Tomer Devorah with Rabbi Avigdor Miller's Commentary 12 Chapter 6 Ki Chafetz Chesed Hu Hashem De

Shalom. We are learning to devor number six. The character of mercy of Hashem. The sixth level. And that is who for he desires kindness. Sounds like a very important character trait to have to desire kindness. Now let's see what is the ultimate desire of kindness is this mida has two meanings. It means hashem desires to do kindness that is his principle in the world as it says hashem wants most of all to do kindness in this world. If you ever have a doubt what Hashem really wants, he wants kindness. Hashem wants kindness in the world. He wants to give. He wants to do good. Means the world was built for the purpose of kindliness. Everywhere you look, the whole world is that's meaning number one of God desires kindness. But there is another meaning that is in accordance with and not contradictory to the first and that is he when we desire something when we want something that means we want it from others. That's the second meaning. Hashem desires from us. Hashem wishes others to have kindliness in them. It's the second meaning that we're going to speak about now. We explained this elsewhere. The Rabbi Cordov now is speaking. We explained it elsewhere that there is a certain sanctuary in the spiritual world where the malahim are appointed to take all the kind deeds done by people in this world. There are special angels appointed to collect and bring up to Hashem all the good deeds all the kind acts of people and Rab explains in the spiritual world just like in the physical world there are different places those spiritual places are even more real than the physical places in this world physical Physical places may be destroyed over the course of time. Islands are wiped out or drowned. Even a continent may be destroyed. But a heal a sanctuary in the spiritual world is forever and ever. If one of these places in one of these places the angels store deeds of kindness like in a bank. When a person does a kind deed, the malim put away and carefully deposit it in a certain place because it's precious to them and because it's going to become useful later. That means when we have an opportunity to do kindness, we shouldn't just be thinking about that moment and say, "Nobody's going to notice. Why should I bother?" The Torah tells us you should do the kind deed happily with enthusiasm with desire. Why? Because that kind deed is going to stay forever on your account and not only on your account is going to be displayed prominently in front of you as it says and kindness will walk in front of you. That's the verse. Kindness will walk in front of you. Anything we do will be publicized will be advertised forever and ever across the universe. it as it says that if Yehuda when he offered to take um Yseph out of the pit, if he would um know that his deed is going to be written in the Torah for all to see, he would pick Ysef up on his shoulders and he would run with him to his father. When people realize that their actions have a long profound effect forever and ever and everyone will be able to see their actions and their thoughts, what the intention was, we would right away become better people and we would approach every day of our life with more enthusiasm and more excitement. So Malahim deposit all our good deeds in a special place heal and they keep it there in the bank. It's saved up forever. Now, Rabbi Cordov continues, "And should the rules of justice bring accusations against Israel, and therefore they may deserve some form of retribution, immediately the angels take out that kindness and show it to Hashem." and Hashem is compassionate upon Israel on account of that act of done by that person or community. So our kindness, our deeds, good deeds are actually our defense, first line of defense before any damaging angels come. People often ask, "Rabbi, what can I do to protect myself and my family from?" The best thing you can do, we're learning now, is do kindness. Whenever you see something can be done, do it first. Don't appoint someone else. Don't complain. Just quickly run and do it. Why? because you are acquiring a bulletproof vest for yourself. Every act of kindness. Whenever there is a judgment against a Jew, the angels right away bring all the kindness that he did and they show it to Hashem and that forms as a protective barrier in front of the person to protect him from all accusers and all damages because that is Hashem's mida. He desires kindness and therefore when he sees kindness he loves it. When he sees that a Jew has kindness, he removes all trouble from him. Hashem has mercy on the Jewish people and as soon as he sees that we are kindhearted, he does not bring retribution upon us. Actually, Rabba says this is nothing new. We say every day Hashem will answer you on a day of distress. How the verse continues, he shall remember all your min offerings and accept the fat of your ola offerings. This doesn't only refer to corbanote. Hashem will remember all your offerings to him. How will Hashem protect you on the day of distress and answer your prayer? When he remembers your offerings, when he remembers your self-sacrifice. When you gave of yourself to others. Self-sacrifice is not only from us to God. Self-sacrifice is also from us to other Jews. When I give of myself to others, I offer to God. I bring a sacrifice to God. And then Hashem will remember those offerings on a day when I need help. When the author said that acts of kindness are stored up by the malim, it doesn't only mean the kindliness one person does for another. Kindness also means acts that demonstrate good mid. That means that besides physically doing kindness to others or with your words, I can also behave in a certain way that will be considered good. A simple example, someone annoys you and you can get angry inside. You're not doing anything to the person. You're not saying anything. You're not even looking at them. So there might not be actual kindness done but inside of yourself you are bringing an offering to God. Why? Because you're saying I can become annoyed. I can become angry inside of me but I will choose to stay calm. I will exhibit within myself good character trait of trusting Hashem, relying on Hashem and um staying calm, not being affected by what's going on around me, but only having a direct contact with God. And when God is in front of you, there are no worries. For instance, we say Hashem is he remembers the kindness of our forefathers Abraham and what kindness did they do? Hashem remembers the kindness that they did. Did the forefathers do to Hashem? Hashem remembers, "Thank you, Abraham, for doing kindness to me." Hashem says, "Thank you, for doing kindness to me. Thank you, Yakov, for doing kindness to me." How can you be kindly to Hashem? What did Abraham and Yakov do to Hashem? It refers to their acts of what does mean? We learned in that doing things beyond the letter of the law. They did things more than the law requires. Our forefathers did things that others didn't do, things that were not popular in the world. And that is called doing kindness to Hashem. Of course, they did great deeds of too. They invited guests. They helped. They fought for others. They protected others. Defended them. They welcomed guests. But besides that, all deeds of spiritual virtue are called. Whenever you control your character, you calm down your emotions and you say, "I'm going to focus on Hashem's presence and his guidance." You are doing means I'm doing more than what common people are doing. I'm going beyond what the norm is. That is called everyone gets angry. I'm not. Everyone pays bad for bad and I'm going to pay good for bad. Everyone is stressed and I'm going to stay calm. Everyone relies on their own success muscles and money and job and I'm going to rely on Hashem. When Hashem sees a special quality of character or a special good deed, these good deeds will have the effect of withholding or stopping retribution that might otherwise be deserved. And that is called doing kindness to Hashem. Why this is called doing kindness to Hashem? Because Hashem wants that we should have a relationship with him. If we are just going about our own business, minding our own business and caring only for ourselves, then we're not having a relationship with Hashem. If I learned how to control my anger because it pays for my be business, I'm going to get more customers. I'm not doing it for Hashem. It's still good, but I'm not doing kindness to Hashem. But if I say, "Hashem, I'm doing it for you because you want it." Then the kindness that I'm doing, the good deed that I'm doing, the self-control that I am showing is for Hashem. The sages say the Satan accuses especially at a time of danger. For example, when a man is crossing the street and just then a car happens to be turning the corner, it's danger. He could have waited until there was a group of people crossing the street or when the light turns green for him at the crosswalk. But he crossed all alone and was in danger. Whenever you are in a group of people, there's less danger because merits of everyone protect you. Hashem will not punish a group unless the entire group deserves it. Immediately the Satan sees his chance to have the person punished and he accuses him. He brings up the wrong things and these things happen very quickly at a computer speed you can say. So the Satan brings up all the wrong things that the person did. In that instant the malahim run forward with some good deed that the person did and say master of the universe. Look this man once did something good. He once came early to pray. Coming early to pray is working on your character. Pushing yourself a little more than usual. And that is considered kindness to Hashem. He was the first one in shu or he said a friendly word to someone who was depressed. Most people would just pass by. They'll say, "It's not my business. I don't want to get involved. I don't want to ruin my own um spirit." And um I don't even know what to say, so I don't care. But he went out of his way and he said, "Hashem, I'm doing good for you." And he smiled at someone and he said, "Hello, how are you?" And the angel rushes to the potential scene of the accident and prevents the accident. Then Hashem says, "I am I desire kindness. Whenever I see kindness, I'm excited." And in that moment, the car misses him by half an inch and he is rescued. All this took place because of two principles. First, when there's danger, the Satan, the accuser comes to accuse, to do his job. Second, even though this person might be generous and good, if the Satan says he deserves some retribution for the wrong thing he did, the person is in great peril at that moment. If he had not put himself in a place of danger, it would have been easier. So we have to make sure we don't take unnecessary risks especially when we take those risks for a wrong reason. If we take a risk because we are trying to do a mitzvah then a certain higher amount of risk is permissible. But if we're doing we're taking the risk in order to show off in order to um do a sin, God forbid, then those risks themselves become a sin. Not only we're trying to uh gain approval of people which is wrong but on top of it we're taking risk in order to gain it. At that moment Satan comes and says this person is doing a sin. He doesn't deserve to be alive for showing off even for such a thing and he's in my hands. He already put himself in danger. There is no protection. I will just let things go the way they're already going and he's going to die. God forbid. Satan is happy. However, the good thing that he once did is presented by the malahim. And when Hashem sees it, he says, "If that's the case, let him off this time." And the protection is flying and defending the person. The driver all of a sudden decides to press on brake. Even without seeing him, he just gets inspired to say, "You know what? I'm going too fast. Let me press on brake." And he misses him. And he says, "Wow, Hashem saved that guy. I was about to hit him. I didn't even see it. And I pressed on break for no reason. It was God who was guiding my foot." Now, Rabbi Cordova continues, "And even though they are guilty and they deserve retribution, if they do kindness to each other, Hashem has pity on them." Like what took place in the time of the temple's destruction. as was said to Gabrielle, the angel Gabriel, come between the wheels of the heavenly chariot because Gabrielle is the minister in charge of carrying out judgment. And he has the power to do so. And at the time of the destruction, Hashem gave him the power to accept all the accusations against our people. The time came for destruction and Hashem already dispatched Gabriel. Gabriel Raber explains is a mala of gur of strength who is sometimes used to carry out acts of retribution of punishment. At the time of the destruction of the temple, Hashem gave him the power to accept all the accusations against the people. Without that power, he couldn't do it. No one, not Gabriel and not Satan have power to do anything by themselves. But Hashem sends them as God's messengers. Hashem said, "Because now is a time of destruction, I'm going to allow you to listen to all the accusers. Each one will accuse Amy Israel of sinning. And you can listen to them and take vengeance for their sins between the wheels of the heavenly chariot from underneath the kuruim and from the fire of the altar. All this is a mashal but it's a mashal that's worth studying. Gabrielle was commissioned to burn down the beta mikdash holy temple. He had to take fire from the misbehdash. To us it seems like the Babylonians or the Romans set fire to beta mikdash. But in reality it was the mala that sent the energy, the power of fire. And all of a sudden, a person was inspired to pick up a burning torch and walk and touch the wall and the wall started burning. However, the heavenly chariot was standing between him and the misbeh. So, he was permitted to go underneath the chariot to duck underneath the wheels and take fire from the misbeh. It's a mash allegory. It didn't really happen in that way. There are no images there. There are no um actual wheels or chariots or or actual physical fire. It's a mashal but it gives us an idea that it was a special privilege given to him to take fire from the misbehd. That is the judgment of the power of royalty which could do such things. And the judgment became more and more powerful and more and more fearsome because Gabriel was now commissioned to destroy and he had the power to do so. When we say this is the judgment of the power of royalty, we mean the kingship of God, the royalty of God. When when someone does something against the king, the king has the power to punish. And therefore, when Hashem acts as a king, he acts with royal power of judgment. And now Gabriel has the permission and the power to destroy. And once he was given the power to destroy, he didn't want he didn't only want to destroy the beta mikdash. He wanted to destroy the entire amra, the entire Jewish people to overthrow the whole foundation of Israel because the nation was guilty and deserving of destruction. We are reading this during the three weeks a time to learn and study why the destruction took place and how the destruction took place. We are not to blame. Not the Romans, not the Babylonians, not not the Germans. We are to blame our own actions and the judgment process that goes on in heaven and the um punishment that is decreed, written and sealed and given over to the angels because the nation was guilty and was deserving of destruction as it is written. Suddenly it was shown to the Kuruim a shape of a human hand from under their wings. The Kuruim didn't have hands. They had wings. But suddenly a human hand appeared under their wings where it had been concealed. That hand was a sign that Israel give sidaka. The hand was a giving hand. In the last moments before the destruction took place, they were shown that hand indicating indicating that Israel are givers. It's always good to give. When you give the image of your hand giving will be in front of the throne of glory and whenever judgments are passing by that hand is going to come out and Hashem says that hand supersedes all accusers. That is what Hashem said to Gabriel. Stop. They do kindness to one each to to each other. I'm Israel. The Jewish people do kindness. Nobody gives as much to the poor as the Jewish people. It's an open fact. The whole world knows that Israel, the Jewish people are more charitable than anyone else. For example, they raise money to help poor brides get married. People come from the land of Israel to America to collect funds and they raise a lot of money. Many people in Israel get letters from America with checks. American Jews perform a great function in helping the poor talid Torah scholars in the land of Israel. large sums of money are raised to provide Shabbat food for the needy here in America and in Israel. So, Hashem said, "Am Israel has a hand and that hand is going to save them." And even if they were guilty,