They didn't. He says, "But something else happened. They would not die in the plague of darkness. Don't compare them to other Jews." Why? Because they cared about their brothers. They were misguided. They made terrible mistakes. They didn't believe. They're called Resha'im. But one thing he says, "Understand that they sacrificed themselves to try to help their brothers physically, not just mentally, not willing with words." And he says, Don't compare them to other Jews. There were other Jews that became best friends with the Egyptians. They assimilated completely. They became best friends. They became wealthy. They became respected. They didn't want to leave. They had a nice nice nice nice relatively they had a nice place there. They died. Why? They did not participate in the pain of the Jewish people. They said it's none of our business. Go deal with your own problems. They weren't part of the labor of the slave labor. They didn't even want to leave but don't compare them to they didn't want to leave because in their mind this was a colossal mistake that would cause the death of all the millions of Jews that left with 600,000 males between 20 and 60 plus you have females same amount so it's 1.2 million plus you have children plus you have senior citizens you're digging about two or three million Jews or whatever the right number is but a huge amount of numbers they're all going to die. It's going to be the beginning and the end of the Jewish people if we stay in Israel at least there'll be two Jews alive maybe we'll have kids and grandkids and there'll be some continuity to the Jewish people. Says don't compare them to others. But wait, we still have a question. How did they get over TO THE OTHER SIDE? So now take a look at my son Sharanovich. I'm a shallow. He goes to that. Remember we spoke about now come back to the original story of Yamsuf. And you'll see here how there's a story within a story. If you go back to our first source sheet, okay? Our first I mean our first source in the source sheet. You remember? Hashem tells "Put your extend your hand over the sea, split the sea. Let the Jews go in besoi chayam by yabasha. Let them go in into the sea, it's going to become dry land." That's exactly WHAT THEY DO. PASUK CHOF BAIS, THEY GO IN BESOI CHAYAM by yabasha, the water is achaima. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The Egyptians are chasing them, they're going into the sea, HASHEM SAYS, "TIME TO BRING BACK THE WATER." MOSHE STRIKES THE SEA, AND WHAT HAPPENED? MOSHE EXTENDS his hand over the sea, the water comes back. ONE SECOND, WHO WAS IN THAT WATER NOW? DASAN AND AVIRAM. THEY WERE WITH PAROH, SO THEY WERE IN THE WATER. BUT THE ONE SECOND, BUT THEY WERE FIGHTING AGAINST MOSHE IN THE DESERT, THEY'RE LEAVING over the man, they're telling the spar they're telling their brothers, "Let's go back TO MITZRAYIM." THEY'RE FIGHTING WITH KORACH. SO they're in the midbar, SO THEY WENT through the Yam Suf. SO THERE'S SOMETHING OFF HERE. SO TA'AN NESIM BEN UZIEL, WHAT HE FORGOT AS I SAID, HE FORGOT A WHOLE PARSHA, it doesn't make sense. The Torah says, "Well, wait. The Egyptians drowned, but I forgot to tell you one more detail. There's one more detail. What's the detail? Now look at pasuk chof tes. Uvnei Yisrael holchu vayabasha besoi chayam. After the Egyptians ARE DROWNING, THE WATER IS BACK. BNEI Yisrael holchu vayabasha besoi chayam. Now, this is a little bit of a far stretch. So now take a look your second to the last source, turn over the page Be'er Mayim Chaim. Take a look. Miyut Rabbin Shnayim. In Hebrew, plural is minimum two. Can't be one, minimum two. So when it says Uvnei Yisrael, could be a hundred, could be a million, it can also be two. Two people are Bnei Yisrael. When you say the sons of Yisrael, it could be three, it could be two, it could be ten. Lomar ki al shnayim Yisrael bilvad nikra hayam. There was a kri'as Yam Suf for two Jews. Who? The aim Dathan and Abiram. Hazael said to give them the same as the others they stayed behind. And yet they were in the desert. They had a curious Yam Suf. These two policemen who were beaten, Dathan and Abiram, they had a curious Yam Suf. Now you see the difference between the sea and the dry land and the dry land and the sea. You see how the Torah alludes to this? The first Jews, when they went in, what were they going into? They were going into a sea. When they got into the sea, what happens? It's dry. So it says they went in and the WATER BECAME DRY. BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT THE LAST JEWS, DATHAN AND ABIRAM. What were they going into? They weren't going into a sea. What were they going into? Dry land. If there would HAVE BEEN A SEA, PHARAOH WASN'T STUPID. HE DIDN'T WANT TO DROWN. If there would have been a sea, nobody would go in there. The only reason they went in is because it was dry land. So that's why the order changes. UH-OH. NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY NOW THE WATER GOT ANGRY. THE FIRST TIME AROUND, WHY SHOULD THE WATER BE ANGRY? WE'RE SAVING these people. But now the water is saying, OMG, THESE GUYS? I'M READY TO SPLIT. I'M READY TO SPLIT, BUT THESE GUYS? IT'S NOT SO SIMPLE. I UNDERSTAND. OKAY, I'LL DO IT. YOU'RE the boss, God. You know, I I work for you. I don't make my own policies in this world. But by my own God, we understand. I would also be angry. Let's face it, they came to the other side and they continued to make trouble. You would think after SUCH A CURIOUS YAM SUF, they would say, "Maybe Moses right." It shows you who Dathan and Abiram were. Even that they probably blamed there was some tide I don't know what the moon did last night. It's interesting to find out we have to do some more scientific research to figure out this muzzle that the Jews have that the sea splits exactly when they come. I don't know. However, they rationalized it but of course the water was angry my am I'm kind of Now when we say the shira when we sing and we thank Hashem how do we finish it? We thank for the main curious answer but then we add that last piece. Hashem you're my love you versus by the of many Israel by the side of the sea of reeds. We're grateful for the fact to see how Hashem looks at a Jew who's ready to be beaten for another Jew. A Jew whose heart feels the pain of another Jew even heretical heretical Jew even a very misguided JEW EVEN THE QUINTESSENTIAL TROUBLEMAKER AND THE CURIOUS as you would say a call for the holiday. Cuz they WERE BY MARTIN LUTHER IT'S NOT LIKE they weren't by Martin Luther. They weren't tonight something tonight and that's why at the end they were punished harshly very harshly and yet there's a special gratitude wow. This is the power of empathy this is the power of attachment this is the power of love this is the power of caring for who? For two people Dathan and Abiram. This is Rabbi Yeshua Leib Diskin's the Brisker Rav's teaching on these two Dathan and Abiram. You wanted to ask something? I saw you raised you wanted to ask something somebody? Okay. Reb Zalman Auerbach Reb Zalman Auerbach of blessed memory was one of the great halachic authorities in the last generation. He lived in Yerushalayim in Sha'arei Chesed Yeshiva of Kol Torah was very very known uh leader and sage and a very special person. Reb Zalman Auerbach I also in Jerusalem. And he once shared a story a very powerful story. There was one of the great rabbis in Galicia was known as the Baruch Tam, Rabbi Baruch Frankel Teumim. Rabbi Baruch Frankel Teumim. He has a safer shelves of Baruch Tam. He passed away in 1828, a few a few decades before Yeshua Leib Diskin. He lived in Galicia, he lived in Moravia. He was very very well known as Baruch Frankel Teumim. And he and his wife once arranged a marriage for their son to the daughter of a very very respectable, wealthy, affluent, and wonderful family in Galicia. Galicia is Eastern Poland. And it seemed very very promising. So the two families, as it was the custom then, the parents of the chassan and the parents of the kallah, the future chassan and kallah, met to discuss you know, their children, and to discuss arrangements, and to discuss details, and just to discuss the very the very issues. The Baruch Tam said that Baruch Tam came to the meeting and the mechutenista, or the future mechutenista, which means the mother of the kallah sees him and she says, "You seem very distressed." And it wasn't a good It wasn't It didn't It wasn't good news for her because you're meeting the potential parents of your the future daughter-in-law. It's an exciting time, right? You're getting to mar- to to to bring your son into a good shidduch. So why is she She saw he was just distressed. So she said, "What's What's bothering you? Is something Are you unhappy about the shidduch?" He says, "No, no, no. What's bothering me is in town by us, the water carrier the wasser treger is very sick. He's sick." Now you have to understand what a water carrier meant in that day, right? We don't understand what it means cuz we have sinks. But this is before the Industrial Revolution, or certainly the first years of the Industrial Revolution. So, there's no sink. So, the water carrier was responsible to go to the river or to go to the well and schlepp water to homes and people would pay him. You could understand the type of backbreaking labor it was, quite literally, from morning till night. And what did he already make for a bucket of water? And he literally schlepped from house to house. Obviously, poor people would go themselves. But people who could afford it would pay the water carrier. And it was considered a very, very difficult form of work, both physically and mentally and emotionally. You had to be strong. You had to have stamina and you literally schlepped things on your back all day as much as you can and you did it from sunrise till sunset in order to be able to support your family. And the Baruch Tam was the rav of the city and he heard that this water carrier is sick. And uh and uh she and and he says that uh I I just I'm very distressed about about his illness. And especially, hopefully, if that all this gets concluded, we might make a simcha, you know, a tenoyim, whatever we'll make or they'll make the wedding soon. And I really want him to be there. And he may not be able to be there. So, I'm also very upset about that. I think it would give him chizuk and it would it would be an honor for us. And I'm just very upset about him and how his family's suffering and so forth. So, uh Reb Zalman Auerbach told the story that she told the Baruch Tam. I just want to quote him. She said, "Is he your family?" He said, "No." She says, "I don't understand. Why are you letting his sickness spoil our simcha? He's a water carrier. He's not related to you. He's just a simple man. Why are you allowing him to ruin your mood at this important meeting?" So, Reb Zalman Auerbach said that the Baruch Tam called out his wife and he said this shidduch is not for us. This shidduch is not for us. And he canceled the shidduch. He said, "I'm sorry, it's not going to work out." You know, he was very polite, he was very respectful. And he said, "It's not for us." She didn't hear the conversation. His wife didn't hear the conversation. So, she asked him, "Why? What happened?" She trusted him. So, he said "If one is not bothered by the fact that another Jew is hurting, I don't care how successful, affluent, how much money they have, this lack of sensitivity, it's really not what our son needs. It's not for us. It's not how you want to hear somebody speak." And that was it, and he canceled the shidduch. Reminds me, there was a Jew, you may have heard of him, his name was Reb Moishe'le of Boyan. Reb Moishe'le of Boyan, he was a great-grandson of the Heilige Ruzhiner, Reb Yisrael of Ruzhin. And he escaped, he was from Krakow. Um he was from the Ruzhin-Boyan dynasty, Reb Moishe'le of Boyan. He was born in Krakow, I think, and he was one of the great leaders in Poland. During the First World War, he escaped to Vienna. Reb Moishe'le of Boyan was killed in Auschwitz in 1943. They called him Reb Moishe'le of Boyan. He was a very special and holy Jew. In the community where he lived, there was a a few There was a Jew who wanted to bring him down. This Jew was a maskil, he was very enlightened. He didn't like Reb Moishe'le of Boyan, he wanted to bring him down. He felt that he's a danger because he was such a powerful voice for Yiddishkeit. So, what did he do? He sent somebody to go ask Reb Moishe'le what should he do. He has a son who's being drafted to the army. And he knew that Jews had a system where they were different methods to get bachurim out of the army. You're talking here Russia, you're talking Poland, you're talking Vienna because it was very dangerous. There were different methods. But if anybody found out, this is treason. So you had this fellow go to him, but really he was a moser. So he was expecting that Moishe'le to give him some, you know, crooked idea using the underground methods, and this would be a tremendous way to get him arrested or certainly expelled from the city. So this Jew came to the Moishe'le and he starts crying and he says, "Rebbe, I have an only son. He was only born when was Nishkash Toygenish Gefloygen. He was only born when we were older and now he's being drafted to the army and so many soldiers are dying and he's he's going to die." So the Moishe'le listened and thought and he said, "No, all I can do is daven for you. Let me daven. Let's say to Tehillim." So he starts crying even more. "Rebbe, come on. There's nothing else you can do. You're so connected. You have so much power. Like, come on. Somebody we can bribe, somebody we can do "All I can do is daven." Now the guy breaks down completely sobbing. "Please, please, how can you just" He said, "I'm not ignoring, but all I can do is a daven." And that was it. The poor guy went away very disappointed. So one of his uh talmidim or chassidim who was there says, "Rebbe, I don't understand. Such a lack of empathy. Like, you seemed so indifferent. Like, okay, we'll daven. Like, and and we know that there's different methods. Like, The Moishe'le said, "That's what I felt. Later they found out that this was all a setup. So this guy CAME AND SAID, "WOW, YOU'RE A NOVER. YOU'RE A MIRACLE WORKER. RUACH HAKODESH." HE SAYS, "NOTHING to do with Ruach Hakodesh. NOTHING TO DO." SO HOW DID YOU KNOW? YOU DIDN'T SAY A WORD. YOU JUST SAID, "LET'S DAVEN." Nobody can arrest you for that. He said I'll tell you how I know. It had nothing to do with prophecy. He says they say about my Zaid the Dilutioner that he could feel the pain of a Jew anywhere in the world and experience it. He says I'm not on that level. I can't feel the pain of anybody in the world. But one thing, if somebody's near me and telling me a story about their life and they're heartbroken, I can feel their pain. And here I felt nothing. I felt nothing. That instinct I can trust. THAT INSTINCT I FELT NOTHING. SO I KNEW THERE'S NOTHING TO SAY. I'll just say let's Daven. We could Daven. We could Daven for him. We could Daven for him to stop lying. We could Daven for his child if he has a child. We could Daven for whatever we Daven for. Now here you see something. Dassan and Aviram were not Tinnokashanizhbal. They were not 19-year-old kids who grew up without an education. Dassan and Aviram fought Moshe at every step of the way. They were real Rashaim, WILLINGLY. THEY WERE SWALLOWED UP AT THE END BY THE EARTH. YOU COULD SEE WHO THEY WERE. STILL, as Rebbi Sholom Leib Diskin says, their heart ached for their brothers and sisters. And they were ready to take a clap FOR IT, NOT TO DIE. They weren't killed. They were beaten. And because of that, not only did they not buy by Makas Choshech, THEY HAD A SPECIAL YETZIAS MITZRAYIM AND A SPECIAL Krias Yam Suf. And they had a special dignity that the creator of the world gave them even if the sea was screaming and angry. Why? Because they cared. They felt. They had empathy. They were attached. They put their lives on the line. They were part of the work. They engaged in the slave labor and they tried to protect their brothers to the best of their understanding with the tools they had, even confronting Par himself. What does this teach us today about our relationship to our brothers and sisters who put their lives on the line to protect their people. Recently, there were a few people they probably did not contemplate what they were saying before they said it. But using the Torah, using Yiddishkeit, said words that you see how detached from the entire Weltanschauung of Yiddishkeit it is. Even when you're dealing WITH A DOZEN AND A VIRUM, there is still an awe and a gratitude for the Ahavas Yisrael THAT THEY HAD. KOL SHEKEIN, A BILLION BILLION billion endless times more when you're talking about young boys, young fathers from all different types of demographics. And many of them indeed grew up without Yiddishkeit, without Torah, without mitzvahs. They sacrificed their lives. They're burying their friends. Fathers watch their children dying. A new generation of orphans growing up in the land of Israel. And most of them do it with such a passion and such a glee to be able to know that they're defending their brothers and sisters, millions of Jews who would be wiped out Rachmana litzlan be there by Hamas and our enemies a one wolf surrounded one lamb surrounded by 70 wolves. The natural feeling of a Jew who's in touch with any basic menschlichkeit in Yiddishkeit is so much love and gratitude and authentic connection. These are not just our brothers. These are not just our sisters. These are the holiest of the holies, heroes of heroes. Doesn't mean everything is perfect and it doesn't mean there's no mistakes and doesn't mean people can't become better. But a demonstration of indifference and apathy in the name of Yiddishkeit, me shamayim be Israel who heard such a thing. It says in Zaya that even Avraham Avinu did not do the right thing and he's not blamed, he was before Martin Tyra. It says Avraham Avinu, the Zaya says not I, the Zaya says Avraham didn't do the right thing. Why? Cuz when he davened to Hashem for his doimy, davened that his doimy should BE SAVED BECAUSE OF THE TZADIKIM living in S'dom. If not for that, they should be destroyed. Even Avraham did not lay over didn't do the right thing cuz he was BEFORE MARTIN TYRA. MOSHE RABBEINU, he did the right thing. He told Hashem, either you forgive THEM AND IF NOT, MACHAINI ERASE ME FROM THE SAFER TYRA you have written. I DON'T WANT TO BE A PART OF THE SAFER TYRA if you're not going to FORGIVE THEM. FORGIVE THOSE WHO WERE PARTIALLY OR AT some point culprits and responsible. If not, they don't need forgiveness. HE DIDN'T ONLY PRAY FOR THE tzadikim Moshe Rabbeinu who were completely detached. The I and machaini the Jews who didn't protest or the Jews who somehow were part of it. THE ZAYA SAYS FINALLY MOSHE DID THIS. AND THIS IS EVEN RESHAIM WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE EGGEL. BUT IT SHOWS you the approach of how Yiddishkeit looked at it. The mission says in Sanhedrin that a rasha who got the death penalty and you know why he got the death penalty? Not for missing my macherona. My macherona is a big thing. And not even for not washing before I might see the first time eating with aluminum foil. He got the death penalty. It was very hard to get the death penalty. Could be murder of a desire of serious stuff. So, the missioner says when he this person gets the death penalty, Shkhinah my marriage, what does the Shkhinah say? Kalani me roshi, kalani mizra'i. I'm having a migraine headache and my arm is hurting cuz every Jew is an aver, is a limb of the Shkhinah. So, Hashem says, "Kalani me roshi, my my my head feels so in pain." The Shkhinah, the divine presence, is grieving who? Somebody who got a death penalty because of an intentional crime with witnesses and warning. It was almost impossible to get a death penalty in Judaism. Rabbi Akiva once said, "If I would have been in Sanhedrin, no Jew would have ever been killed." Cuz it was so hard. Others say once in 70 years Sanhedrin are called Khablan and terrorists for killing somebody. It was almost impossible to get You have to have witnesses and you have to be warned before and you have to tell them that you understand the warning, you have to repeat the warning and then do it within a few seconds. It was mamash impossible. AND IF YOU MAMASH TRIED TO BECAUSE YOU WERE CRAZY, then you anyway weren't killed cuz you were crazy. And still this So, you understand what a rosha merusha you have to be mamash to go against everything. And still the Shkhinah is busy sobbing, "Kalani me roshi, kalani mizra'i." It's not a contradiction. Kodesh hakodashim, what are you talking about? Kedushah of kedushah, people that their hearts are so filled with avas Yisrael, with achdus Yisrael. They want to do whatever they can to help their brothers and sisters. And they put their lives in their line. I saw a commander being interviewed. His name is Oded Harush. And he was telling the reporter who was interviewing him, he says, "I want to tell you what happened last week in Khan Yunis. We were about to go into a home. So, I turned to my unit and I said, "I'm going to go first." So, one of the soldiers under me said, "No, no, no. I'm going to go first." I said, "Why?" He says, "You're a father of four children. So, I want to go first." I looked at him and I said, "And you're a father of two children. And you're young, you didn't build your home yet. You need to go back to build your home. I'm already a little older. And he said they got into a dispute. And I told them, "I'm going because I also have experience in Gaza." And I went first. He says, "I would wish I can transplant the entire Jewish people for a few hours to Khan Yunis to watch how the soldiers communicate with each other. To watch a level of dedication and sacrifice that is my limit and my dots. It's beyond say it's beyond nature. It's not somebody's you can't force this thing on somebody. They're in touch with frequencies of the soul what we call the benefit the core of the Jewish soul. Where they literally experience their divine connection with themselves and their friends and the entire energy so and all of history it's like almost you could see this not almost you see really a close you see divinity manifested on their faces and their emotions. It's something that's deeper than life even deeper than physical life. He says, "I wish all the Jews can see the energy of these people." He says, "Then before you would make your post and write your article and make your comment think twice before you're writing what you're writing." One of our dear participants even have to open it I think. It may have died okay. No worries. No worries. No worries. The good story about there were about 100 soldiers being released to go home back to their families for the first time in 100 days. And they heard one soldier one one person said my my land has been destroyed. I won't be not going to have any products next year because of because my my whole farm is destroyed. All every single one of them did not go home for about a whole day Wow. working on the farm. I didn't know what. I want to share something with you. I saw this in an article by Sivan Rahav-Meir in Israel. She spoke to Natan Sharansky. Sharansky, as you know, was a refusenik, a Soviet Jew who tried to get to Israel. They wouldn't let him out. And ultimately he was imprisoned with accusations of espionage and rebellion against the Soviet regime. Later he was liberated. He came to Israel. He's living today in Israel. He was in the Knesset. He was uh he was the chairman of the Jewish Agency, the Sochnut. Avinatan Or is one of the hostages who was taken by Hamas on Simchat Torah on October 7th, 2023. Yaron Or is his father. Avinatan's father. Avinatan is the hostage and Yaron is his father. So, the father was speaking about his son, Avinatan. And the father said that recently all he's thinking about all day and all night is his son who's in captivity in Hamas. And he's thinking about Natan Sharansky who was in prison for years and years and years and tortured and in solitary confinement by the Soviets, but he made it out with his resilience and resolve. And it gives him strength to to remember Sharansky's story. So, Natan Sharansky called up the father just to give him a little more chizuk, you know, directly. He calls up the father, Yaron, the father of Avinatan. And Sharansky said to Sivan, he said, "I want to tell you what I told the father." He said, "I was in prison. And in prison for for years by the Soviets, no paradise. I want to tell you many things gave me strength. First of all, my wife Avital, Avital Sharansky, although we never met. They would not allow a meeting. But just the fact that I knew about her, I felt her, and it gave me strength. The second thing was the Jewish people gave me strength. I knew that people are praying for me. I knew that there's an amazing people that I'm connected to. They're thinking about me, and their strength gave me strength. Sharansky also said I had a Tehillim. I don't know if you know this, but they took away his Tehillim. And he went on a hunger strike until they gave it back to him. Now, he didn't know Hebrew. Sharansky grew up in the Soviet Union. There was no There was no You didn't learn Hebrew there. But in prison, he learned taught himself So it was the only thing he had, so he taught himself how to read Tehillim. And he said the kapitelach of those So you're talking about a secular Soviet Jew grew up without Yiddishkeit. He taught himself how to read Tehillim, and it gave him energy. He had Tehillim for 9 years. I felt that the pesukim, the verses of David Hamelech wrote, are about me, and they give me energy. I wrote that David Hamelech was writing about me, my difficulties, my adversity, and my metzuka, my anguish, my suffering. And then Sharansky said, I told Avin I told Avinatan's father, Yaron, I said, "After many years in prison, I realized that there's actually something deeper that's giving me strength. It took me years to figure this out. He says, "It's not just David Hamelech is giving me strength. It's not just the Jewish people are giving me strength. I realized I realized I'm not just looking to them for strength. They're actually looking to me for strength. I realized David I'm a luck is looking to me to write my to him today. I realized that the entire Jewish past is looking to me to give them strength. I realized that all the previous generations are gazing at me and pleading with me to empower them, to invigorate them, to remember that I am part of their story of our amazing past and our even more incredible future. And he said and this is true also about you and your son who's in a tunnel in Gaza. This is what Sharansky told this father. Why do you do it and I don't know how to do it? But there's probably a code, no? And now I have to share with you one more thing she wrote. This happened a few days ago. Okay, I got it. We're good. Noam Rammati is a commander and he was with his soldiers in a in a neighborhood in a region in Gaza and they were in the middle of a very intense campaign against Hamas. Noam Rammati is a Jew who puts on filling every day. One day they were fighting all day and he couldn't put on filling. He simply didn't have the moment to stop and put on filling. And he saw that the sun is about to set. It's going to be night time. And he felt very bad. All the soldiers could see his pain. Although most of them are secular Jews, but they saw the pain of their commander Noam Rammati and they said why are you in pain? He said it's the first time since his bar mitzvah that he's going to be missing a day of filling. He never missed a day of twirling. It's going to be the first time since his bar mitzvah. Now, mind you the twirling were literally like 20 ft from there. But you were not allowed to move. Moving could literally endanger anybody's life, and certainly you couldn't go and retrieve the twirling and put them on. It was simply not possible. So he didn't put on twirling. Now you call this the quintessential halacha of onas rachmana patrei. Somebody who's an onas, which means you simply you don't have the ability. Natan Sharansky in Siberia in in Siberia also didn't put on twirling and couldn't blow shofar cuz you're an onas. You simply can't. You're in a war and pikuach nefesh is doche everything. So you're not you're not allowed to even put on twirling. That was the situation, but he still felt bad. I want you to know what happened the next morning. The next morning things calmed down. So you know what happened? All the soldiers in the entire platoon, it was a huge amount of soldiers, came to him and they said, "This morning we're putting on twirling together with you." And everybody put on twirling with him that day in order to help him feel better about the twirling he missed last today. So today many, many more twirlings were added. These are the people we're dealing with. These are the people you're talking about the secular soldiers we're dealing with. Soldiers who didn't grow up with twirling. These are the people you're dealing with. So if this is our perspective on Dathan and Abiram, and it doesn't whitewash Dathan and Abiram, that's not the point. But it shows you perspective on how Yiddishkeit views someone whose only mitzvah is I care. I care. I'm misguided. I'm misinformed. But I care. I have a heart. AND THAT'S DATHAN AND ABIRAM. NEVER mind today. When almost everyone who's not doesn't know about Yiddishkeit is because of tinokos shenishbu. Almost everyone, probably 99.9. And when you see such misiras nefresh, such commitment, such dedication, how it behooves us to think about them, to pray for them, to connect with them, to be there for them physically, emotionally, spiritually, on every level when you meet one of them. I always tell my students, you're walking and I tell you, meet a soldier, stop, say thank you. Todah rabah, let me buy you a falafel. Let me buy you a laffa, let me buy you an ice cream. Give him a hug. Just thank you, thank you, thank you. How can we thank you enough for this literally sacrifice day in and day out and with so many young boys and fathers who have lost their lives in recent weeks. I want to conclude with a letter. Yeah. Yesterday, as you know, many young men lost their lives in Gaza. One of them was Elkanah Wissel, 35 years old. He was killed yesterday in Gaza, Rabbi Elkanah Wissel. And uh you know, they write letters before they go in to their loved ones just in case something happens chalilah. So, they found his letter. He writes, "If you're reading these words, something happened to me. If I was kidnapped, do not make a deal for the release of any terrorist to release me. Our overwhelming victory is more important than anything. Please continue to work with all your might so that victory is as overwhelming as possible. Maybe I fell in battle. I wasn't kidnapped. When a soldier falls in battle, it's sad. But I'm going to ask you all to be happy. Don't be sad when you part with me. Instead, touch hearts, hold each other's hands, and strengthen each other. We have so much to be proud and happy about. We are writing the most significant moments in the history of our nation and the entire world. Please, be optimistic. Be happy. Keep choosing life all the time. Spread love, light, optimism. Look at your loved ones in the whites of their eyes and remind them to love, too. And be grateful, too. The letter gets cut off. Oh, okay. I don't know that. All we could conclude is and say, "We love you so much. We are in admiration of each and every one of you. We are grateful to you for eternity. All the Jewish people get our strength and energy from you all the way from Avraham Avinu till Mashiach. And may Hashem bring a complete victory to all of us, to our people, and to our nation, and a complete redemption takeh from mead mash now. Thank you. Have a wonderful and beautiful week." Thank you for coming. Yes. Next week we're on be'ezrat Hashem 9:30 on Tuesday.