Ki Seitzei — The King in the Field

so there was this couple in their 90's who moved into the assisted living and from the debt from the day they arrived the manager of the home noticed how the husband was speaking to to the wife every time he spoke to her darling this sweetie that honey baby dolly and the manager you never he never saw something like this so when the wife was at her physical therapy appointment the manager went over to the husband and he says how long have you been married to your wife he says we've been together 70 years he says Wow and you still speak to her that way honey sweetie baby darling dolly he says I want to be honest can't remember her name okay so I actually what I heard someone mentioning or I heard in the murmuring before just a moment ago before we started class and once it's all a new class it's so exciting right a new class anything new is exciting so on your honeymoon to say honey sweetie baby darling dolly it's new it's fresh it's exciting it's to be expected but after 70 years of marriage just to say honey baby sweetie darling dolly it's a little bit harder why am i speaking about this right now we're in the month of Elul and I want to talk about the month of Elul and then at the end we'll tie it into the parsha which is keysight's a clay dish Ellul the month the Hebrew month known as aloo is the twelfth month of the Hebrew calendar there are twelve month twelve months out of the year so it's the final month of the year and it is known as a month for counting and stock taking and teshuva turning over a new leaf and on a practical level that makes sense because you know it's the end of the year it's just before a new year and I think I heard somebody once say about a low repent early and beat the high holiday rush right so on a practical level it makes sense that we're stock taking and we're looking into penitence during this month but on a mystical level there's an even deeper significance and that is we know that all the different times of the year and the Jewish calendar have different energies each each time has a different energy and different times therefore are propitious for different modes of serving Hashem like for instance the energy of freedom of setting yourself free from limitations and constraints in your service of a Shem that would be on Pesach right or you know hidden miracle seeing the miraculous in in in nature that would be poor him right and so on and so forth every holiday has its special energy and Ellul the whole month of Elul has a special energy in that it is a time the kabbalists say of his galas you'd give me to Soraka mean it is a time of Revelation of the thirteen attributes of mercy so it's not just that it's the end of the year and we're doing stocktaking it also happens to be an exceedingly propitious time for stock taking and penitence because there's a revelation of Hashem mercy which means it makes it easier anyone who wants to get a new lease on life will find it easier will be able to ride the wave so to speak of that energy that's available during that month okay now the question is being that you'd give O'Meara soraka mem the 13 attributes of mercy are exceedingly lofty there are very lofty level of spirituality to the extent that they can even provide forgiveness for having failed in adhering to Torah so in other words the the level of divinity which can forgive you for going against Hashem's will has to be an even higher level than Hashem will or I would say a higher level of will there's the will that he wants you to keep the the Torah then there's the will that he wants to forgive you even when you didn't keep Torah so it's a very high level what that happens when the world has that energy available you would think if you knew anything about Jewish time and how Jews mark time if I were to tell you there's this pocket of time happens to be a whole month but there's this pocket of time where this incredibly high lofty level of divine energy is revealed in the world based on everything we know about Jewish time and the Jewish calendar what would you guess what would you assume would be the status of such a chunk of time but when we have special times what do we do or a phrase the question differently what do we not do when there's a special time when we have a yum tough huh melaka we don't do labor why it's very simple when there's a special energy in the world we don't want to be distracted with our everyday stuff because it all we want to maximize we want to capitalize on the availability of this special energy so anytime this special energy in the world like Anna Anna Anna yump if we refrain from the ordinary from the Hoyle and we delve into a spiritual mode so we can focus just on that energy okay and being that's the pattern throughout the Jewish year the question becomes how come the entire month of Elul is hoyle it's mundane it's a regular there's no Yom Tov I mean you have Shabbos for Shabbos is unavoidable every seven days but you don't have a yump if you don't have that cessation from Malacca like think about the next month after elbow which is tisha day it's all Young's if you ever had to work at a you know a non Jewish company and Tish today and explain to them how many days you have to take off and we're in Italy I said you just had a holiday last week I gave another holiday so how come ll is this special time where you have the Ujima Matusow document the 13 attributes of mercy revealed there's this special energy where if you want to do teshuva and you want to start your life brand new it's exceedingly easy and and yet we continue business as usual we stay in the fray of our day-to-day lives yeah this energy that exists for us needle to repent and cut into that be there is therefore we need to have a greater energy of Hashem wanting us to do his will so you need to be doing yeah yeah I hear you so the we have to be doing his will but you know it could be like a young tiff where his will is like Hashana let's use that as an example so we have we have a mitzvah of shofar in Rosh Hashanah so we could be given a mitzvah to do we could do something for him but it could be a holiday type observance and this there's no holidays and there's no special mitzvahs and those special observances but if you wanted I get hint to at all already about I better before I explain to you or decode it for you I mean I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna tell you the parable so well-known parable but it's worth sharing it's a parable from the altar Dabba from the ballot Anya in Lakota Tara harsh yesterday and it's about a king a king who is returning to the capital city where his palace is located and he's heading through the field you know outside of the walls of the city there there are fields there's open areas and once the king will get into the city and he'll go into his palace if you want to see him you need an appointment and not everyone will get an appointment do you have to be somebody you have to have credentials however on the way to the city while the king is still walking through the field anyone who wants can just walk over to the king and they can even make requests of the king and without any special preparation you walk up to the king in your regular work clothes and your regular work mode and the King receives you with a smiling face and a cheerful countenance so what's that a metaphor for - metaphor for ll that when the King gets to his palace that's the High Holidays and in order to go approach the King when he's in his palace and the High Holidays you need to really be worthy of it but if you can catch the king before he gets into the palace when he's walking through the field then you can approach him where you are right now the outer debe uses this parable to explain the contradiction of the month of Elul is a low an ordinary time or an extraordinary time by the way I'm gonna give you a tip any time in Judaism we ask is it a or is it B the ants will be C yeah okay right like the husband and the wife they came to the raft to complain about their soul and bias issues first the husband said his his side of the story the rough said to him you're right the wife said hold on what about my side he says tell me your side she says her side in the rough says your officer right and the ROVs own wife the rabbit soon was walking by she overheard and she said they can't both be right he said you're also right took it but the idea here is paradox paradox is a very Jewish concept if we say something is one thing or the other then it's limited okay godliness is infinite it's unlimited and that's why often very often godliness will express express itself in our lives as a paradox as something that cannot be limited as either/or so I'll ask the question is ll an ordinary time or an extraordinary time it's both yes yes it's both and that is the essence of teshuva that is the essence of teshuva anybody can say honey baby sweetie darling dolly on the honeymoon when everything is fresh and everything is new so everything is exciting and precious and you don't want to taint it whatsoever you want to preserve it and keep it pristine when you're in a special situation or a new situation so it's easy to be sensitive extra sensitive teshuva means that even in my regular day-to-day life even in the situation that I've been in thousands of times before and maybe have become numb to and I lost my sensitivity there in the same place where I lost my sensitivity I become sensitive again in other words if you say that I'm feeling especially sensitive to godliness to God's will because I'm in an unusual or an extraordinary situation that's not to Shiva because that doesn't mean I've changed that means I'm in a special situation but if I'm in a regular day-to-day situation that I've been in thousands of times before and yet I'm behaving differently I'm thinking differently I'm feeling differently that means that I have changed I have become a new person which is the essence of teshuva I remember rabbi dr. torski Ajay Twerski so he said in the Rambam and Maimonides it says that about teshuva is a new person he's a new person he's not the same person what does it mean that somebody adequately did teshuvah that he repented he's a new person so rubba dr. tor ski said he never completely understood that notion until he was sitting in a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and he heard a guy who'd been sober for many many years sharing with the group and the guy says the man I was used to drink the man I was will drink again thank God I am not the man that I was another word that person that I used to be he still does the things that he did the reason I don't do those things today isn't just because I didn't get around to it you know or I'm even being careful not to do it I'm not the same kind of person I'm not that I'm not that guy I changed that's why I don't do it I don't do it because I've changed what I desire I've changed what I am attracted to I've changed what my priorities in life are I've changed what what what matters to me and consequently my my behavior is also different that's the essence of teshuva I am a different person today so I'll tell you a story there was a closet in Crown Heights and abdomin Gary I love Shalom and he was once going on a business trip and he headed to JFK and when he got there he found out that the plane was cancelled it was an international flight there were no other flights that day and they were they were rebooking him on the next flight which was tomorrow so I don't know if anyone ever heard of the Evolve rub your hoo-ha closet but the server the will and testament of Abby Hoda a closet has different customs that many people are stringent to keep one of them is that if you leave the house for a trip you shouldn't go back to the house unless you've actually gone on your trip so a burger re was at JFK the plane is cancelled he's not gonna be able to fly till the next day so he had a question is he allowed to go back home or if necessary maybe he'll rent the hotel next to the airport as ridiculous as that would be instead of going back to Brooklyn and then he'll fly out the next day so it wasn't sure what to do so he called the Lubavitcher Rebbe is Secretariat and he asked the devas chief secretary about how to cough what should he do in this situation so MIT had a cough told a burger re to hold on one moment and he came back on the line and he gave over the instructions from the rabbit he said you should learn a chapter of Tanya and then go home because if you learn a chapter of Tanya you are no longer the same person you were so when you go back home it's not you going home it's a new person who hasn't yet been there so it's not considered going back it's like you're there for the first time so that's what rabid growl he did he went to a basement dish and he sat down he learned the chapter of Tanya then he went home slept for the night and the following day he set off for his trip before he left the house in the morning he gets a phone call he answers it and it's Robby how to cook the rebbe is chief secretary and he's sort of surprised to be getting this call a bit had a cough says to rabba Gary the Deborah wants you to know as dose was air hot Kazakh Knapton this what he told you what he said yesterday he meant this literally when I was due results da snitched on them and else glyco Verito you shouldn't take it as a cute what do you say like a pithy or acute statement in other words the devil was saying it's not a trick it's not a you know a gimmick when you learn a chapter of Tanya a person does teshuva and teshuva means you're a new person literally so whether you say the man I was used to drink the man I was with drink again thank God I'm not the man I was or you say I learned a chapter of Tanya well however you want to phrase it the point is the definition of teshuva is my situation can be the same but I am different in fact you want to know according to Gomorrah and poskim and consequently in halakhah the definition of teshuvah when you have to ascertain whether somebody did to shiver generally speaking to shove is between a person and a sham and other people are not really involved in it but let's say it's a situation where somebody lost the trust of the community and we want to know whether they can be reinstated let's say the classic example is like to be responsible for the costs of food and the person had lost the trust of the community by you know God forbid doing something wrong in that area so how do you know the person did to shovel so the sages say when he's in the exact same situation as he was before and he acts differently so basically what are we saying the paradox of ll that ll is both ordinary and extraordinary is the essence of teshuva the essence of teshuva is can you say honey baby sweetie darling dolly like you're on your honeymoon but you're married for 70 years if you speak like you're on your honeymoon when you're on your honeymoon anyone can do that but when you can do it when the situation has become old hat when the newness has died down that's the essence of teshuva I'll tell you even more it's not just being able to recapture the sensitivity in regular situations but it's also regaining sensitivity where the sensitivity was actually destroyed not just that something became passe enid BK and lost its luster but that the sensitivity was actually destroyed what do I mean by that the sages say that autumn hovered of ash on an icy lake ejeta that if a person sins and sins again then that sin will become as if it's permissible to him what does that mean it means that if you never did a particular sin that red line is really really really clear all you have to do though is to cross that red line once and already you start to lose the sensitivity then you do it twice forget it then it's like it's not even prohibited so that's what the sages say if a person sins over the shona and repeats the sin nasa-like ahead there becomes as if it were permissible and the Bali masseur go as far as to say and if he'll do it a third time it'll become as if it's a mitzvah he'll convince himself he's doing a good deed that's what I mean by destroyed sensitivity when we go against the program that Hashem set for us we lose the sensitivity that's supposed to keep us safe that's supposed to keep us spiritually connected and that's very dangerous I remember I was a teenager my parents had work being done in the house there was the subcontractor this electrician and he was in the in the kitchen standing on a like a stepladder and he was messing with some wires in the ceiling and I saw him connecting the wires and then he started shaking so like very very abruptly violently he started shaking so I heard it out did you just get shocked and he's like maybe I don't know I said you don't know he's like no I'm not yeah I'm could have yeah I think he just played it off very casually I said doesn't it hurt he says oh well yeah it used to doesn't it hurt yeah yeah you still it used to so what do we do what are we describing when we say lost sensitivity we don't just mean the regular wear and tear as time goes by things become less exciting we even mean the loss of sensitivity where sensitivity was actively destroyed by crossing red lines and and losing our innocence the question is can can even that be restored if I crossed the red line and I lost my sensitivity can I recapture that sensitivity and the answer is yes absolutely you can and in fact that is and on an on an even deeper level the parable of the King in the field of Elul there's a minor civic discourse from the rabbit with the rabbit connects the Malik Masada the King in the field which is a parable from from the altar above the ballot Anya that ever connects that with a with a teaching from the Tanakh Sadek the Tamar said it was the third Habana the the grandson of the altar Abba the term ascetic explains the deeper mystical meaning of something from this week's parsha from Harsha's key say it say in this week's parsha it describes a situation about a betrothed maiden who is attacked and it describes the setting and there are legalistic reasons why it describes this setting this way because it doesn't actually literally mean this setting it's for the sake of building a legal principle but it sets the attack in a field the ambassador am sorry she's not as an item a row so if in the field this man will find this betrothed maiden the heck Sigma her ish and he grabs hold of her and he violates her the tamaki addict explains this story is an internal story that's going on inside each of us this is actually happening within us we are the ish Hosoda and we are denied a home a raza the man of the field and the betrothed maiden we have two souls we have the animal soul which is self seeking once pleasure comfort this is called the ich heiße other the man of the field then we have the godly soul which is precious and pristine she's the betrothed maiden and who is she betrothed to pleasure she's Hashem's fiance the godly soul came to the world for a mission a mission that she's supposed to do for her her fiance fer for Hashem but what happens she enters the Sud that thus others the field the field means this this world Balaam Haase the physical world which is full of temptations and distractions and confusion and in the sada in the field the animal soul the lower base self the each Hosoda grabs a hold of the knight emeritus of the betrothed maiden and forces her to do what she doesn't want to do because when the godly soul is in the body and the animal soul is calling the shots she's being dragged around through all these experiences that she doesn't want to have but the verse continues and says it's not her fault she's innocent in the matter she's not to blame the precious godly soul was not complicit it wasn't her fault she was sent to a world where she's plunged into a body that body is full of passions and and and and and and what a boiling blood and and and the body takes the godly soul to places she doesn't want to go but in the end her fiance her betrothed the King Hashem himself knows that he knows that she's innocent and therefore when he comes to the very field where she was attacked by the Isha sada how does the King react he doesn't say look what you've done look what trouble you've you've gotten yourself into will recall that in 2019 victim-blaming King doesn't say that the king says it's not your fault you did nothing wrong you're innocent I still want to marry you so that ever comes and connects the Alta devasting with the term ascetic teaching and explains Malik Masada the king in the field doesn't just mean that the king accepts us when we're in our everyday work day attire that's one level but in an even deeper level the King accepts us the King still wants us even when we've been dragged through the mud we can still become renewed so I want to ask you a little astrology here anyone here likes astrology you know yeah what sign are you leo last month I'm a Gemini and I don't believe in astrology because Gemini's don't believe in astrology you get it it's a deep joke a Gemini is the twin so it's a contradiction so it's a contradiction to say you don't believe in astrology because your astrological sign dictates that you shouldn't believe in Australia at any rate what is the sign of Ahlul voila Virgo very good the maiden remember what I mentioned at the very beginning there are 12 months of the year what number is a low 12 isn't that counterintuitive and I told you there was a month called batula called maiden you would think that's the first month second month third month but by the time you get to the twelfth month come on you know think about how holy we are during the High Holidays and after a few weeks a few months I mean some people make it you know half a year but by the time you get to the end of the year come on you think you're so fresh you think you're so innocent but that's precisely the message of elel that's precisely the message that you can always renew yourself you can always make everything as precious and pure as it was the very first time no matter what you've been through so I'll tell you a story from my bhabhi Ella solemn and then I think we'll wrap it up there was once a collar a an immigrant girl who she got engaged and I'll tell it the way my Bubbe used to tell it because this is this is the way she told it there was the Acala was from the greenhorn family and the hassan was from the more Americanized family right the family had cut you know the what the real americans the ones who came like in you know the 1890s and then you have the ones who came like world war one that was the way my Bubbe used to tell the i mean i think it was semi-autobiographical to tell you the truth at any rate so she got engaged and the countless parents invited over the prospective in-laws knocked on him to come over and have dinner and this poor immigrant girl they don't have a lot of money but they wanted to impress her future in-laws so they made of turkey what else you know Anna and they wanted to show how American they were right they made it turkey they baked this turkey you know to bake a turkey as a whole day production takes hours and hours they baked the turkey and the crowning moment of the dinner was going to be that the caller was gonna walk in on this with the turkey on the silver platter and place it down at the head of the table with her groom-to-be watching all proud and she walks in and she's holding the silver platter with the turkey and she trips and the silver platter goes flying and the turkey topples to the floor without missing a beat the college mother says darling it's okay pick up the turkey bring it back in the kitchen and bring out the other turkey bring out the other turkey so that's that's the the lesson of ello is that no matter what happened no matter what the disaster was if you want to ride the wave of the special energy of this month you can have a whole brand-new turkey you know you can have a whole brand new you you can become a new person or like I heard somebody once say that you can start your day over any time you like and if you're having a bad day you can start it over anytime you like and I and and and Ethel is you could start your year over you could even start your life over any time you want you'll be brand new fresh pristine anytime you want especially especially now when the the time is ripe okay thanks for coming to this brand-new fresh exciting new class let's see if people stick it out