Israel Shall Dwell Alone, Be A Kingdom of Priests & A Holy Nation with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] Shalom everybody welcome back to the as I would say the but we are not we are still guests in Era where we learn here every single morning well not exactly every single morning but Sundays through Wednesdays and you're invited if you're in y to join us uh I just want to mention before we even get started a few very important points number one this is a big repetition and that is for those who are listening and they should know where to find the original Hebrew sheets we think it's very important to learn the original Hebrew so the sheets look like this without the colors and you can find the link below where you could um access the original Hebrew sheets for pares kosim according to the clear where using the clear as the basis for our discussion and it would be great if you followed in the Hebrew uh also previous classes there are links to previous classes also in the description box where you'll find a link to the Hebrew sheets as well if you'd like to join us um on the Skype call just send me an email and if you would like us to send you the English um sheets that are basically just the sources that we're going to be using in English so you don't have to flip through all the books to find what you're looking for so as I mentioned before we start I just want to mention that we are praying desperately right for the success of Israel over its enemies and there are people who are putting their life on the line and we should have them all in mind not only those who are in the in the in the front lines but even those who are um unfortunately in the hospital uh so we're praying for everybody I just want to mention in today's news right just to catch up in case you didn't know that there's a president of the United States of America in the year 2024 I don't know when you'll be watching this um who is helping us to fulfill a Messianic prophecy as we know billum bam he when he prophesized he really wanted to not bless us but he ended up blessing us so uh some of his words and I'll quote them now because they turned in there's supposed to be blessings in the Messianic times and it says in numbers 239 it sayson which means that this is a nation that shall dwell alone and the latter part of the verse now the interesting thing is what Rashi has to say about that so let me just flip through we said it's um it's numbers 239 I think that you can meditate on I'm only going to go through it quickly because really has nothing it's not pertinent NE well it's always pertinent to the para but it's not what I want to discuss here in the next 45 minutes to an hour so I want you to take time and learn these rashis understand the Prophecies of vum and uh Rashi quickly will say to us soon as I find it it's 23 of B midbar of Numbers verse 9 and Rashi says over there on this verse he says a lot of things but the verse begins from its origin I see a rock like and the hills do I view it behold it is a nation that will dwell in solitude and not be reckoned among the Nations so I want you to hear the the Rashi going back a thousand years ago and he's bases everything on armasaur he's not making any up but he is explaining according to our tradition when billum says from its origin I see it Rock like he's saying I look at their origin meaning from the very beginning of their roots and I see them entrenched and strong as these rocks and Hills by means of the Patriarchs and the matriarchs so our Origins begin with Abraham Isaac and Jacob right Sarah R OFA and when it says behold is a nation that will dwell in solitude that is what their that is what its ancestors earned for it to dwell in solitude now we understand that Abraham was in I and I means they crossed over they they they went over to a different place in fact we left the place of darkness and slavery even for them because there was a vodar there and Abraham came to a place of spiritual Enlightenment he came to erit Israel came to this land so it's well documented and the nation will dwell alone and I said there's a president maybe I should I should mention his name we can call him bedin to a certain extent there's there's some judgment involved the heart of the king is in the hand of Hashem I don't think he has uh the smarts and the wherewithal to to make this happen and then at the end listen to this right they will not be recommen reckoned or counted amongst the Nations this is to be understood that they will not be annihilated the Jewish people will never be annihilated with the other nations as it says if not mistaken it's in Jeremiah chter 30 verse 11 part of that verse says for I will affect Annihilation among all the nations but the Jewish people are not counted amongst the Nations when it comes to being annihilated our verse alludes to the fact that at that time they are not counted with the rest of the Nations that's right we are not counted amongst the rest of the Nations and one should not be upset about that Rashi brings an alternative explanation when they are rejoicing that means the Jews when the Jews are rejoicing no Nation rejoices with them okay and uh that's based on a verse in Deuteronomy 32:12 Hashem will guide them in solitude Hashem B yinu Yu and when the nations are in a good State I know you're not going to like this uh Mr nonu when the nations are a good State they Israel will eat with each one of them and it is not entered into their account in other words we will consume but let's not go there right now that is the I'm going to call it consolation when we hear news that a nation who we already purchased our ammunition from in order to annihilate our enemy has decided to delay it there will be an accounting as I said there will be Biden okay so let's start with the klear in pares kados which is chapter 19:2 and it says over there speak to the entire congregation him you shall say to them to you you shall be holy and then God says for I am Holy hasem your God interestingly enough what do we see here many times mosha gathered the Jewish people together it seems what we're going to see in medish that when he gathered everyone together people could call in sick it was no big deal you could say I'm not coming today I have a headache or I just don't feel like it no big deal in this para where mosha spoke to call AD Isel every single Jew had to show up had to be there Rashi says this teaches us that this passage was stated in the hakah in the Assembly of the entire congregation because why was it so necessary no excuses you had to show up because most of the fundamental teachings of the Torah are dependent on it on this para now what do we see in this Para the CLE card actually explains how all the Ten Commandments are in this para but there's many other lists of what is important and as we know you should love your neighbor as yourself is also in the para okay we'll see shabas we'll see but you could say that the idea of love your neighbor as yourself is one of the fundamental teachings of the Torah or you could say the Ten Commandments are or you can say various important Mitzvah are encaps encapsulated in the para so let's begin with the clear car that all we read was the verse and Rashi on the verse that we will be dealing with in the clear and he says like this We're translating that as everyone else as what as the entire assembly but the clear is going to take us on a little bit of a detour he says specifically or uniquely or particularly these words call AD every Jew every person of the assembly he says and he brings a gamor from Milla which I actually want to study a little bit with you he says you don't have a congregation what whatever an adah is an assembly of people assembly of Jews with less than 10 and not only that the gor continues there are no words or things of Holiness with less than 10 the Jewish people are called yiden y means yud basically we're talking about the letter Y I'm just going to paraphrase a few ideas here and then get back into the CLE car but why is it so important you come to a bake knesset a sh a synagogue and you see they're kind of uh waiting for the 10th guy to arrive so they can begin their prayers that amazing right they sit down for a meal and they're making sure there's if there's 10 they uh bring out hashem's name so hashem's name is going to be mentioned on a different level when there are 10 people Jews are called yid 10 our actual name besides the whole V I gave over the idea that Yehuda means gratitude that's for sure so we are the Grateful ones we make a 100 bras a day amen but we're called yiden because of this yud what is the yud the yud is like a hook first of all it's the only letter that's not sitting on the bottom line it's raised above so there's something spiritual in nature of the yud it's like a hook and what it does it's a 10 it's the number 10 so it hooks that which is the singular like in in in Arabic numerals that's what we use that's correct 1 2 3 4 up till 9 they're single digits and then we have 10 as a double digit but in Hebrew it's a single digit but it's a hook it's the hook between the singular the individual and the claw and and the community we're going to talk about how important Community is and what that's at least to the Jewish people okay so I I'm really not going in depth I suggest you listen to other shim that have the maal does an amazing job of describing the Holiness and the uniqueness of the letter Y or the number 10 but what we read so far was When God Says Co according to the clear he seems to be saying that what did Moses do he made sure that he spoke to every group it's true not there was no individuals that missed it everybody had to show up and then the last the next line says that's why it says here in our par to each and every group of people sheu you don't have to turn the page cuz yours is all on page that you shall be holy now it's not exactly a command form but it is inferred this is something one should do and through being an A through being a community only then can we invoke hashem's name in the way that we do and I'll describe it really quickly for those who know and been to a sh you're talking about bar you're talking about kadish you're talking about kadus uh you're talking about K Torah you're talking about the blessings of the the blessings of the priest there's a whole list and there's a mishna that describes all these things and I mentioned already benching there's a difference between nine or 10 people whether you invoke aem's name or not because through it through the community we can sanctify God's name and that's why he says an for I am Holy now we're going to see what that means cuz God is going to compare and say he's holy and you should be holy there's something um to contrast and we'll talk about it the next paragraph and be besides this I really want to go into the gamor Milla and it says like this very important so even though the mission just described all these different things you need to have 10 for cre a Torah right Kohan and Bening for with 10 to invoke hashem's name but the gor asks now before I even go into this most of us know from our education that the idea of having 10 people we learned from the Morag there were 12 Al together but two of them were really righteous and that was yosua Bin nun and KY Ben Yuna they were outside of the of the 10 and yet the Torah calls them an a now I think it's very strange and I hope you guys would admit why should we learn from such a Negative Source but when I read this gamorra it's actually double negative because we actually learned first from korak as a gazer Shava gazer Shava is a a word analogy that you can only get from Mount Si that Moses passed on to his students and whatnot so you can't just make up oh well this word says the same same word here and it's the same word there very nice in philosophy and very nice in um trying to get you know an understanding of a word but not in terms of H it only works when you have a m meaning that it was handed down tradition from father to son or from rebi to student so going back to here there's actually a double gazer Shava from Kor then to the morim based on a verse uh in our par now that's very odd that we're taking it from such a Negative Source you'll be happy to hear what the Yami says and then you'll try to understand why we actually ping like the B and not the Rami okay so what do we see here the gorah Begins by saying that from where do we learn these words from said the we have the p in VRA Leviticus 2332 B is right I will be Sanctified keep that word in mind also the word b Isel God says I will be Sanctified amongst inside within is and here we learn any mentions any kind of mentioning of things of Holiness especially when we're sanctifying God it's not to be done with less than 10 but we don't really know the source yet I mean we have a statement but how do you know it's 10 so the gor ask my masma where is it inferred that you're talking about 10 people it's very nice that you brought me this idea so here is where reia brings the gazer sha to to here like we just said in um in verse inra by that's actually next week's para the nikash I will be Sanctified amongst the Jewish people and then over here by the morling they were warned mosha and Aon were warned and and they warned everyone else stay away from korak he he see the word separate yourself from this congregation and then the gor says theia there's another gazer Sha of it's written over there by the how long is this going to evil uh group of people going to be around Mal so too the a is said we just said by the marim we know there were a s there were actually 12 but two of them were outside that would be yua and KH and since a is used over there okay so um here too in here to meaning back in par is korak also used the word a there you know even though korak had 253 people nevertheless a minimum the minimum of an a is 10 so therefore you would know that if you were just amongst 10 people of Bar's congregation you would have to stay away from them that's the the command now interestingly enough there's some very um good comments and I just want to look in the Hebrew the footnote number 18 and number 19 and you know just look at 19 instead because of time and this is very maybe I just say it out loud and and not read it but basically okay I'll read it so this verse is actually hinting that words of Holiness yeah you need 10 like in pares just like we learned in in the the spies in order because this is very important if there were evil people in the synagog we don't kick them out we actually count them in they're part of of the 10 and we're going to see that's why it's very important that the B pkin like that and understands the gazer sha from kak and the morling um now there is a little a little bit of a problem if someone is desecrating shabas in public so there's a whole question and I'd like to just elaborate on it rosha finstein said that would be the limit already there's a limit of what evils one may do and to be considered evil however the Rea so he brings down in the name of REO yov that actually the better Source would be from the Jerusalem talmud ready for this there's actually the word to in in um when in it's in Genesis I know I have it here somewhere actually on the English Source sheet I should have it and you guys with me yeah it's number nine look in Genesis 42:5 so who went down how many brothers went down to Egypt to try to find Provisions they're really also looking for ysep right so obviously ysep wasn't one of the brothers that went down and Benyamin wasn't one of the brothers that went down so there were 10 brothers that went down it says the sons of Israel came to purchase among those who came for the famine in land it was a very strong famine in erit Kanan Lish the word so the way this comment is going to explain it is they actually they had they actually had a um a m as well to to but it didn't according to the Rami it wasn't told which to so the Rami learns from a positive Source these were all sikim they all did cha right they were all on the on the level and they went down to find Provisions to bring back to Yakov and so isn't it strange that we learn by from the Rami so I think what we did see the difference is according to the Rami you would have to say that if you get a minion together you need to start off with 10 righteous people you may not care who comes afterwards or maybe you do but everyone has to be righteous and according to the bavi no every Jew there's a thing called a pin yid and that's also back to the word yud a yid there's a point that's why the yud is the smallest letter it but it doesn't get extinguished like we saw by Bam's uh prophecy the Jews will never be extinguished okay so I think that's enough for the gamorra at this Point let's go back into the clear um the truth is I have to I have to say once once again that there is another um medish that I really want to go into and that's what we're going to see now in this this paragraph it's the second paragraph now on the page I gave you hi Kad Isel prior right the hiim as a pre as a preamble as a preface as an introduction to this para we're being introduced to the idea of the Holiness of the Jewish people what does kadus really mean the word kados actually means separate going back to what we already started with we started with this whole idea that Israel will be an ambad an ambad a separate nation here too just have the idea that and we're going to see what does it mean kadus the Holiness we're going to translate Holiness Tor what happened before M Torah in preparation well first of all in chapter 19 of Exodus verse 6 so the Ten Commandments are given in chapter 20 of Exodus so chapter 19 God tells us you will be to meados you will be to me a holy a a nation of priests we're going to see what the word kohen even means and a go kados a holy nation so just keep in mind with the cleart is saying that there's a like an AR par we already said the Ten Commandments are there they're embedded so he starts off the Torah starts off by saying right kosim to you you will be holy and then it gives us a lot of Mitzvah to do so too by m Torah itself it says you will be to me a holy nation and a I'm sorry a a a a Priestly nation and a holy nation and then you get the the Mitzvah and he says right away kakos they're all embedded in the the the par itself and now we're going to see the the medish so I want to quote from the clear because he doesn't bring all the words and then we'll see the mag itself look in chapter 24 uh the medish 5 Al explains there's this idea of putting first this Holiness why was it so important to say how holy we are I know I know like Jews are um were're shy about when it comes to are we the chosen people or not right I get it we don't what does that mean see if if you understood what it means you wouldn't be so shy about it it doesn't mean that we're Superior it means that we are separate we're special and we're different again I don't want to use the word special I don't want to use Superior is a word used in the Tet to describe us but I'm using the word kados right now that we Are Holy Holy means separate we have responsibilities we have a mission we have a direction forward and we know where we came from backwards so so if you're told that you have more responsibility I'm going to tell you my father taught me she live be live and live and be well that you you you want you want special privileges I said yeah of course he says you know what comes along with special privileges responsibilities I learned this as a young child and I hope that's what it means to be a Jew okay we have some people in the room who are in the process of converting yeah there are privileges but they come hand in hand with responsibilities as we just saidar meaning to say that through the Mitzvah themselves it's kind of like a V not a vicious circle but what would you say the opposite a really good Circle an everlasting Circle in other words God gave us more Mitzvah to give us more Merit so we already made the right choice by being Chosen and therefore we were it was very endearing to us to do the Mitzvah which would only bring us to a higher level now do not ever say that this Holiness is such a small thing I know anybody who's on the outside looking in that's the easiest way right just to say it doesn't mean anything but God himself says that God himself is Holy and he ain't no small cracker either it's a rhetorical question that it should be so small in your eyes you can compare the creation to the Creator but Hashem himself does he says you should be holy and as I am Holy and it's a big big deal so the the rabbi said in the med and we're going to see this any place that you find how did we say the word kados meant separate any place that you find some type of restraining or fence fence against illicit sexual relations irva nakedness but it's it's used in terms of uh the sins uh regarding sex so any place you find restraining or fences there you find kadus get it it so makes so much sense that the word Kad is to be separate but that's where you find Holiness something you already know that the language the very expression of offense it's actually reflecting or teaching an idea of something that's permissible to you according to the law but you're making a fence I just want to go back to the original thing we saw Rashi actually said kadhim to you to separate yourself from that which is forbidden the Raman says actually separate yourself from that which is permissible and he probably gets it from gor yamos which we'll see shortly but the medish actually says it also ALU therefore it says any place that you find some type of a fence of security against uh sexual immorality I'll give you an example so in the Tora we know from so that even a husband who's just suspecting his wife a married woman from being secluded with a man is it's actually a big problem it's forbidden from the Torah for a married woman to be secluded with a man King David in his genius made we're going to call it a rabbi law it's was his base then he put it up for adoption and it was accepted and it's accepted by all of am that even even seclusion with a single woman is forbidden but it's only forbidden mid abundant meaning I don't mean like only as in being lenient I mean that one should know whenever we hear laws we have to know they're from the Torah or they're from the rabbis because it says you shall not add to the Torah okay the Torah does not forbid the relation the the of a single woman but it's 100% forbidden from the rabbis and that is an example of making your making a together making a offence against the irva and that's where you find Holiness as we said anything that is Holiness now Holiness really means separate means separate from that which is actually permissible to you okay just like say that in order to become holy you must separate yourself from that which is permiss ible and the and the clear brings down that the Holiness of a nuer a nazer is likened to a coing gutle amazing he came from a place of contemplation how can I make myself a better person whether I'm drinking too much or I'm too vain I look in the mirror too much whatever his or her right his issue is um this is going to prove to us because he wants to become Holier the truth is at the end he has to bring a sin offer but in the meantime H he has made forbidden to him wine anything from grapes H haircuts going into a cemetery and whatnot so you see from the na a place where you have these fences that's where you find Holiness now the clear says it's also True by matin Torah sh we're counting the days in the OM towards this great and awesome day of the revelation of the giving of the Torah what was told to us to do three days before M Torah in Exodus chapter 19: 16 ALU Elisha do not approach do not even approach your wives you must stay away from them for 3 Days the truth is it also applies to the women um I just look at number eight is that right no no no no no I have it here somewhere look in the sore sheet oh look in number seven where it says Exodus 19:15 he said to the people be ready for 3 days do not go near a woman Rashi says for the end of 3 days right be ready for 3 days so then three days you'll be able to receive the Torah I'm not going to get into this idea that Moses added an extra day that I suggest listening to Rabbi brewitz he spoke about it and I'll try to put the link down below this is the ra the view of rosi who says the Torah was given on the 7th of Sion which it probably was on that particular year according to the one that says the Ten Commandments were given on the sixth of the month however Moses did not add anything I want to go to down to the next one do not go near to a woman to have intimacy with her for all these three days of preparation in order that the woman May immerse himself herself on the third day and to be pure to receive the tar I'm not going to get into this but anybody there's aware of what a um the um the gazer of Ezra hoper was in terms of men going to the Mikvah after relations the same thing would apply for women and I'm not going to go much more into that but basically says like this if they have intercourse within 3 days a woman could involuntarily emit semon meaning the semon that was injected into her by the male after her immersion and become unclean again so therefore she would only uh immerse after three days after three days have elapsed since intercourse however the semon has already become P putrid and is no longer capable capable of fertilization therefore it would be pure when from contaminating uh from the woman if it would become emitted if it would exit her body okay we're almost at the end of the clear and I want to go into the medish I it's so fundamental what we do here that you should hear what the medish says the last thing we just mentioned that God said right told Moses tell the people to not approach your wives remember their wives are certainly permissible to them do you realize the Jewish people are very holy people they separate from their wives for x amount of days per per month of course this is only uh at certain periods of time during her life and it also says in chapter 18: 6 which deals with all the lists of forbidden relations do not approach to reveal the the nakedness so what does it mean don't approach it's the approaching it's only the approaching that brings to the ilicit relation so if you can hold yourself so to speak control yourself from the very beginning you don't get to step two okay this is a fence and a a type of offense for a against illicit sexual relations so too by the coim the coim are limited in who they can marry and some type of desecrated Woman these women are certainly permissible for a regular Jew like myself to marry but not for a Coen a and remember we're called meaning Hally as in in reality it's only the co nether uh restricted in terms of marriage but the whole concept of elevating ourselves to be a go kados we are obligated to create these fences as it says the con himself is obligated to have these fences um and forbid himself even though a regular Jew is permissible it's permitted K because theim are on a higher level okay so the Jewish people are were on a higher level now the last three or four lines and then we're going to get into the medish it says kadim to you so our verse says K you shall be holy there is an inference this is a a command it's not an actual command it's more of a but anyway he says you can feel a sense of a command as well as as well as just an explanation we already saw that verse in chapter 19 verse 6t you in Exodus 196 you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation this is a fact so too hm is actually informing the Jewish people of the great reward if you make separation from sexual immorality if you build these fences against the the sexual immorality that through this that through this you will be holy to your God so God says to us to be holy he wants us to be holy so when we look at this medish it's Ina it's 245 so this is based on our verse speak speak to the entire assembly of the Jewish people I'm going to stick stick skip the Hebrew we're just going to try to go to the English because except where it's necessary so taught this portion of the Torah our portion kadoshi was stated at the Gathering of the entire Jewish people we're going to see why is that important as I mentioned in the beginning when God gathered all the people together when Moses gathered all the people together in other times one could get out of it they didn't have to show up but here they had to show up okay because most of the basic laws of the Torah depend on it and we saw those words but now we're going to explain them if you look down in the footnote 50 Below usually when God directed Moses to transmit a new law or a portion of the Torah first right he said speak to the children of Israel by the way how did it work God told Moses to speak to the children of Israel but first Moses was taught by God and then he taught he taught Aon and after he taught Aon then aon's Sons came in so he taught it a second time and then he called in the elders and then he that was a third time and then when he called in all of Israel but again it was only who wanted to learn that lesson you weren't obligated to go every time Moses spoke it was only certain times he gathered everyone together and people had an excuse we call a hall pass here nobody could get a hall pass okay so here when it says speak to the entirely assembly of the children of Israel which indicated the entire nation was to gather together to hear the teachings so the mid would seem to be speaking here of verses found in Leviticus 19 but not necessarily 19 the rest of 19 20 20 already have a new statement Hashem spoke to Moses saying but over here speak God says speak to the entire assembly so the question arises wasn't the entire Torah taught to all of Israel we learned in the gamar in aravin as I mentioned that after learning from the almighty Moses taught first to Aon then to aon's sons and then to the elders and then finally to everyone else so there's different opinions by the commenters uh to this question so the first opinion the safer zikaron and the gurar write that when Moses taught this portion every individual had to be present when he taught the other portions individuals could absent themselves if they wished the m mrai writes that when Moses taught the other portions meaning in the fourth teaching he taught all the all the Jews he didn't teach all of Israel but rather to one group at a time and that would fit in well the clear was talking about or all of the you might have speak to all the different groups at different times but today you have to speak to all the groups however came the current portion he had to teach them all together and the third suggestion may be suggested that unlike the rest of the Torah which was taught to all of Israel only after it had already been taught three times to smaller groups this current Torah portion was taught the first time to everybody not split up to Aon his sons and the elders but it was taught the first time to everybody now there's another statement that we need to look at what does it mean that this has within it the most basic or fundamental laws of the Torah they're all the that the Torah is dependent on so Source 51 for that reason the Torah portion was given the special honor of being transmitted in front of the full Gathering of the Jewish people alternatively it was for that reason that it was critical that all of Israel hear this portion together rather than separately so what if you heard it separately what can you always do you know when you come back you're Kus you say I heard this and you say I heard that but if we were all there we all heard the same same thing you can't really argue about that so if a doubt arose as to what Moses said no group would be able to say they did not hear what another group claims to have heard we were all there you can't get around it the mahu umin inumin enumerates what does it mean basic laws they refer to here as observing the Sabbath honoring the parents refraining from robbery not taking revenge or bearing a grudge loving your neighbor as yourself which we all know is major principle of the Torah and um it's tantamount to the entire Torah says it's t and whereas the rest as explains to the convert that's what he says basically in different words but that and the rest is commentary it's just an elaboration the rest of the Tor is just an elaboration of it um it says here look at the Insight now this is unbelievable I happen to have a particular I'm not even not even sure I can call him a student yet but someone who has approached me and asked me a lot of questions um when he heard that if you want to convert you have to move to a Jewish Community he was a little bit upset he he couldn't understand why and I think that I failed to communicate to him I tried my best to explain and I think he he appreciated some of my answers but I think if you're listening that this will do it more Justice what does it mean he says it's a portion for the public that's what it means kadim to you and he spoke is so it's very important that the public here in its plain sense our midis sees the public transmission of this Torah portion as a tribute to its singular importance many comment s however find various shades of symbolic meaning and that's we're going to go through a whole list so theur notes that the San feature of this portion is its first directive kadim the fundamental Mitzvah which enjoins us to raise ourselves above the vanities of Earthly life it's sometimes mistaken as a mandate to withdraw completely from Human Society right people think I be holy I'll sit on a mountain top or I'll go out into the uh the Amazon I don't know whatever and be on my own and meditate and I'll just become a perfect human being without any friction without any interaction this is how I can really become great so not true in fact it's it's precisely the high-minded members of the nation those wise enough to reject society's mindless pursuit of wealth honor comfort and pleasure that God wants to live among and be near the the people so they can teach guide and Inspire them admittedly this might come to some at some spiritual cost right the righteous person sitting on that mountain meditating by himself oh yeah he come real spiritual and if he descends the mountain and is involved with everybody else of course there's going to be a cost but if they mingle with the masses for the right reasons they will find themselves able to interact with the people on an everyday level while abstaining privately from unnecessary pleasures and conducting their lives their inner life on a much higher plane in short the Mitzvah to be holy is not meant to Splinter the nation or its communities by encouraging people to live in isolation no no no it was to drive home this point that Moses brought the entire nation together then before communicating this P Torah portion in this way he made clear that to strive for Holiness the Torah way one must remain part of the Community because most of the basic laws of the Torah in terms of their fulfillment by the people depend on the existence of close ties between the nation and its leaders there's there's a lot but there's some really important points and I hope you'll listen to the end because one of the most important points it's just a few minutes the Shar Sim focuses more broadly on the first verse of the portion which commands us to be holy because holy am I Hashem your God the implication as the ramban explains is that God wants us to be holy because he is Holy and if we are to cleave to him as he intended for us we must acquire a share of his Holiness success in this endeavor however cannot be attained by one individual working alone for two reasons first if one's contemporaries are leading Unholy lives their negative influence will evitably affect the righteous among them to some degree and prevent them from reaching the Lev level of P Perfection they seek it's for that reason writes the SCH the Kesh that the talud says about one Sage that he was worthy of having the divine presence rest upon Him meaning of experiencing prophecy but he lived long after the prophetic era ended except that his generation was not worthy of it he was worthy of it but the generation was not a second idea that this is this there is the Torah principle of arvus arvus means all Jews are responsible for each other which holds every Jew responsible for the spiritual well-being of every other Jew according to this principle and I would say drum roll please but there's no tables here that that according to this principle the blame of one Jews sin is shared by anyone who could have prevented it by raising their spiritual awareness of that individual or the community at large it says in yosua in Joshua aan it says we know that after the lottery it pinpointed it was only him that sinned one person sinned and yet the verse says Israel sinned and we lost 36 soldiers in the in the war at I right after uro happens to be that the question what did he actually do besides thie he was he was a thief but he also it was also in Shabbat okay in this manner it is possible for an individual Jew who's free of his own sins to nevertheless be sullied by the sins of many other Jews so you might say oh I'll just sit on the mountain why should I be sullied either way this tor this Torah portion theme of Holiness Perfection and the closeness of God's presence is not meant for individual Jews first of all it's a community effort when if you're I'm not preaching here like if there's a bunch of Sinners and I'm innocent if I don't confront you if I don't give you rebuke if I don't help you know the proper path that's when I'm responsible the Mitzvah to when you the Mitzvah of giving rebuke specifically says in you give the rebuke in order that you are not going to carry the person's sins so when once you have the ability to give rebuke and you do give rebuke that's when you're not not you're no longer responsible okay the shame Mish highlights the importance of Mitzvah observance in the pursuit of Jewish Holiness as it says in it doesn't have the verse here but you shall perform all my Commandments and be holy to your God aside from this basic message that performing The Commandments renders one holy as we spoke about makes an additional point with the small but significant all it says you shall confirm all my Commandments I want you to understand I have run into these Christian missionaries they say how can you be a fulfilled Jew you can't do all the Mitzvah whether because there's no Tempo whatever they don't know what they're talking about right it says here right God says you shall perform all my Commandments and be holy to your God that's true so how do we do this you right you do this you do a few Mitzvah and I do a few Mitzvah and you do a few mitzvah it's not it's not a little thing that I'm talking about many mites are only for men some mites are only for women some are only for Farmers some are only for coine some are only for lean some are only if you want to get a divorce you don't have to get a divorce right there's like there's very specific Mitzvah that are only for certain people certain time there's NE God never intended one person to full all0 613 and yet we're told that the body itself has 613 different parts 248 bones parallel to the positive the dos and 365 negatives they're going to be parallel well don'ts parallel to different sin and muscles in the body and organs what are we talking about here that's the human that's like the that's the collective of the Jewish people I mentioned before how Hashem has 72 three-letter names there are 72 names of God 72 three-letter names of God you will find them in the splitting of the Sea and the song of the sea in in uh Exodus 14 verse 1920 and 21 it's the only place in the entire Torah that you have three consecutive verses with 72 letters so how it works you take in verse 19 the first letter verse 20 you take the last letter and 21 the first letter and that is one word that's one of God's 72 holy names and you do again the second letter of 19 the second from the last letter of 20 and then the second letter from the beginning of 21 and that's the second name verse eight sorry the 18th name we all know the famous verse that the Mitzvah you shall live in them this is what gives you life and you should choose life so you shall live in them the Mitzvah are to live through not to die for but to live for and I say this to anybody who's out there who's willing at this point who might be secular and say you know what I'm going to come to the defense of the Jewish people I'm willing to die for the Jewish people that's a tremendous level but you can live for the Jewish people you can do mites while you're alive amen so don't hold yourself back I appreciate that you're willing to die for me so the 18 high is 18 life itself the 18th name of God of the 72 letters is clear c not the CLE car but CLE is in is the way the Jewish people live through the Mitzvah is through a conglomerate through the very fact that we have a community from the very fact that you do some and I do some and he does some and she does some it's only through that we're him we're truly a CLE we're truly a a vessel in which we could perform the misses here what he says to achieve complete Holiness one must sanctify every part of his being all 248 limbs 365 sinus the key to reaching this goal lies in the 248 positive Commandments and 365 prohibitions Each of which is designed to perfect and sanctify a corresponding part of the human organism but how does one perform all these Mitzvah it isn't possible because many of them apply only in specific areas eras or only only to specific people or groups some are for Kim some are for lii some are for israelim some are only for men others for women yet others are for Kings or judges you know there's there's laws just for Kings as you all know there is but one solution I would say drum roll please again but there are no Tables by attaching Yourself by attaching oneself to the Jewish people at large one can benefit from sanctifying influence one can benefit from the sanctifying influence of the Mitzvah performed by other Jews it's true that one Jew sinning is going to affect me how much more so if one Jew performs a Mitzvah it's going to affect me uh as I lost my place um and it follows then that complete Holiness requires close ties to the community a strong sense of belonging to a unified Nation what do we have every flag only through Unity we will win this has to be in our kishkas in the deepest uh recesses of our minds our soul our body okay make it a reality how to figure out to continue this uh this Unity well Biden had a little bit of an answer for us right so he's making sure that we're going to live alone when you're living alone with a bunch of group of people you you know how much you need them so let's continue this last Point here um it follows then that complete Holiness requires close ties to community a strong sense of belonging to a unified Nation to emphasize this requirement the toal portion on the subject of Holiness was given to an allinclusive Gathering of Jews no exceptions nobody had a whole pass nobody can get out of it um I do want to read just the next few lines I think it's important then we'll end Rak of n for discerns another message in the public transmission of the Mitzvah to be holy people tend to think this is what you were talking about Yuda that Holiness is a privileged state of being accessible only to the rare individual willing to lead a seced life devoted entirely to religious Pursuits but that is not the torah's you and conveying the mandate to be holy God says to Moses speak to the entire assembly of the children of Israel say to them you shall be holy clearly this Mitzvah is meant for everyone its fulfillment does not entail the rejection of human society or of normal human life okay so batem um we can incorporate we figure out ways to make sure that we have this Unity at the Forefront of our minds figure out way ways to make sure that it it's real to us to start with and that we have ways to continue it if you need to make a get there make a fence to uh to help keep the Holiness in your life and your community's life and uh with that I will say I'm looking forward I'm sure we all are to the rebuild to the Gathering of the Exiles should be happen soon in our days not just words but re Mish reality the building of the B mikdash of course the coming of mhia which probably precedes all that but we won't know who he is until after he has accomplished that soat we should see that this coming week and um I wish everyone a shabbat shalom of course and a um a great life and we'll see you next week [Music] oh