Parshat Beha'alotcha: Life Lessons from the Pesach Offering - Rabbi Yitzchak Botton

today we're going to be talking about something very interesting idea in the Torah it's well known that the tour is not always written in order now in safer by mid bar there's an interesting parsha in ballot aha so in ballot AHA there's somewhere in the middle of that parsha the Torah kind of goes back in time so let's point it out let's show you how that works exactly if we look at the beginning of the safer up amid by when the book about by mid bar starts so it starts with the opening verse to the entire book that says that viable ash ml Masha and God spoke to moshe be mid Barcena in the desert of Cena in the Sinai desert in the tent of meeting boa noite bay ahad la chodesh Husseini on the first day of the second month again nissan is the first month er the second so it was real rush chodesh ER in the first day of the second month bhishan aha shane eat on the second year let's say Tom ads with sign from when they left Egypt and give over these things that we're going to talk about now but when I think into the details of obviously they counted the Jewish people there but that's not really what we're going to focus on we're gonna now jump to bump below daha in the third alia it has a very similar opening verse will read it slowly so we could try to figure out exactly where it's different it gets here it reads ye barish ml mache amid Bobby me bar scene I that God spoke to moshe in the Sinai desert passion ah chane it again in the second year let's say Tom Elliott resign from there leaving Egypt back chodesh how is shown this is on the first month lameo so what's different clearly the book of a mid bar starts off on the second year but in the second month further on in the story we go back to the first month of the second here so it's a month earlier we go back a month and the commentators really talk about why there's the toggle out of order this is profound in the Gomorrah in Madras the city actually you know which is a tonight source but it's a the Midrash huzzah so the sea free asks a question on this but there's also a cloud from the Gomorrah that you know there's not there's no real order and mook damn aur mohabbat or there's really no rule that the tour has to be in chronological order there are times when its out of chronic chronological order and here's a case of it now most agree that if it's going to be out of order that needs to be a reason because really we should follow a general order it's a sensible way to tell a story from beginning to end why should I jump forward to then jump backwards so it's something should warrant a switch like that and here too that's what the city deals with is trying to address why the Torah changes order so let's look at this if we're a she brings us this if free so we don't have to go looking forward so but Rashi brings it on the spot so let's look at the sea free and then hopefully we'll make sense out of all this this is a free reads like this parsha shavuos a fellow nomura idea the story talked about at the beginning of the book of bum it bar didn't happen until ER which is again the second month of the year from there we learned that there's no real order in the Torah the mother to Shane say they moved on Oh mohabbat are we and that's a there's no real sailor it's no real order but now they're going to ask vila velha potaka so why didn't the book of by mid board start with this story which happens on rosh chodesh nissan why not so it answers napishu who ganute on shelley's well because this parsha that tells us about the rosh chodesh nissan is very embarrassing to the Jewish people it this story is comes out that it will embarrass us and therefore so I chev did not want to start the book about me bar was something that would embarrass us okay now what was so embarrassing so we continued shkole alba in china show you his album it bomb because for the entire 40 year period the jews were in the desert Loic llevo ella pesach Zee Boulevard the Jews only brought up one korban pesach so what comes out is if we do it a little bit of a clerestory clarification when the Jews were in Egypt before they left right so God came to them on the tenth of Nissan and said you should all take a set take sheep or goat I believe and prepare it to be a Corbin pacer and of course that made a lot of trouble because when they went to take to buy these animals that's what are you buying it for and they said boldly to their hosting you know they're people that were taking advantage of them until now we're taking it to sacrifice to our God now in Egypt they worshipped these animals so it was a big test for the Jewish people and it was a you know a big thing it made so that's the tenth and of course on the fourteenth before pesach the first you know the 15th when we left so on the eve of the 14th everybody ate the pace acha offering we slaughtered it on the fourteenth and we ate it the night of the 15th in the morning of the 15th of Nissan we all left Egypt so the first korban pesach took place in Egypt now what was the plan so the tour actually writes that when we go to Israel we should continue doing this idea of sacrificing a pacer offering and having it on pacer but it specifically mentions when we go to Israel the gamera talks about it in the condition so now what was the original plan we were supposed to go to her ce9 get a Torah now if we had not sinned with the golden calf we would have been in Israel way way way before the next pesach would have come about we would have been in Israel and we would have got a corpus of an Israel so that's fine the Torah took care of that but after the sin of the golden calf we stuck around in the desert and really the next year rolled around came called rosh chodesh lease on which is again would be the year almost a full year from when we left Egypt and I Shan tells Moshe Moshe go and tell the Jewish people that they should start getting ready to do the korban pesach in the desert and he does and they do it the whole there's a whole our ecosphere the story there was some people that were contaminated and we're not able to do cope and pasted they felt left out so they went to Motion said Moshe why should we be lacking why should we be left out everyone else got to do it Simone she said let me ask a shed what he says and I sham comes back and says you know sham said you can also do it and from there coming forward there's a whole new parsha in the Torah called Pesach shany meaning Hashem say will make you can make up the equipment Pesach a month from Pesach you can now come and do this Pesach shany and that's all talked about over here and now interestingly what does the story end so at this point also the Jews should have still been in Israel the next year but instead of coming to Israel the next year we all know the unfortunate you know ending before when the spies went to spy out the land they came back and spoke bad about the land and it was decreed on all of college trial to remain in a desert for 40 years total now so the third year from when they left Egypt meaning the second year that they were in the desert so let's put ourselves in their place what do you think happened when the third year came so remember they did korban pesach in Egypt they also did come and pay stuck in the desert a year before because Moshe told to do it the actual tour itself says you should do it when you get to Israel so a third year old around it was the third year and what do you think they did did Moshe tell them to do it today real did they figure out on the run that they should do it none of this happened and the rabbi's explained to us you know from the sea free but there was no korban pesach in that third year and that turns out to be a very embarrassing thing for the Jewish people very embarrassing so the next 30 some-odd years there were no Corbin old and when did we begin again to do cabo case not only much much later in Israel and so what happens is that the story of the korban pesach becomes a an element of embarrassment for us it's something that the tour does not want to say in the beginning of the book of a my bar now let's just appreciate the beginning of we spoke before the beginning of each book talks about something very positive it wants to show how beautiful the Jews people are how great we are how much hashem loves us and the special relationship between a smashing so consistent with all of that the tour would have liked to start that's just a story that's going to show us in a positive light and since korban pesach ultimately shows us in a negative light it was pushed off and we have something else in the beginning about my bar but let's explore an interesting idea here what what the city is actually telling us is that in an ideal sense would have been better to start off the this whole parsha with the parsha of korban pesach so let's appreciate what makes korban pesach so special so one could explain like this after so many years of trouble and suffering Egypt and unfortunately for good reason of course but you know God was seemingly obviously only only externally nowhere to be found we got we didn't get the help from him that we would have really from our limited perspective would have wanted instead we suffered children were thrown in the ocean in the Nile River and we were persecuted and terribly by the Egyptians then a sham comes this is okay I you know I I didn't forget my people and I'm here to help you want to take you out things get worse so it's not such a simple story it's not such as you know there are a lot of challenges for Jewish people in Egypt and what do we do a sham says now I want you to take an animal that the URI Gyptian hosts idolize worship putting you in danger but take it and tell them what you're doing and and then I'm going to you're going to sacrifice it and then I'm going to come and take you out we fearlessly and with tremendous faith in a sham just hood to that test and we did that so based on this I would like to explain that really the korban pesach represents the beautiful trust the Jewish people had on a shame and the self-sacrifice we risked our lives we risked our lives challenging the Egyptians which were you know physically stronger than us even though God was doing miracles but we at that point had not yet stood up to defend ourselves once with our own physical strength so here we were taking a big risk going against the Egyptians which were much more powerful than us in their face flaunting the fact that we're going to sacrifice an animal they idolize that I think tells the really essence of the story of the Jewish people in the relationship between us and our chemin how devoted we were to him and how we restore lies as I mentioned and for that reason that is an unbelievable parsha to begin the story of a vomit bartha book about mid bar and our whole following in the desert and how he took care of us in the desert and that would have an ideal but because unfortunately come year three we didn't do it and we didn't do it again until much much later so now all of a sudden it represents something very embarrassing about the Jewish people so it's left out so now let us appreciate what's so embarrassing about it you know according to the commentators it really comes out that there was no real command to do the korban pesach in the desert the command was to do it in egypt and then to continue doing in israel and it was in the desert there was no command officially and that is why I sham himself came to tell us in this second year I want you to do it now some explain that on the third year there still was no command to it so really we weren't really guilty of not doing anything so so the question is what's really so bad what was so embarrassing what did I should really expect from us if he didn't tell us to do it we weren't commanded to do it you know so why is it embarrassing so what I'd like to explain is like this really what do we find in the second year we find that Hashem came and said to do Corbin Mesa and we did there was a small group of people that didn't do it what did they do in response they said that we feel missing we can't live without the korban pesach we wanted to the korban pesach so they came to motion and is can we do it we want to do it and he asked a shame what a shame answer yes now here we see something very unique that is not necessarily something that we would assume is part of a relationship between the king and his people meaning really a king is the boss and we do what the King says maybe it's not so appropriate to come to the mellah can tell them what you want to do king I'm here to volunteer I would like to do this job no king will tell you what to do but I shan't not only our King Sheamus of course also you know our loving father so the fact that I she was a loving father so there is another aspect of what we how we can serve him and how we can draw close to him let's say a child understands that a father had a long day at work and he would love a tea so the child can take initiative it gonna make him a tea and when you make of it and he brings it is can be very happy that you thought of me and you made with love this cup of tea so here to as the finger God's our Father then there's we are taught in this pesach shany the fact that the second group came forward asking and received so that should have been a lesson to all of us that you know what even though that motion didn't come to tell us to do the Corbin let us learn from the people from the year before that when it asked so let us all come together and ask can we do korban pesach and certainly the answer would have been yes so it could be when the city are telling us that it's an embarrassment for the Jewish people so let's really work out how the embarrassment unfolds first of all that group that came forward or ready for their own experience should have realized way let's come forward again but they didn't so that's very embarrassing because they were they already showed last year how desperately they wanted to do it and how devoted they were and they didn't do it and they didn't come forward the next year so the big question is what stopped them why did they not think to come forward the second year so we could say it's a little bit of a negative lesson but I think we need to learn these lessons as well because ultimately turns you to teach us how to make ourselves better so it could be this if you look at the actual wording of the pub the postal code says why should we be lacking amongst the people meaning when they show everyone else do it they felt lacking and that's actually a very it's a good thing the rabbi's tell us that to be jealous of people that are learning Torah and advancing in Torah is good because it'll push you to advance in tour as well he not so for him tahoma that jealousy of the learning of Torah will will increase your Torah learning eventually but let's appreciate what did the rabbi's have in mind when they said that to be jealous of your your Caruso because he's learning better than you he learns more than you is that the ultimate that's ultimately why we should learn Torah no it's going to help you progress but you have to outgrow that eventually really you have to reach a point where you don't rely on the the just because everyone else has it everyone else is doing it so then I feel like I need to have it I need to be doing it and ultimately this group of people even then the next year so when no one did coburn pacer they could have brought their their desire to another level they could have came forward because they felt lacking without being in comparison to everybody else and that was really what they were meant of speaking this hood of this approach to do meaning that since then income for the second year it was embarrassing to them because if they really missed the Corbin pizza so much and they really had a strong desire to do it then they should have come forward the second year but now why should it be an embarrassment for all of the Jews according to what I just explained now we can appreciate why those that small group of Jews should be embarrassed but what about everyone else they didn't come forward the first year so here I think we have a powerful insight into really the whole dynamic of the Jewish people how really we are individuals we all have different twist on things and different attitudes and different ideas and ultimately like a rainbow has all these colors and together the rainbow is so beautiful we also the Jews people are meant to look at each other's positive traits and even negative traits and we should use all of this to help us become better so in that second year when that small group of Jews came forward and said we want to do home and pesach so the embarrassment is on on the greater part of the Jewish people that next year when the next year old around so we're going to ask on them why didn't you learn from that first group why didn't you learn from that group in the first year you saw that they came forward and you ignored it you didn't let that be a lesson to you meaning the Jews didn't learn from each other enough how to become better you know the first year they were embarrassed they felt lacking because they did it well in the second year the time amendments you should have remembered what happened last year and learn from it and that's gonna be one way to appreciate a little bit in depth how why this parsha is so embarrassing so just to repeat we have it all clear on the simplest of levels you know the fact that I xem himself came and told us to do it in the second year so clearly a sham stood back and wait we would react and maybe on an ultimate level we should have come forward you're gonna ask photo why should we have an obligation to come forward if I share doesn't say to do something we don't have to do it so the answer is well the year before that's exactly what happened they were Jews they were contaminated and they asked to do it and they were given a chance to do it so you see they should have come forward the next year and if the second group seeing this experience it in witnessing it should also took taken it to heart and come forward the next year and that's why this becomes embarrassing to the Jewish people with this entire explanation that we have here we can actually answer a very big question brought from the ramp on the rambun explores all of this and in the end comes off with a very big question he says if God wanted them to do the köppen pesach in the third year then why didn't want sharab a new come forward and tell them to do it and he lives he leaves it there is a question shows i saw this answer in one of the sea holt from the lubavitcher rebbe he answers this question in a very nice way and the answer he essentially gives us this since you know he doesn't mention the other things you know it so to speak you know exactly the way I'm presenting them here but but is the answer still applies essentially if God wanted to see what we're made of so to speak he said now it's on you I wanted to come from you nobody wants a one-way relationship you know a husband doesn't or wife doesn't want to be the only one that's pushing to make the marriage work he want to see that someone else cares that the matter should work so here to Hashem said now I'm going to step that I went out of my way to show you that I still love you and to show you that you're still precious to me now let's see what you're made of and we did nothing and so what would have happened let's say motion rain would have came and told us to do it what would it have solved if the whole point was that i shall wanted to see that it should come from our own initiative that hit telling us to do it would be weird only make things worse for example husband and wife were having trouble so if the husband is let's say he's been not giving his wife enough attention not showing how much special and precious she is and so what happens is the a friend comes and reminds him you know you're really not treating your wife right you should do something special and because of that he take her and out and does they do something special so that's very nice but if he lets his wife know where his wife at the center the only reason why he did is because the friend told him to do it is that gonna make things better or worse not gonna make things really better when we do things for a shame we have to do them from the hardware to do them sincerely and so so you see it that wouldn't have helped emotion winner to tell us to do something that was meant to come from our heart and sincerity and for my own initiative so it would accomplish nothing with this we can appreciate really now why it's such an embarrassment and of course the solution the solution is few things we talked about one is that we should look to each other and learn from each other try to let my friend be a someone that I can look at that will inspire me to be better that's only stayed step one step two is ultimately it's about me in a sham when I do for our sham it shouldn't be motivated because someone else is also doing it should ultimately be just because I want to be shaming close to Russia may we succeed in mommy share you know doing rots on a sham michl a moot and may be married to it with all of our hard work the final korban pesach should get back again with me she'd be made a beer menu you