Don't Bring the Times Into Shul | Parsha Perspectives | Acharei Mos-Kedoshim 5786

Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. This is one of those weeks we have a double parsha, double whammy, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim. A daunting daunting task because both parshas, each parsha, Acharei Mot and Kedoshim, we could spend an entire day, entire week, an entire month on to try to cover and offer insights on both in one class is daunting indeed, but we'll do our best. I want to thank as always our generous series sponsors, first of all, Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father, David Grossman, who passed away last year. May his soul have an aliyah. Our learning should be in his memory. And also, the other series sponsor, the Deichman family in memory of their daughter and sister, Danielle Rochel bas Shalom Ezra, passed away tragically in childbirth. A very very special woman of tremendous emunah who loved to learn with us online, and certainly our series now dedicated in her memory as well. May her neshama should have an aliyah. Today, she is sponsored anonymously in the merit of Abner ben Avraham HaCohen, Yosef ben Levi, anonymously in honor of Lloyd Hoffman's birthday. Happy birthday. And by Colin Stein and his children in memory of his beloved wife, Feiga bas Mosha, whom we miss. May her neshama should have an aliyah. We miss her in our community. Anonymously for the full shalom of Yitzchak Menachem ben Karen ben Yosef, who should have a full, complete, and speedy refuah shleimah. I also want to dedicate our learning. Today is Yom HaZikaron, and there are so many who gave their lives. We don't have to offer We don't have to wish that their neshama has an aliyah because it can't go any higher because those who died al kiddush Hashem, those who gave their lives fighting for and defending the Jewish people and the Jewish homeland, their soul sits right next to the Kisei HaKavod, next to the divine throne. And so, while their neshama can't and doesn't need to go any higher, certainly we dedicate our learning in their memory with endless and boundless gratitude for their sacrifice, and with their family very much in our hearts and on our minds today, Yom HaZikaron. The parshas we're reading are called Acharei Mot Kedoshim. After the death, Kedoshim. And those more than 25,000 who over the course of Israel's modern history gave their lives fighting and defending too many over the last 3 years in the war that is not yet over. I reached out today. We've hosted so many in our shul in our community and on our podcast conversation with parents, wives, family members of those who lost loved ones. Our learning is dedicated to them and we join Klal Yisrael. We join Klal Yisrael around the world and today feeling and thinking about their loss, their memory, and their family sending a lot of love, strength, and comfort. Page 636 in the Or Hachaim Chumash. Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe acharei mot Aharon b'korvam el Hashem vayemusu. Hashem speaks to Moshe after the death of the two sons of Aaron b'korvam el Hashem when they brought a sacrifice to God that was not uh sanctioned. Thank you. Vayemusu. And they paid the great price. There was a death. Vayomer Hashem el Moshe, God speaks to Moshe, "Daber el Aharon achicha, speak to your brother Aaron." I believe in last year's parsha class we dealt with why is Aaron identified as Moshe's brother as if Moshe has to turn to God and say, "Wait 1 second. Which Aaron? Speak to Aaron, but so many Aarons in my class. Which Aaron? Oh, Aaron achicha. Oh, my bro Oh, my brother Aaron. Why does Hashem have to identify him as Aaron achicha? We dealt with that last year. Vayavo Yisrael el hakodesh mibais haparoiches el pnei hakapores asher al haaron v'lo yamus. Kee van Aharon el hakapores. Moshe is instructing his brother Aaron, "You cannot enter. Don't just walk in whenever you want. Al yavo b'chaleis. Don't ever get too casual. Don't ever get too comfortable. Familiarity breeds contempt. And therefore, if we want sanctity and holiness, we've discussed this too in the past. So hard. I have my favorite divrei Torah in every parsha and to have the discipline not to review it because we want to get to new things. I'm not I'm not you for a sympathy for me. It's not a tough life. I'm just saying this is what I go through. In any case, I have a whether it's in marriage, relationships, sanctity of the shul, the base hamikdash, you exit in a different way than you came in. Don't ever become too familiar. Don't ever get too casual. We have to keep the the spontaneity and the holiness and the sanctity and the love and the connection alive. And that was true. That's embodied here in this warning but you cannot come in whenever you whenever you want. Again, we did that with this much more in the past. So don't come in while you have a place. Don't come in on a whim. Don't come in casually or comfortably. Don't come in whenever you want. How should you come in? How do you enter the holy? With only with a sense of What is this? With this. What's this? This is ambiguous. What's this? Mysterious. Then we elaborate a little bit of young bull for a sin offering and ram for an elevation offering. He puts on his sacred linen and and the parsha goes on. I want to start with a few insights of the I told you last week a new edition of the Sachs who lives in Chicago the son-in-law of Frank the great grandfather of Sachs from the land his family a new edition of the came out with bonus extra amazing I'm a big fan and I love to quote the I have a he said you shall be close. The time says on the A lot of a fair there's a at the very at the chapter 119 the one that goes according to the alphabet and the iron A A lot of a fair and the brochos elaborate on this and says host eaten or is a fair the says A lot of a fair. Now the simple tight the simple translation of the words are ace lasos lashem in a time that one has to do for God a fair resource you're even allowed to so to say with God's permission violate or sacrifice or compromise Torah because it's for Hashem. Indeed this possible was invoked when the dynasty and also the great leader of the Jewish people took the incredible courageous but also controversial decision to write down the oral Torah to write down the Torah he invoked this possible ace lasos lashem a fair resource Torah was lost if he didn't codify it if he didn't write it down if he didn't capture it by sterility it was in danger of being lost. Therefore because it was an ace it was a time lasos lashem he had to do something drastic for God he was entitled he had license a fair resource that's a simple understanding of the possible. However, the army brothers at the end of the ninth paragraph writes how also Torah so eating what is the word eating means the times if you turn the Torah into the times the times how is that may fibrous you're violating the covenant with God because a fair resource ace lasos lashem how also Torah so and Torah so you want to meet the bottom eating the fair resource man the ace care ace machine to Torah so you know how is that may fibrous The word of seems actually understands that it is if you try to distort Torah to make it conform with the times that you're living. So you open the newspaper and it says you're supposed to believe this and you're supposed to now use this new definition of that and you're supposed to now see this policy as this you say okay I guess we're going to have to adjust I guess we'll officiate it this and we'll attend that and we'll compromise on this and we'll allow that new rule here if a person brings that attitude, they're may fair have bris, they are compromising and corrupting the very covenant with the almighty. If you think you're going to make minor adjustments, if you think you're going to try to make Torah conform to the times, in the end you won't even have a recognizable religion. In the end, it won't even represent Judaism. It's a different touch. It's a different way of understanding. Ace loss of the sham, if you're going to do for God based on the times, literally and figuratively, you're going to open the times, you're going to open the paper and you're going to see what you're supposed to believe, what's popular, what's in, what's current, and you're going to adjust or distort or pervert or make Torah conform to the times, you'll end up a fair or sore or sucker, you will distort, compromise, corrupt Torah. The Torah was given to us is immutable. It's non-negotiable. Certainly, we innovate even within Torah. We have a shabbos elevator, we have a prism ball, and we have we have all kinds of innovations, but they're operating within a system, we're operating within Torah. But you can't change Torah. We don't change axioms and basic definitions. We don't change halakha. Halakha of the house. Lote mukhlafis, and that's why the Torah that's in our hands is given to Moshe Rabbeinu lote mukhlafis lote Torah one of the 13 principles of our faith is it is immutable. It is non-negotiable. It cannot be changed or compromised. It doesn't conform to the times in which we live. So when the kind God will enter the kodish kodashim holy of holies, when all the Jewish people were watching him, and he was going in and out to atone for the people, "Mitzuva betzavta yucha al yavo b'chol eit." Listen to this new interpretation. I love the Menachem Tzion. Says the Menachem Tzion, "Lo yavo b'chol eit." The simple understanding was, don't be casual, don't be comfortable, don't just walk in whenever you want, don't open a door without knocking, don't come in without being invited in, don't be too comfortable. That was the simple understanding. But the Menachem Tzion says, "You know what it means? Lo yavo b'chol eit." When you come into shul, don't bring the times with you. Cuz the inside of shul could care less what it says in the times. The inside of shul is not concerned with its definitions and its policies, with its approaches and its perspective, with its ideology and its philosophy. In here, we open the Aron and we open a Torah and we see what the Torah tells us. The Torah projects on us, we don't chalila project onto the Torah. The Torah dictates and determines what we believe and what we practice, our lives and our lifestyles, and not the opposite. So, when Aaron would enter, when the Kohen Gadol would enter the Kodesh Hakodashim, "Lo yavo b'chol eit." Don't come in with the times. Who cares what it says in the blogs and the times? Who cares what's popular to believe? "Lo yeheina l'hachnis rosh ha'eit al hakodesh." Don't bring the mentality and the attitude of the eit. Well, you come on, get with the times. Get with the times, you're so archaic, you're so old-fashioned. What are you doing? Come on, get with the time. Your times? You could take your times, we don't bring it into shul. "Lo yavo b'chol eit." There is no subscription. We canceled our subscription at shul, to the We never had it, but to the times. "Lo yavo b'chol eit." We don't bring it in el hakodesh, el hakodesh. We don't bring it in here. It's a whole new taitch, a whole new way of understanding. A whole new way of understanding. He goes on, that's not all, but I want to see further insights that he has. You see this also, he doesn't bring this, but I'll tell you another vort. It's more than a vort. The Gemara Shabbos says that after 120 when we come upstairs we're asked a series of questions. And one of the questions the heavenly tribunal asks us is Kavata itim l'Torah. Which again we simply understand to mean did you set aside time? Tuesday mornings 9:30 a.m. Did you set aside time to learn? Wednesday mornings 8:05 Tanya, 9:00 living with Emunah, Sunday morning Smicha Shiur, Friday 10:00 Friday to Erev Shabbos, Friday morning 10:00 to Erev Shabbos. Did you set aside times for learning? See what I did there? Did you see a little shameless plug? Did you set aside times for learning? Did you see Kavata? Were you Kovea? Did you establish itim times to learn? Not just learn haphazard. Not learn when it was convenient. Not learn when you felt like it. But set consistent times to learn. However you could really you could understand a little bit differently. What really we will be asked after 120 when we come upstairs is Kavata itim l'Torah or Kavata Torah l'itim? Did you establish the times based on Torah or did you establish the Torah based on the times? Again that word l'yavo b'chol eish itim itim. Kavata itim l'Torah. Did you look at the times and say I have to interpret and understand the world based on Torah. Who is Iran? What do they represent? What is good versus evil? What is Amalek? What does Hakadosh Baruch Hu want? What is Ribono shel Olam? What is Hashgacha? What are miracles in our times? I'm looking at the world. I'm looking at how it's defining gender, identity, orientation, relationships, institutions. I'm looking at business practices. I'm looking at every aspect of life. Kavata itim l'Torah. Did you look at the times and >> [clears throat] >> understand them, interpret them, experience them, process them through Torah? Or God forbid Kavata Torah l'itim? Did you try to make the Torah conform to the times? It's challenging. There's a lot of pressure on us. When one lives in a society in a world which you become like Avraham Avinu, the Ivri, may ever run the other side and we're standing nearly alone and we're desperately holding on to some of our beliefs because we know they're true. We know they're true. So, that same word etim kavata etim letora lehavo bechol etz. Don't come in with all your etim. Don't bring in the times. Here, we're living lemala min ha etim. In shul, in Yiddishkeit, when a person's living Torah, we're transcending the times. Our truths are not dictated or determined by what's popular, by what the polls say. Just look at the phenomenon we're living in we're living through. We're watching so many of the problems that we have are because of gripers and grifters. Ask your grandchildren what that is. Gripers and grifters. Gripers and grifters are media personalities who don't have principled opinions and take stands. They look at what will be the most popular. What will attract the biggest audience. What will bring in the most money. And then they ride that wave. And that's why they flip-flop. That's why they change. That's why you can make videos that show what they said yesterday versus today, today versus tomorrow because they're just going with the wind. Whatever will bring them the most followers, the greatest influence, and bet the most money. That's not us and our people. We have principles and we have truths and we stand by them and they don't change. Lo yavo bechol etz. When a person enters kodesh, you don't bring a mentality and attitude to bechol etz. What do you bring? Bezot yavo Aharon el hakodesh. What's bezot? That word zot we said is ambiguous. Know what zot is. Next piece in the Menachem Tzion. Hamila zot e vesod yesod bechol hatora lekorna say yesod um kruchim kulam ba. That word zot is fundamental, foundational, that the whole Torah and all its principles stands on it, is intertwined with it. Just think about how many pesukim we see that word zot that you think is so ambiguous and mysterious. What does it mean? And yet, it appears in so many places. Lo yavo kashur yesod um yesod um. the future, God will turn to the nations of the world who will request from him reward and he'll ask them to pass again Yeshaya me by him you give those because I'll say in those Ella Torah. You know what those refers to a life of Torah, Torah philosophy, Torah ideology, Torah behavior. How do you know that? Because what do we say when we lift the Torah and we do with Hagba Monday, Thursday, and Shabbos? The Zos ha Torah she saw Moshe lift me the name of Israel the Zos ha Torah. In Zos Ella Torah whenever you see the word Zos being used, it is an allusion or reference to the Zos means Torah. In Tehillim, we just sang it on Pesach and then Rosh Chodesh Me'isa Hashem hayesa Zos hinifla'os be'eineinu. From Hashem came Zos its wonders in our eyes. Pasuk in Yirmiya Mi ish hacham veyavin es zos asher dibber Hashem elav vayagidennu. Never in Tehillim we say ba'al lo yedah uksil lo yavin es Zos. Yeshaya [snorts] asher enosh ya'aseh zos uven adam yachazik bah. Hashem turns to Klal Yisrael Malachi ucheneni na bezos uchanuni bezos amar Hashem Tzva'os. Zos Daver el Machir ben Menasheh im takum alav milchamah beh Zos ani bote'ach. You can have a lot of fun. The Medrash says what did Yaakov end with? Zos bezos asher dibber lahem Avihem. Moshe gave Klal Yisrael a bracha where did he start? Vezos habracha asher berach Moshe ish ha'Elokim es Bnei Yisrael. We don't have enough time left in the shiur or the day to find all the pesukim references and allusions to that word Zos. The fool uksil lo yavin es zos. Me'isa Hashem hayesa zos. With the Zos bezos haTorah and bezos Yavo Aron Hakodesh. So, what is the Zos? The diamond brim. Zos, Rebbe Kaddish. Zos, we have to have clarity, we have to have conviction, we have to have courage. Zos, we have to be able to point and know this. I'm not confused. I'm not somebody who can change based on who I'm talking to. We don't take a poll and our opinion is based on what's popular. We can point with our finger and say Zos. Zos. And that's what the fool doesn't understand. Be principled. Be consistent. Turn to Torah because it's Hashem's infinite word, his blueprint for creation. That's the bizos. That's the bizos. And the Kohen Gadol, the holiest person, went to the holiest place on the holiest day of the year in order to atone for his people by all of the people. What did he bring with him? Zos. Conviction, courage, a clarity of Torah. Bizos Yavo Aharon El Hakodesh. Come in knowing who you are. Come in knowing who you come from. Come in come in knowing what you stand for. Come in knowing what your mission is. Come in knowing the truth that you represent unequivocally, unconditionally, unwaveringly. Know who you are and what you're about. Bizos Yavo. So, don't come in Lo Yavo B'chol Eitz. With the Eitzem. Don't bring the Eitzem in here. Instead, now you understand Eitzem and Zos are two sides of the same coin. Don't bring the times, what's current, what's popular. What should you bring? Zos. Clarity, courage, conviction, the truth of Torah. That's who we are. That is how we enter. Perek Gimel, Perek Chos rather. We are skipping right along because I want to get to Parshas Kedoshim. Last year here the double parsha, we mostly covered Acharei Mos, so I made a commitment to myself that this year we would cover mostly Kedoshim. So, what's the rest of Acharei Mos? We get into Yom Kippur, the whole process of Yom Kippur, the two goats, one is pushed off a cliff, one is offered to Hashem, the lottery, fate versus the recognition of of our place and Hashem's role, Azazel, who is Uzza and Azael, this voice in our own head. Ah, so much to talk about over here. The ketoret, who we allow in, the confession the Kohen Gadol has to for himself, for his family, and for the people in that order, cuz you can't atone for the people before you first take care of yourself. After the um avodah of Yom Kippur, we get into the prohibition against eating blood, our obligation to cover the blood. We've covered this in previous parsha classes, and then we get into the laws of forbidden relationships, perek kuf ches. It's familiar to us. When do we read this? Yom Kippur mincha. Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe lemor, page four 648 in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash. Speak to the Jewish people and tell them Aniy Hashem Elokeichem, I am the Lord your God. That is a very popular refrain in these two parshas. Aniy Hashem appears six times in parshas Acharei Mos, and how many times does it appear in Kedoshim? I don't remember. Maybe 18 ti- many many many many times. Many many times. That's not coincidental. Maybe we'll get into that. Speak to the Jewish people and tell them I'm the Lord your God. And therefore, kema'aseh eretz Mitzrayim asher yeshavtem bah lo sa'asu. Don't perform the practice of the land of Egypt in which you dwelt. Ukema'aseh eretz Kena'an asher ani mevi et'chem shamah lo sa'asu uvchukoteihem lo telechu. Don't walk like an Egyptian, the place that you lived where I took you out of, nor nor adopt the practice of Kena'an, the place I'm taking you to. Differentiate yourself. Have the courage to be different. Have the courage to stand out. Live the blueprint, the prescription I'm giving you, says Hashem. B'zos Yavo Aron. Know who you are, where you come from, how you're meant to live. Live Torah. Don't be k'ma'aseh Mitzrayim and don't be k'ma'aseh Kena'an, says the Menachem Tzion, our last one of the day. Eina k'vana l'ma'asim meguneem v'asurim. Sha'arei Yishar Soros M'yucholos. What is the Torah telling us? When God says don't be like the Egyptians, what does he mean by that? If it means don't worship idols, so you don't have to tell me don't be like an Egyptian. The Torah already tells us an explicit prohibition, don't worship idols. So when the Torah's telling us don't be like an Egyptian, if don't be like an Egyptian means don't do the prohibited behaviors of the Egyptians, you don't need to tell me don't be like an Egyptian, the Torah explicitly tells me the the prohibited behaviors of the Egyptians. So what is this Azhara M'yucholos? What is this specific specific prohibition? Ela k'vanas Hashem lomar, says the Menachem Tzion, k'ma'aseh Mitzrayim asher y'shavtem ba, lo sa'asu. Ma'aseh zeh she y'shavtem ba y'shivas keva, u'k'ma'aseh Kena'an asher ani mevi eschem, einchem holchim ela b'os nafsh'chem, ela ani mevi eschem b'al korchem. You need to know that your address, you got your mail for a little while in Egypt. But don't ever, ever dwell there. Don't ever assimilate and integrate. Don't ever think you're permanently part of that world and that life. That is not who you are, that is not where you live, that is not what you are about. You are just passing through. You are just there temporarily. That is not your home. Yes, you're a citizen, you're a resident, but you're also a stranger. And that's ever since Avraham Avinu, Rav Soloveitchik's insight, ger v'toshav anochi imachem. I'm a resident and a stranger at the same time. We are part proud Americans, patriotic, we're citizens, we contribute to and benefit from society, but make no mistake, and they are making us remember now that at the same time that culture and those attitudes, they're not ours, they're foreign to us. We're not permanently fixed here. We are in galus. We have to know we're temporarily here. We're on a business trip. When you go on a business trip, you find a nice place to stay, you eat in restaurants, you don't have to suffer while you're there, but you also realize all along that you're there, you're not home. So, we're on a business trip, and there's nothing wrong with staying in a nice place and eating nice meals. There's nothing wrong with set ourselves up to enjoy while we're here on a mission, but we should never get confused to think that this is home. That hotel or Airbnb is not home. No matter how nice one you reserved, no matter how nice a one you're staying in, it's not home, and this isn't home. That we need to know that this is not This is not home. And that's the prohibition. That's what Moshiach is warning us. It doesn't mean any of their particular behaviors. That we already know, that we already have in the specific prohibitions, explicit prohibitions for those behaviors. So, what was the Torah telling us? Don't be Don't be Don't integrate. Don't settle. Don't see yourself as a citizen. Know you're on a business trip. Know you're there temporarily. Know that it's not permanent, and you're not there forever. Know that that is not home. Sorry, one more on this parsha before we turn over turn the page. Observe my decrees and my laws which you should carry on and by which you shall live. I am Hashem. The by them. The by them. That may be familiar to you that expression. The by them. What does the by them mean? The by them means live with them, live through them. And in fact, this is a halachic mandate. The Gemara Chazal understood "v'chai ba'hem v'lo sheyamus ba'hem." If observing a Torah mitzvah, if observing a halacha will cost you your life, "v'chai ba'hem." Hashem wants us to live. And therefore, if there's a conflict between observing a halacha or preserving your life, what do you do? Pikuach nefesh doche Shabbos doche Torah except for the gimmel chamuros. We have three exceptions, the three cardinal sins. Gilah Arayos, Shfichus Damim, Avodah Zarah. Murder, idolatry, and illicit behavior relations. Those three, if they would cost you your life, you give up your life rather than violate. But other than those three, the other 610, you give up your life rather than violate. Why? Chazal understood that from "v'chai ba'hem." "V'chai ba'hem v'lo sheyamus ba'hem." The whole purpose of Torah is to give our lives meaning and purpose. If observing Torah will cost you your life, then that defeats the very purpose of Torah. And therefore, which one supersedes the other? Preserving your life supersedes observing that mitzvah. In the Sefer HaChinuch, Rav Sherira Gaon quotes Rav Soloveitchik, the Rav, who saw this interpretation "v'chai ba'hem v'lo sheyamus ba'hem" as a core principle of the Torah. "Niro lomar b'zeh HaRambam meivi es halacha Pikuach Nefesh doche kol haTorah kulah." Where does the Rambam bring this law? That that Pikuach Nefesh, saving and preserving a life, supersedes all the Torah except for the gimmel chamuros. Where does the Rambam bring this? The Brisker's. Those who study Rambam understand not only can you learn from the actual text of the Rambam, but the Rambam organized as an encyclopedia, he organized halacha. And where the Rambam chose to put certain laws itself tells you how he understood them. Aside from the text, the words themselves, but in his organization of the law, he was also offering commentary. So, where did the Rambam put the halacha? Pikuach nefesh is doche kol haTorah kulah? He put it in the fifth perek of Hilchos Yesodei haTorah. Therefore, ne'eman zeh, dedina devachay bahem velo sheyamus bahem chume yesodei haTorah. That the halacha devachay bahem, the halacha of preserving your life superseding Torah is a halacha in yesodei haTorah. This is a core principle of Torah. And the Rambam says, this is the lashon of the Rambam there, she'eim mishpetei haTorah nikhbe'u bahem al rachamim vachasadim sheba'olam, umishakholek al zeh, hu kholek al yesodei haTorah, ulahakhi harei hu bikhlal haMinim. Let's say someone says, "You know what? I'm so holy. I'm so sacred. I'm such a tzaddik. It's true that you're allowed to eat the non-kosher in order to save your life. Somebody, God forbid, says to you, "Eat this non-kosher or I'm going to kill you." It was hard to imagine that scenario until the last few years where hostages were held and who knows what they could be told or threatened with. But a person, an enemy of Israel, takes a Jew and says, "Eat this non-kosher or I'll kill you." What's the halacha? Eat the non-kosher. Let's say someone says, "I'm going to eat non-kosher. I'm a tzaddik. I strive for greatness. I'm not eating the non-kosher. I'm not eating the non-kosher." So, you might think that person is exceptionally righteous. According to Harav Kook, according to Rav Soloveitchik, based on this Rambam, such a person is a kofer. Such a person is a heretic. They're bikhlal haMinim, because uvachay bahem velo sheyamus bahem is yesodei Torah. It is a core principle and value of Torah. You're not entitled to give up your life. For the big three, you have to give up your life. But other than the big three, you're not entitled to give up your life. And you think that you're going to be more religious than God and give up your life for him, you're not doing it for him. That's not our religion. That's a form of heresy. That's a form of heresy and that is a terrible terrible mistake. It's a good opportunity for me to offer an apology, a public apology. Many years ago, several years ago, I said in a in a interview, in a conversation that I challenged that the Klausenberger Rebbe Excuse me again, I'll let you know. That the Klausenberger Rebbe went through the war and never ate non-kosher. Never actually ate non-kosher. And I said, you speak to survivors, they said that was impossible. And I spoke to somebody who knew someone who went through the war with the Klausenberger Rebbe also said that was impossible and I challenged him. And since then, the author of the biography of the Klausenberger Rebbe was in touch with me and shared with me what the Klausenberger Rebbe himself in his farm alludes to and thanks Hashem for the miracle that he was never in a position that he ever had to violate kashrus. He would have if he had to to save his life. As we're learning, it's a principle of Torah and it's heresy not to. But the Klausenberger Rebbe testified about himself, so who am I of course to challenge that? So, I offer this public apology to the Rebbe um publicly for even suggesting that that's not the case. But the Rebbe himself would have if he had to. He thanks Hashem that he was able to go through the war in such a circumstance that he didn't need to. Without of course impugning or challenging those who did, they did the right thing. Anyone [clears throat] who went through the war and had to eat non-kosher to save their life, it's not that they made a concession they should feel bad for or need forgiveness for. It's me as so they are Torah, the Rambam puts it. Pikuach nefesh doche kol haTorah and yesodei haTorah. And had they not done that, they'd be b'chlala minin. Had they not done that, they'd be included among the heretics. And so, you see this very important understanding in in the in the Harei Kadim, how he understood it based on where the Rambam codifies it. Rav Volbe also in the Al She'eilas HaBayis, Rav Volbe, the great Mashgiach also addresses V'Chai Bahem. Gemara Makkos daf Yud tells us if a person accidentally murders, they flee, they run where? To an Ir Miklat. They run to an Ir Miklat. Why? Because the family members of the victim are entitled to pursue and therefore to save himself, he goes to the Ir Miklat. And there the Torah says about the individual, he can run to one of the cities, he flees to an Ir Miklat and what does he do there? V'Chai. He runs to an Ir Miklat V'Chai and he can live there. He can live there. And the Gemara Makkos daf Yud interprets that a Talmud, someone's learning in the Yeshiva, a younger man in Kolel, Chas V'Shalom has an incident where he killed by accident, he has to run to an Ir Miklat. Do you know who goes with him? His Rebbe. His Rebbe, Rav Asher Arieli, he's giving the biggest Shiur in the world in the Mir. Chalila, sorry, stop Shiur, you're going to move into the Ir Miklat. The Rebbe goes with him. The Rebbe interrupts the Rosh Yeshiva? He's running the Yeshiva, he's giving the Shiur, biggest Shiur in the world, and he stops to run to an Ir Miklat? Why? So the Gemara understood V'Chai. Because when this individual runs to the Ir Miklat, we have to provide him everything he needs to live. What does he need to live? Wi-Fi? Internet connection? That's not what Chazal say. What he needs to live is his Rebbe. He needs Torah in order to live. That's V'Chai. The Rambam codifies Hilchos Rotzeiach in the seventh perek. And the Rambam there writes that when a Talmud is exiled, we send the Rebbe because the Torah says V'Chai. And for those who seek wisdom without Torah, it's as if they're dead. If you don't have access and you're not learning Torah, then you can't achieve and fulfill V'Chai. You see the very definition of V'Chai is what's V'Chai? A life of Torah. You're only really alive if your life is informed and inspired and guided by Torah. By Torah. It's possible for a person to know an enormous amount of Torah, writes the writes the Mashgiach of Vova, it's possible to know an enormous amount of Torah but fail to v'chai. You're not living Torah. How can you get to the level of Torah as part of your life? So, the Reb compares it to our life. Can you be alive if you forget to breathe? Breathing has to be uninterrupted. If a person struggles to breathe, they gasp for air. It's an emergency. It's We call a code. It's a problem. If a person's heart Can the heart be like, you know, I've been doing this for a lot of years. I've been doing this now for a lot of Give me a day off. Can't give me a day off? The heart says, "Give me 1 hour. Let me rest for 1 hour." If you think about it, it's extraordinary. From when we're born till we leave this world, the heart doesn't get a break. Not for a day, not for an hour, not for a minute. And if the heart were to stop, if the heart were to be interrupted, if the heart were to stutter, we call it sala, you'd be in trouble. How is it that we live physically only when we live uninterrupted? Instead, the Reb said the same is true spiritually, v'chai. How do you live? Only when your spiritual life is uninterrupted. If you say, "When I'm on vacation, I leave the Torah and the halacha behind." There are people they go on vacation, they dress differently, they eat differently, their priorities are different when they go on vacation. There are people all of a sudden they're on a beach and the wardrobe, the rules, things change. V'chai means consistent, constant, uninterrupted. Just like your lungs and your heart, you're only alive when they're operating uninterrupted, spiritually only alive when your values and your lifestyle is uninterrupted. And our whole day is guided by Torah. Ah, but you're going to the parsha shiur this morning and then maybe only you come back to the mitzvah shiur tonight, but you didn't learn in between. That's called uninterrupted? Yeah. If everything we did in between, we did guided by Torah, that's called uninterrupted. Our Torah heart is beating. Our Torah lungs are breathing. Uninterrupted. Uninterrupted. That Rabbeinu Chaim has a shtickel based on a Tosefos. That's how birchas haTorah work. Birchas haTorah is a bracha we say before the mitzvah of learning Torah. So you said a birchas haTorah this morning. I hope you did. Before you came to shiur. In davening, when you woke up, you said a birchas haTorah. Lasok b'divrei Torah shebicharanu, v'ha'arevna. There are three parts of that bracha. They correspond with the three types of bracha. Birchas Shevach, Birchas Han'a'ah, Birchas Hamitzvah. Not for now. But you made a bracha before we learned the birchas haTorah. But now you're going to go to the gym, you're going to the supermarket, you're going to the doctor. Unlike you, some of us have to work. You're going to go to work. And then tonight you're going to come back, you're going to learn more Torah. How come you don't have to make a new birchas haTorah? If you make a bracha you sit in the sukkah. And then you go on a tiyul for the day. Lion Country Safari. When you come back for dinner and you sit in the sukkah, do you have to make a new bracha? Of course you have to make a new bracha. So how come tonight when you're going to learn again after you interrupted during the day you don't have to make a new bracha? Do you ever think about that? Ever bother you? There's a Tosefos a bracha and Rabbeinu Chaim understood, you know why? The bracha you made was not lilmod Torah, it was lasok. To be occupied by Torah. If Torah governs the way you do business, if Torah governs the way that you check out at Publix, please and thank you and use the name of the cashier, the way you park the car, between the lines, not on the line. If Torah guides the way you operate, the way you behave, and who you are, then you never took a break, you never interrupted. You don't have to make a new bracha. You didn't leave the sukkah of Torah, so to say. That's the Rabbeinu Chaim. That's how Rav Wolbe understood Rabbeinu Chaim. Rav Wolbe understood Rabbeinu Chaim as Rabbeinu Chaim means just like our breathing, and just like our heartbeat is uninterrupted, so too Rabbeinu Chaim, our spiritual heartbeat, the Torah, our life, we're never on vacation, we're never on a break. Our relationship with Torah and Hashem is like marriage. I don't have to finish this metaphor, but when a person goes on a business trip, they're still married. That's part of their core identity. That's who they are. That's part of their consciousness and who they talk to and how they talk and what circumstances they put themselves in. They're not on a break. And that's V'chai. That's V'chai. That was the pledge and promise under that chuppah. It's like the air I breathe. V'chai. My marriage, our relationship, it's part of my core consciousness 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the rest of my life. And V'chai, that's my relationship with Hashem and that's my attitude towards Torah. V'chai. So, the individual who runs to the Ir Miklat, the Rebbe goes with him V'chai cuz without Torah you're not alive. And how do you then define V'chai? Consistent and constant. Just like our heart, just like our lungs, that has to be our lifestyle of Torah. I was going to share with you lastly a piece by the Gaon Rosh Yeshiva of Shal Alter Shlita in understanding V'chai Bahem. But, I want to get to the rest of this parsha. So, I told you enough on V'chai Bahem. Believe me, there will come back to it in the future. Let's go to Parshas Kedoshim. Page 656. Perek Yud Ches. Pasuk Yud Ches. Let's go. Kedoshim Tihiyu. What is Kedoshim Tihiyu? Be holy. We're learning now Kedushin Seder Nashim. Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh. Holy holy holy. We use that word holy. Holy is not a Jewish word. Holy comes from other religions. To define the word Kadosh as holy. What is holy? Did it help to say holy? We don't know what Kadosh is, so we say holy. Good. Now, what's holy? So, previously we went to Rashi, the Ramban. Separate, apart, different. What is holy? How do you define it? We talked about that in the past. And the Parshas Kedoshim is shocked, full of a plethora of mitzvahs. And the challenge of learning Parshas Kedoshim is to weave through the common themes and denominators and what's happening, why they brought in this order, and what's the relationship between them. And so the Torah tells us all of these incredible laws between us and Hashem, between us and others, and between us and ourselves. Carbonos, gifts to the poor, honesty in business, don't steal, pay people on time, don't curse, don't put a stumbling block. All these alachas, don't gossip. Lo sis, don't hate your brother. Rebuke when it's appropriate, how, who, when, where, which brings us to Vayikra Tes Pasuk Yud Ches, chapter 19 verse 18. Bottom page 660. Lo Sikom Velo Sitor, don't take revenge and don't bear a grudge as benei amacha, to the people of your nation. Vi'ahavta lere'acha kamocha, instead love your neighbor as yourself, Ani Hashem. Love your neighbor as yourself. I have to tell you the Kapishnitzer Rebbe Zatzal, Kapishnitzer Rebbe had a beautiful explanation of Vi'ahavta lere'acha kamocha, love your neighbor as yourself. Listen to this quote. If you love a fellow Jew because he's learn learned, that's an act of love of Torah scholars. If you love him because he supports Torah, you fulfilled the requirement of the love of Torah. If you love him from admiration of his or his his or her tzedaka, that's a case of loving tzedaka. But if you love a Jew who's neither a talmid chacham nor about tzedaka nor a supporter of Torah, that's ahavas Yisrael. That's ahavas Yisrael. If you love a fellow Jew because there's something about them you love, then you love that thing, you don't love them. But if you love a fellow Jew even when there's nothing to love about them, but you choose to love them anyway, that's ahavas Yisrael. What an insight. When you love someone cuz you say, "Oh, that's about tzedaka, that's about chesed, that's a talmid chacham, they're artistic, they daven beautifully, they're uh you love that thing about them." Then you don't love them, you love the thing about them. But when you love the person when there's nothing you could find about them to like, that's love. That's love. The way I see it and the way I always understand and try to work on this possuk, it's easy to love the people you like. But the mitzvah of ahavas Yisrael to love a fellow Jew is to even love the people you don't like. Like is an adjective. I like you. I like spending time with you. I like a lot of things about you. I like you. Love is not an adjective. Love is a verb. Love is a verb. Love is loyalty. Love is support. Love is unity. Love is care. Love is concern. Love is showing up. Love is defending. Love is not an adjective, it's a verb. Like, like is an adjective. And you can choose who you like. And if you don't like someone, you don't have to be friends with them. You don't have to be around them. But you have to love even the people you don't like. Not in my family, baruch Hashem, but there are people who have individuals in their family they don't like very much. But it's too bad they still have to love them. You still have to love that member of the family that you really don't like. You have to love them. What does that mean? You have to be there. You have to defend them. You have to be loyal to them. You have to show up at their simcha. You have to show up in good times and in bad times. You have to not stab them in the back. You have to be loyal. That's love. You have to love even the people you don't like. And we are all one big family. And we have to love even the people that we don't that we don't like. Even the people that we don't see in them something that we love. One of my favorite stories of Rav Aryeh Levin, the great tzaddik of Yerushalayim. Rav Aryeh Levin, the great tzaddik of Yerushalayim. So, there was a boy who grew up in Nachlaot, Rav Aryeh Levin's neighborhood. And he was no longer as intensely religious as his childhood, as his education. He cut off his peyos and he took off his yarmulke and he changed his dress and his garb. And when he did, he did anything in his power to avoid Rav Aryeh Levin. It was awkward. He'd be uncomfortable, he'd be embarrassed and ashamed. He didn't want to make the tzaddik uncomfortable, so he'd walk the alleys of Nachlaot trying to avoid the tzaddik Reb Aryeh Levin. And one day he turned the corner and punt. There was Reb Aryeh Levin, there was the tzaddik. I He was embarrassed, he was ashamed, he didn't know what to do. But Reb Aryeh Levin, the great tzaddik, just said to him, "I haven't seen you in so long. How are you? What are you up to? What's doing?" And the boy said, "I have to admit I've been trying to avoid you. I'm not religious anymore. I don't wear a yarmulke anymore. I cut off my peyos. I don't dress necessarily like an observant Jew. I was embarrassed. I didn't want to see you." So, Reb Aryeh Levin, the great tzaddik, looked at him and he said he said, "You know, I'm a very short man." Reb Aryeh Levin was very short, 4-foot something, very short man. He said, "I'm a very short man. I can only see what's in your heart. I can't see what's on your head." Isn't that beautiful? I'm a very short man. I only see what's in your heart. I can't see what's on your head. We all have to be a little bit shorter. We're so focused on looking what's on someone's head. Are they wearing a yarmulke? Is it the same type of yarmulke I'm wearing? Is she covering her hair? Is she covering it the way I do? We're all busy looking at what's on someone's head. We should get a little bit shorter. Stoop down a little bit. Instead, look in their heart. If the last 3 years haven't taught us anything, you know, the war with Iran that on the one hand, God forbid it shouldn't start up again, on the other we want to finish them off. It didn't matter, you know, millions of our brothers and sisters were running to bomb shelters. And at the entranceway and doorway of the bomb shelters, nobody said, "Let me check your yarmulke before you can come in. Let's see. Let me see how you cover your hair before you can come in." Nobody said, "Do you go to the army? You don't go to the army? You go to the cheder? You go to this school? How do you observe your matzoh meal? Do you make a bracha, no bracha, hallel? Did you eat a blue and white cookie? Did you wave a flag? Did you do dog walking? Did you stand still for the siren?" On the way into the bomb shelter running from the missiles. People loved each other and they let in even the people they can't like, even the people they're struggling like anything to like, but they open the door because they love them. That's what it means Israel. That's what it means Israel, to find that way to love even the people we don't like. To talk, to talk to them and to find something redeemable in them and to feel a shared history and a common destiny and even while there are very, very, very significant and important differences and debates that are happening in our people all over the world and particularly in our beloved homeland. Today tonight tomorrow these are times if we want to show them to not regret the miracles he did for us, we have to demonstrate for them our ability to get along, to love even the people that we struggle to like. That's what you have to learn. Okay, that was my little editorial comment on the side. Back to partial, back to partial class. You have to come over. That's come over. Love your neighbor come over as yourself means see the piece of you in them. What do you have in common? What's redeemable? What can you find in them? Look in their heart not only on top of their head. You have to come over. We've quoted this before. You have to come over. Presumes if you love your neighbor as you love yourself presumes what? That you love yourself. So I said to myself as you see from here there's a myth for to love yourself. Now some people are a little zealous in fulfilling that myth. They could love themselves a little less. But sadly and tragically we're living in a time of such mental mental health mental health challenges that come because people who love themselves too little. And we have to remind them to love themselves, forgive themselves, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, believe in themselves. You have to come over. Come over. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The premise the presumption is don't forget to love yourself. There's a mitzvah love yourself. Why should I love myself? So narcissistic, so egotistical? I should love myself? No, we love ourselves cuz it's a piece of Hashem, Ani Hashem. Khelik Elokah Mimaal Mamash is a piece of Hashem in us. Rav Tzadok Hakohen famously writes, "Kshem Kakh, just like there's a mitzvah to believe emunah in Hashem, there's a mitzvah to have emunah in ourselves." I, how shall I faith in myself? Myself, who am I to have faith in me? The answer is, Ani Hashem. There's a piece of God in me, there's therefore that which to have faith in in myself, in myself. Now, this pasuk combines a few mitzvahs. Lo Sikon Velo Sitor. By the way, first I'll tell you, in the Tshuvas Yakhin Yisrael, anyone know who wrote the Tshuvas Yakhin Yisrael? Former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Zolz ein gezunten shtark. Rav Lau, in his Tshuvas Yakhin Yisrael writes the following. Vihafta Lereakha Kamokha and Kamokha Kavana Kamokha Mamash Elo. There it is. Love your neighbor as yourself. Doesn't mean literally yourself, like yourself. Kamokha, like yourself, or Kamokha, literally yourself? When he says, "I am he." He says, "Let me finish." Birayon Nifla, Anema B'Shima B'Shem HaTov. He ends with an insight of the Khelik Elokah B'Shem. Umeduyak Balashon Mitzvah Zoo. Lefei Haklala Midotav Demoded Kakh Modedim Lo. We have a rule, the way we act is the way that God acts with us. Hayima Adam Mekabel Skum Sefer Panim Yafos. Eino Metzaer Et Khavero, Kovea Itim L'Torah, Sameakh B'Simkhaso. Do we greet others with a positive countenance, dispositions? We smile, are we warm and welcoming? Do we feel the pain, sympathy and empathy? Are we happy? Can we forgive others? Only Allah Kolan, on top of everything else? Omed Liyemino Bekhamatzo. Do we show up? Do we stand by the side of people in every situation? Zokho Et HaAdam, Bekakh Hakadosh Barukh Hu Misnaheg Imo. We want Hashem. Hashem is a reflection of us. Hashem is our mirror. How we interact, how we behave, what part of ourselves we give to others is how Hashem interacts with us and says of Lao in the name of the Bashem, that's what it means vihavta l'rei'acha kamocha. If you love your friend kamocha, that's what Hashem is going to do to you. The way we interact with others is how Hashem will interact with us. The mitzvah is vihavta l'rei'acha kamocha is totsa mikiyum hamitzvah. You hear the Bashem? Vihavta l'rei'acha love your neighbor. Love your fellow Jew. Love even the ones you don't like. Love. And when you do, kamocha, that's how Hashem will treat you. It's a whole new way of understanding that possuk. Nice, no? Beautiful. Vihavta l'rei'acha kamocha ki keshes shechina kodesh baruch hu zehu kamocha. Kidargas kirvas shel adam el Hashem yitbarach kach kirvas hakodesh baruch hu elav. Our closeness to Hashem will determine and dictate Hashem's closeness to to us. Now, this this possuk is complicated. Lo sikom v'lo titol, don't take revenge. Don't take revenge. At the core there's a beautiful Sefer Hachinuch. Sefer Hachinuch says mishorshei hamitzvah, the root of this mitzvah sheyehei adam mitaleh libo ki kol asher yikreh mito It's an amazing Sefer Hachinuch on this possuk. Lo sikom v'lo titol, never ever ever take revenge. What's the difference between two lo sikom v'lo titol? You came to your neighbor and you said, "Can I borrow your food processor?" And they said, "No." When your neighbor comes to you and says, "Can I borrow your blender?" Lo sikom means don't take revenge by saying, "No, you can't borrow it." Lo titol means don't take revenge by letting them borrow it but saying, "I'm not like you. You didn't let me borrow the food processor, but I'm more than happy for you were borrow the blender." Two separate prohibitions. One is don't take revenge by not letting them. The other is even if you do let them, don't remind them or highlight that you're different than them. Lo sico lo sitor. But the general rule is don't take revenge. One does the safer explain why not? Revenge is sweet. Revenge is sweet. Somebody harms you, somebody hurt you, somebody injured you, somebody insulted you, somebody degraded you, somebody made fun of you, somebody defamed you, and you got the chance to get them back. You got a chance to take revenge. Sweet. So why does the Torah say you're not allowed to? I would have thought what's the reason for this mitzvah? Don't be a man of all. Who are you? You know, be a mensch. Be bigger than that. Be better than that. Treat them kindly. Be above that. It's not what the Torah says. Says the safer explain me shashe hamitzi. You know why? Because if something happened to you, maybe that person was the shliach, the conduit through which it happened. But it was only the will of Hashem. You weren't meant to have that food processor. Somebody dinged your car? Don't take revenge against them. Because your car was meant to get dinged. Now, the safer explain is clear that you're allowed to, of course, be made whole. You can seek compensation. If somebody's harmed you or injured you, you're allowed to take them to a din Torah. You're allowed to get payment for whatever they did. But that's There's a big difference between being made whole, defending yourself, and taking revenge. The moment a person seeks or takes revenge, they're knocking God out of the equation equation. They're saying what happened to them wasn't from God. I have to tell you, baruch Hashem, hasn't happened often. But as a public person, as a community leader, you get people who can post things nasty about you online. Many years ago, once a time, people put things in most of the mailboxes on Tory Circle. There are things that can hurt. They they they you feel them in your kishkes. I learned the safer when I was going through one of them and it entirely changed my attitude, my approach. It helped me heal and let it go. Because instead of focusing on who did that and what can I do to get even with them, you start saying, why was I meant to experience this and what am I meant to learn from it? But don't get me wrong. We'll find out who that person is and >> [laughter] >> but to take revenge is to focus on the person and to attribute all that happened to them as if God had nothing to do with it. But we as people of faith are meant to interpret and understand everything we go through, everything that happens in life. I can't believe that person sideswiped my car. I can't believe that person this happened, that happened, the other happened. Okay. Collect their insurance information. If necessary, take it to a din torah. We have to do what we have to do in life. But never with an attitude of revenge. Why? Because whatever we went through is what was meant to happen. And all of a sudden now we can process it and experience it entirely differently. That something that happened was for our own good. We're meant to learn and grow from it. It was by design. It wasn't random coincidence or chance and we don't blame it on some other person. It's an incredibly important safer. I wish there was time to read you the entire thing inside. We need to feel it. Yargish v'eitan a leebo. Feel it and place it in our heart to know that it's all coming from Hashem. That's why it says the Mashgiach of Don's cycle. That's why it's also on the heels of the last pasuk. Lo sisna es achicha bilvavecha. Don't hate another person in your heart. Lo sikom. Don't take revenge. Meaning, if you come to hate the person in your heart and you want revenge, it's because you think it was all them. God wasn't part of it. But the moment you realize God meant this day for you to go through that experience. Something nasty was posted online. Someone embarrassed you in public. Who do we learn this from? David Hamelech. David Hamelech was insulted horribly. And his advisors said, "Let's kill him." Shmuel ben Gera. And David Hamelech said, "No, I was meant to be embarrassed. I was meant to be insulted publicly. It wasn't him. Hashem chose him to be that messenger through whom it happened, but the message is for me to get and not and not and not to blame that individual. It's a very powerful example David Hamelech set for us, and that's what we're meant to follow the Sicha Malchut but there's one last question on the Sicha Malchut. On the one hand, the possuk says you're not allowed to get revenge, and on the other hand, whom do we describe as somebody who's almost consumed with the pursuit of revenge? None other than God Almighty. Keil Nekamah Hashem veyinkom leineiynu all of Av Harachamim which we say even during Tisha B'Av when we bench Rosh Chodesh, even if there's a simcha, why? Because it was written for the Crusades, the martyrs of the Crusades. And it applies in our time, too. That's why Moreinu Rabbeinu Shlita paskened throughout the three years of the war, Av Harachamim was said, and we followed that in our shul. Even during times where ordinarily you don't omit Av Harachamim, we said it. As our people were martyred, as we lost holy soldiers, kedoshim, we continued Av Harachamim. And what do we say in this tefillah of martyrdom of Av Harachamim? Yizkor heim Elokeinu letovah. God, remember them, shaar tzaddikei olam. Veyinkom leineiynu nikmas dam avadecha hashofuch. And God, remember them and take revenge, avenge their blood. Ki dam avadav yakum venakam yashiv letzarav venikisi damam lo nikisi. Nikmas dam avadecha hashofuch. Over and over again. Two nights in a row here in the galus, we open the door, and what do we call appeal to God to do? Shfoch chamascha al God, pour out your wrath, take sweet revenge. What do we say in Halacha? Shulchan Shavuot Hadash We call God the most kill big run on the head of the people of the Adam la sos. Nakam bagoyim. La sos ba mishpat kasuv. God is the God of revenge. So which is it? Isn't there a prohibition of lo siko? Or is God a God of revenge? Which one is it? Which one is it? I think this is important to learn and remember today Yom HaZikaron. Which is it? So the first writes The Yinkom Yizkarem Listen to the first. The one factor which more than anything else has protected us from being the from the base impulse of vengefulness is constituted by the recital of these portions in our prayer book which teach us that we must leave all vengeance and retribution for that which others may do to us to none other than Hashem. Throughout its long existence the people of Israel sorely tried like no other nation in history has borne again and again the most outrageous atrocities, maltreatment, cruelty without ever raising an avenging hand against its foes and oppressors and without ever attempting to work retribution upon the peoples and rulers who had unleashed upon Israel their excesses of fanatical inhumanity. The reference here to the statements throughout our sacred literature with regards to the promises and reassurance that Hashem will bear reserves himself the exacting of retribution for every ill that we have suffered at the hands of our foes is only due to our trust in the validity of these promises that we found the strength to submit to murder without ever becoming murderers ourselves. We are able to defend ourselves and fight for ourselves but never lower ourselves to their level of looking for revenge. How and why says the first? Because we have faith that Hashem is the one who will take care of all of our business. Hashem will get it all done. Hashem had to avenge Hashem Yikom Damam. It was only through these tefilos that in the midst of a populace that derided, hated, and mistreated us we could maintain loyalty to the rulers of the land to which we have been dispersed to keep alive within our hearts sentiments of human sympathy for their peoples. Our appeal to Hashem have helped us remain human and kind. Our commitment to losicum, where do we find the courage to have the commitment to losicum? It's because we have faith that kill the comos Hashem, that Hashem is the one who's going to get it done. Hashem is the one who gets it done. Um, wanted to get to a lot more in Kedoshim. Let's try to hit on one or two last ones. Perky test pasuk lamed gimel. Let's go to what the fair schmool. Kriah gorit chage ba'artzechem losonu perky test pasuk lamed gimel 19 33. When there's a stranger who lives lives with you losonu oso. Don't taunt him. Don't aggravate him. Don't aggrieve him. Don't aggrieve him. Why? Cuz the pasuk goes on as achi kemi al achi ya'agareitchem, make him a citizen, welcome him. Vi'ahavta lo kamocha. He's giving me some maritz mitzrayim. Be loving, be welcoming. Why? Because you were strangers in mitzrayim in Egypt. You know what it was like to be a foreigner, to be an outsider. It's the fair schmool show bear bam writes here inyan ger ein adaf ki ger mamash. When we talk about a ger, we're not talking about a convert. even is gayer el akol isha bami makam rachok. Here the Torah is telling us anyone who comes from the outside, who feels like a stranger, gam kein nikra ger is called a ger. Ger is the opposite of toshav. A toshav means a resident, comfortable, fits in, belongs. Ger is the outsider, the immigrant, the person feels like a stranger. V'yesh b'chol tzibbur zeh l'karvo she'hu kamocha echad mikem. What this means is make him or her like one of you. Lo kamo is zar. Don't let them feel like an a stranger. Ke'azrach mikem ya'ager gar. U'k'ma'achein and show bear bam learns from here. Bachur chadash she'magia l'yeshiva. A new kid comes to the class. A new bachur comes to the Yeshiva. A new person tries to join the shul. A new person moves into your neighborhood. Tzrichim l'karvo b'yosuv b'chol minei ofanim k'dei sh'yargish noach b'Yeshiva Chadasha k'mo sh'ar talmidim k'ezrach mikem. How do you make the person feel I'm a long-time member of BRS. I've been going to the school forever. I've been working here forever. I've been in this Yeshiva forever. Make sure they have a seat at the lunch table. Make sure they have a seat in the shul. Make sure they get invited for the Shabbos meal. Sh'lo yargish k'mo sh'hu ger. Because we knew that what that was like. We understand what this is like. Yosef HaTzaddik in Parshas Vayeigash es ha'am avirah mimitzad Gush Dan ad Mitzrayim ad Katzei Ha'Aretz. Rashi writes, lo diya chashiv k'shelo Yosef sh'nisgav l'hasachir b'me'achav sh'lo k'mo sh'ar am golem. One of the things that Yosef tried to do when his brothers came to Mitzrayim was to integrate them. He had a tremendous welcome committee and buddy system. He made them feel not like strangers and outsiders, like they didn't belong, awkward. He made them feel like they were there. That's this mitzvah. That's the Torah's telling us about geirim. We have modern-day application. It doesn't just mean the convert, who this certainly applies to, who's trying to navigate very often awkward, complicated situations. That convert, I would say, an extension of that is the baal teshuvah. We have in this room, we have in our community, we have among the Jewish people, you know, we have sitting here, you can't pick it up on the camera. We have a page turner. And we list, we have the incredible Weiss family and others who keep people on the page. And sometimes, from people from other neighborhoods, I won't mention which general area geographically, will at best ask about it, often be cynical about it. Yeah, what kind of shul page turner, what are you doing, what are you announcing, what's going on there? I explain to them, if there's one person in the room who doesn't know what page we're on, and you know, we don't know that experience. You want to know that experience? If you're Ashkenazi, one time go down with this fire dome. You want to know that experience? If you're in Rome, don't go to the Chabad, go to the Rome shul that is still fire and you don't know what page, where they're up to, what's happening here, what's going on. You'll know what it's like to be an outsider. You'll know what it's like to say, "Can someone show me what page?" But I'm embarrassed to ask. Do we stand? Do we sit? Does everybody stand? Am I supposed to be What's happening right now? Do you know how horrible a feeling that is for someone? I don't know what page we're on. I don't know what they're saying. I don't know if we're supposed to stand or sit. I don't know what's happening right now. I'm just imitating others. No idea what that's like. No idea what that's like. We have a page turner. If one person doesn't have to be embarrassed, is able to see it and know what page they're on, therefore can daven and feel like they belong, what a mitzvah that is. At what expense? At what cost? Just for putting up a page turner? We're getting the renderings of our new shul this morning. We're still finishing. It's going up. It's building. With Hashem, we're going to be in November. Part of the conversa- Where are we going to put the page turner? How could you have a shul that people can be in and don't know what page you're on? You can't have such a shul. I don't care how frum you think you are, how far you think you've come, what you're trying to prove to whoever you're trying to prove it to. Isn't it more important that every Jew isn't a fulfillment of this pasuk? Ki agur itcha ger. Somebody has the courage to come to a shul who hasn't been there before, who didn't grow up that way, who doesn't have the education. Do we begin to understand the courage it takes to come across that door? We don't begin to understand the courage it just takes to come on that campus. We shouldn't make it as easy as possible for them. Do everything that we can for them. Page turner the least of it. The least of it. Be welcoming. Have a seat. Hand a sitter. Offer to show the page if they look like they're uncomfortable or don't know what. Tell them what you've done. Ki agur itcha ger. If somebody lives here, that's what you got to do. That's what you got to do. I don't want to embarrass people in this room. There's somebody who started out later in life coming and somebody else said, "I see you use a little They recorded for them the davening. Here's what we sing. Here's how it goes. Listen when you want." I just did it for you. You don't have to. You have it if it'll help you in your davening. That's a fulfillment of this mitzvah. That's unbelievable. Cuz we know what it was like and we were there. And that's what the Torah is telling us. And it's not just talking to the kid in Yeshiva. That's what Shmuel Baron Barta for Shmuel is directing it to. It's talking to every one of us. Adults can be bullies. Adults can be unwelcoming. Adults can fall into cliques. Adults can be callous. Adults can be sarcastic about page turners much worse than children. Sometimes they get it much faster than we do. What a mitzvah. What a beautiful thing. Even though there was so much more, we will leave it there. And uh may we pick up next week. Please stay for tillum. We're still davening. So much to daven for. We'll finish all safer tillum. Everyone takes a booklet. It'll take just a few minutes.