Mishpatim | Likkutei Sichos Vol. 1

Good morning. We are live approximately 10:30 a.m. from the Soulward's house. It's a little bit late. It's singledigit Fahrenheit cold right now. I think it was >> Yeah, I am live. Why are you asking? >> You don't see it on YouTube. Yeah, that's me. It's singledigit cold. I think it's 9 degrees. Anywh who we want to thank Isl for even being here because you got a lot to do for the kinesis right now is the building manager at the office. So he's uh this is his side hustle running the weekly live stream at the soulwards house on Sunday mornings. We thank him for that. Um, tonight by the way, you excited? We have a big event at the soulwards house for men. Well, there are a lot of events for women for, but the men don't have as many events. So, we're doing a fabangan here. That's the yard site of the mushka. Tonight is the eve of and uh we're going to have a fabang. You know who's joining us? Special guest of Manis Friedman here at the Saulward's house. Borash partnership >> in partnership and sponsored by schul.com our good friends at schul.com. This week is Paras Mishim and we have three sikas and we're going to bust it out now. Okay. You got the text? You're gonna get it up in two seconds. Okay. I'm gonna make a in the meantime. Okay. Thank you. Excellent. Yeah. This week's para it says says like this. Concerning all charges of deceit regarding any lost article about which one will allege it is this. The claims of both parties shall come before the judges and he shall pay double to his fellow meaning the guy the guilty guy who made a false claim. Okay. ate a tin is by murang soar explains that this scenario that's in our para is talking about a situation where [snorts] one guy is a shimemer he was the guardian of an object it was kept by him and he made a claim that that object was lost And that claim, that argument that he put forth would have exempted him from payment, from having to pay for the lost object that he was guarding. Now there are different types of guardians. Means a guardian who's not being paid. He's doing it as a favor. He would have to claim that the object was either stolen or lost. by a shame or a paid guardian who has more responsibility because he's getting paid. He'd have to actually argue that there was anus a uh an uncontrollable situation of he made an oath that his argument is true. But then in the end it came out that he was negligent and he swore falsely is. So the the den is like the says here they should come to the judges. He calls him elim to the judges the matter of both of them and he should pay double. He should pay double to his friend. We've said many times, you know, I like to point out recurring themes because it's interesting to me the motifs, recurring patterns here. The Reb himself points out that we spoke about this many times that everything in gal tora and the revealed aspects of tora means the legalistic, the literal, the concrete like a guy watched another guy's ax and and it got lost and he came and or he says it got lost and he came they came to the court. Okay. Anything in also exists in the spiritual realms and to the contrary because they exist in the spiritual that's how they come to be in the physical in the revealed plane. meaning all of these. Yeah. Rabbi Adinisel All Shalom said that anyone who learns Gamorra and he thinks that the axe is an axe, he is the real axe. [laughter] Meaning to say that the axe is a placeholder. Yes, it's literally talking about an axe on one level, but that's the most superficial level. On higher planes, it's talking about higher concepts. And in fact the lower level manifestations are just that. They are lower level manifestations of higher concepts, higher entities, higher realities. So all of these things that we just talked about here, negligence, misappropriating a an object for safekeeping, swearing falsely, and also the ruling that consequently emerges. All of these things that we spoke about, going to the judges with their the matter of the two people, all of this all exists in the spiritual realms. Okay. So, we're going to look at this seemingly very technical, very cut and dried uh scenario and we're going to examine what it means in the spiritual realms. Base is base. Okay. the third of the he explains what all of this means says we're gonna uh give over some of the content of the with some additions means possibly Meaning that's just the style of the way the Rebas speak that when they this is not unique to the Reb but anytime you find when one of the one of the Rebas will relate a teaching of a previous Reb and then add further insights it will often be framed as a possibly meaning you don't want to say it authoritatively even though for us as it is certainly 100% authoritative there's nothing ashure about it Okay. Every Jew has Hashem's picott is an object for safekeeping. You call it a deposit or I don't know what it's called. It's called a picotten. Okay. We all have Hashem's picotten. Thus is what is it? The nama. The belongs to you have to take care of it, buddy. You have to keep it safe and intact that it shouldn't get damaged. Even further, you have to actually elevate higher to the higher than what it was before it came down. Like we know that the nishama comes down as an into the body as a descent for the sake of a subsequent greater ascent. So you are a you are watching Hashem's precious article called the nish and you better keep it not only keep it intact but you better even improve it. Now there's also this pic you're watching is connected also to awah means an oath like our sages say that when has to come down to the embodiment plane it is first administered an oath where does it Say Mashbino says >> Mashino say >> that's right. And where does get it from? >> That's the source. >> That's the source. Yeah, that's right. For them is the source. Where's Where's it come from? Is that the song you use? You are. It is okay. Okay. [sighs] Yeah. Now, what about that next part about any negligence? Any matter of negligence is a which that would mean that he is negligent in taking care of his nishama. And his oath therefore is he broke his oath. He made an oath. He's going to try to be a sadic and not be a Russia. Well, how does that come about? Al Salma. The verse continues. We didn't read this part of the verse earlier when we introduced it, but it says in the original context it's talking about these are examples of the objects that were being guarded by the shy. So as an axe, as a donkey, says a sheep, Salma is a garment like we're going to say later, those are actually different types of animal souls, which bring about the loss, which means that what happens that the godly soul becomes lost. Not annihilated, God forbid. It's not like permanently lost, but you lose touch with it, so to speak. Until he goes as far as to say is what the um one who's swearing falsely says as of who is Zuz means he says about who that is. And we're going to explain in a moment how egregious it is to call who Z. I don't even know what who is. I don't know what Z is, but apparently it's a terrible thing to call who Z. Who? Never say that. It's a terrible thing to say. We're going to explain. Okay. So, you understand? We're going to break it down like this. The picadin, the object for safekeeping is the nama. And the shimmer, the watchman or watchoman is you, the Jew, who's taking care of this nishama that Hashem put in you. And the oath is to the oath that you took before your soul came to this world. And you're going to say and and and what and and and it involves an uh an axe, a donkey, a sheep, or a garment, which apparently are different types of animal souls. And your argument, your count or your your um your your your Tina, what do you call it? Your claim in court, you're going to say, "Que, who's that?" And apparently Q is a terrible thing to say. Let's break it down. Get ready. Get your hand on the trigger. In the true sense of the word means holiness, godliness. You cannot say z about anything nor of only. There's two reasons. There you go. Okay. Z. The word z. You're going to say I call everything z. I'd say I say yeah well you're misusing the WORD Z CAN ONLY BE SAID about hashem and there's two reasons for that one reason als means this is this it is what it is you can only say that is a created being is not what it is. You can't say it is what it is. No, it's not what it is. A created being is the godly energy that's putting it into this state of being every single second upon which it's completely dependent. Or like says, There's no true existence but him. We just learned this yesterday in the when we started. We learned about Hashem is the only true existence. So you can't say z about anything about Hashem because it implies it is what it is. No, it isn't what it is. If unless it's Hashem, Hashem is what he is. I am what I am. Um but everything else it's not what it is. You see a a a table. It's not a table. It's it's godly energy manifesting as a table. Okay. Base. There's another reason why only Hashem can be called Z is do. It's right here. Ven is Ven is unv is men is that can only apply to godliness because you're saying right here and now that could only be said about hashem is because every single created being is limited. It's not everywhere. You can't say about it. At least you can't always say about it. But the word the name of is fluent is common continually on every mouth. Only Hashem who is everywhere. The lesson upon that no place is devoid of him is of miser that he is right here. Okay? Because that means it's you don't say this unless it's here. If you say if so if it's something that's not here, you say that this one. No, that one over there. That one. So only Hashem can only be can always be called this one right here because only Hashem is always right here wherever you are. Everything else sometimes is here sometimes is not. Okay. But the animal soul comes along and says terrible. It says that the who is the Z. It says that velt which does not have its own existence. Velt means yiddish for world. You guys probably picked it up by now. It's it says that this thing that exists contingently is a zah. A thing that that exists absolutely but only hashem is zah. Don't say on who that it's zah. Only say on zah that it's zah. Giml. How we doing? You >> calm. So now we're going to go through the how he breaks down the four different types of objects that are also representative of four different types of animal souls. Axe, donkey, sheep and clothing article garment. No, there's no goat in here. >> No. Yeah. In in what? >> Yes. >> Different species. Sheep and goats are different species. >> A shag. [snorts] Shag means a goring axe. What is that? Some what? No, [clears throat] that's a no creator. A ham a donkey is cold even in tamos. Tamos is hot but it's cold. Salma garment begged. Salma is a garment which is a begged means rebellion. and a sheep. The Jewish people are called scattered sheep. That's a from the prophet Jeremiah seizur the yed are called scattered sheep. although we have to be careful about all these types of animal souls because all of these types of animal souls can bring to losing the godly soul. God forbid nevertheless is in kipa every era has its own kipa. This is an important idea. You know there's an expression in English which is really in German. What the cat came in? Yeah, we're worried about the cats. People were probably thinking at home, "What's with the stray cats?" Because it's singledigit Fahrenheit cold outside. Not singledigit Celsius, which is very um tolerable. Single digit Fahrenheit. So, we left the kitchen door open. I can hear the cat meowing. They both came in or just the orange and white one? They both came in or just the orange and white one? Okay. Anyways, at least during the year he'll he'll come in. All right, great. Um, these are stray cats. They don't live here, but they live around here. They they they hang around the whole neighborhood and sometimes whenever I see them, I feed them. Oh, there's a nice picture. You want to show it on the screen? Show it on the screen. Okay. Okay. Excellent. All right. Thank you, Isro. So, you know, there's an expression in English that comes from expression in German. It actually is German. In English, we call it Zeitgeist. Oh, you were asking Meny Herz today why his name is spelled H E R Z. Perfect example because Z in German orthography is like deadic in lashes. So, H E R Z is her not hers. Just like zeitgeist, we say zeitgeist, but it's really tightgeist. In Yiddish, you'd say the same thing. Titgeist, the spirit of the time. So, usually zeitgeist, I don't know, has a somewhat positive connotation. Definitely not a automatically negative connotation, but here the deba is speaking about something negative. Every era, well, actually, because in the end, the deba talks about how to elevate it. So, it's not all negative. It could become positive. The you know that every era has a clipper. You know that every era has a clipper. Your struggle is not the same as your great-grandmother's struggle. Right. >> Everyone asks how >> right exactly. >> Nobody can hear. I'm gonna repeat you. There people ask like how in the times of the bas they have such a a a struggle about serving idols. We can't relate to that. Right. So every era has its challenges. Okay. So in our era and when is the Reb speaking? When is this from? It's uh it's from the last few months of 1955. Okay. But presumably it still applies today. It's still the same era. Still an extension of this era. So what is the clip of today? And you have to be especially careful to oppose it. What is it? That's why says the we're going to specifically focus on the animal soul called sheep which is especially applicable in our time in our day and age. In other words, the sheep clipper. Wake up sheeple. Right. I don't know if anyone actually says that or if that's a parody of a certain type of person, but the sheeple thing is actually the is saying right here that our clippa, our struggle against negativity in this generation happens to be that we're particularly sheeplike. We are misled and we're docile and we just want to follow. We just want to fit in. that I was going to explain it really uh explicitly momentarily. Like I said before in the prophet Jeremiah it says the Jewish people are likened to scattered sheep. We ask a question. Do you know that Israel is the higher name? What's the lower name? Yakov is the lower name because it's a it's the heel is it's also that you were you prevailed over uh celestial and terrestrial beings. Okay. So is the higher name is but scattered sheep is like a low thing. It's not a good thing. So when he mentions the Jews being like scattered sheep, why does he use the name the higher name is? But here's the answer. That's what the is asking which means you were able to prevail over both angelic and human beings. which means aid has the potential not only to predominate over humans but even over spiritual beings. So therefore, how could it even happen that he's not tough, he's not strong to the extent that he's following everybody that he's a he's a little scattered sheep. So that's what the Navi is complaining. He's like, how could you be a follower? You're supposed to be a leader. You're supposed to influence your friends. Is don't follow your friends. They should follow you. Is this triggering you? Do you remember this speech? No. Because you never had to hear this speech because you were always a leader. Okay. And this is what Hmon also argued. Hasha. No, you got a boo. You guys are not in fighting shape for porn. It's coming next. >> You didn't learn migill yet. Get on it. Do you want to have a migill reading at the soul's house is our for the migill. So um maybe let us know if you have any interest in a soul's house reading. McGill. Okay. So Hmon is the terrestrial Hman the guy the historical guy but he's also he represents the spiritual uh prosecutor and he's going to he to whom the beginning and the end belong. along. Hashem and Hmon says to to to meaning the prosecutor in heaven says to Hashem, "There is a nation that is scattered and dispersed among the nations. They don't keep the king's laws. There's a one nation. There's a people who their real identity is the oneness. They have the ability to bring godly oneness everywhere. In fact, they can bring it down to the world to the physical realm. Like it says do you know the are called means a nation means there's one nation on earth but also it means the are a nation that brings oneness into the physical realm and yet even though they have this great ability the have this ability to bring awareness of the oneness of God even into physical things but they're squandering ing their ability. They're not using it. They are scattered among the nations. They're being intimidated. They're being affected. They're being influenced, which really is totally inappropriate. And therefore, the laws of the king, who's the king in this case, Malasham, the king of the world, Hashem, they're not following. So Hmon the the human hmon was maybe saying whatever he was saying. He was just a regular stamman anti-semite. But the celestial uh hmon the spiritual hmon in in the heavenly court was basically making an argument that look the yeden are an they are a nation which is supposed to and capable of representing Hashem's Hashem's oneness and yet they're flaking out. That's how you would translate it. you know, they're flaking out. They're like following the fashions of of the day. I don't mean fashions like, you know, give me cool clothes, although it could be that, too. I mean, intellectual fashions, and they're following whatever's trending, you know, hashtags or whatever. And uh therefore, they're not doing the king's will. And that's a terrible indictment on the Jewish people. God forbid. Okay. Uh, hey, very bottom of 156. Get your finger on the trigger. Aid the way it's supposed to be as aid. Wherever he comes to, he has to lead. He has to be the leader. And this says in in parenthesis of the spirituality which is the real reality of the entire city with the entire environment with the entire metagansa medina with the whole country. Aid is supposed to run his environment. Yes, that's true. The anti-semites say that we do run our entire environment. How have I? If only the things that the anti-semite said, I aspire to be as in control of the world as the anti-semmites believe me to be. But here's the deal. A a Jew has this spiritual power and is supposed to be using it to be an ultimate influencer and not to be a follower and not to be a uh a uh a a an effect rather than a cause. At the summits would say we are the cause. No, you guys don't get it. All the problems that come from Jews, I'm not saying problems don't ever come from Jews. what I'm saying. But if any problems come from Jews, it's from Jews not being uh the cause of things, but rather misappropriating their God-given spiritual powers to try to be like the rest of the world. You know, when someone has a lot of power and potential and they misuse, it causes a lot of damage. Okay? But instead of using their power to be influencers, he loses it. Not only is he not the influencer, he becomes an influenced. He becomes the guy who is the follower. He imitates the silliness of the country [snorts] from the environment from the city. [snorts] as instead of having an effect that every matter should be the the arbiter of every matter should be the Jewish law instead is the the environment is the arbiter on their next door. See that next door? Yeah, next door. Yeah, we have to say it with the Yiddish accent because it's written in Yiddish. Next door, which means next door, the neighbor. Reb's often speaking about the neighbors. Remember we had that whole sik about the Jewish woman having to ignore the the bad influence of the neighbor, the next door neighbor. >> It's always the neighbor. And by the way, now with social media, it doesn't even have to be your geographical neighbor. Could just be somebody whose page you follow. Yeah. your Facebook friend is and the becomes the final arbiter and he runs his entire house according to the din of the next door neighbor which is a disaster in case you figure that out. Okay. Vav. Yes. Okay. Has to run because he has to deal with um are you coming back tonight for the Okay. Awesome. Okay. >> Okay. And we have our special. We put people to work over here at Soulward's house. You thought you were coming for a year. We don't even have bagels today. Should I say that? I don't want to admit that we don't have bagels. >> Okay. [clears throat] But there's still cookies at the aisle. So, we usually have bagels and lots of cream cheese, but >> Oh, what? A lentic. What's it called? Lenticular. >> Lenticular. >> Lenticular debit picture. Yes. Okay. Our friend. >> Okay. See you. Okay. Thank you for coming in the cold. All right. All right. So, our friend, you want should we say your first name for everyone so we can make you famous? Mushki. And you could by process of elimination you can probably figure out who that is. [laughter] Mushki is here on the eve of Bat to help us running Israel is going. Bye is focus on. Okay is leaving to get back to the kinist. Mushki is going to run the uh texts just so people understand that Mushki is here. Could you like just advance the page and put it back just so everyone sees? Okay. Now put it back. Put it back. Okay. All right, fine. All right, get ready. All right, we're invos never done this before. You're doing You're very good at it. Okay. Okay. [clears throat] as felt. This being a people follower is not only affecting the the parents, but it's affecting the children. And that's like the worst because the children are the hope of our future and there the foundation of the entire Jewish people. And you see the way the children are being raised is also affected by that whole mentality of even in the worst exile which was the Egyptian exile. We learned that the yidden were uh extraordinary that they stood out there. In what way? They did not change their uniquely Jewish names, uh, language and clothing. So you see that even in Mitim, which was the worst, gullis is the most brutal, and yet they were clinging to their Jewish identity. They didn't try to fit in and look and act more Egyptian. But now look what we have in our in our time people are not acting with their strength of identity. They try to find all types of cute tricks as often as that it shouldn't be recognizable that their child is Jewish. They try to make their child fit in with all types of cute tricks. when it you know how it needs to be that when a Jewish child walks in the street it has to be recognizable from a distance that a Jewish child is going there is a it's a good thing it's a good thing to be a is on but instead of that and instead of that they go out of their way. They're ashamed. They're they're ashamed of their Jewish identity and they go out of their way to hide it. [snorts] Zion. Okay. Top of the second column of 157. Mushki, you getting ready? Okay. as okay. Now the Reb is going to break down the Gumra. So the Gumor asks, this is so the Gumra asks specifically. So the gum asks regarding this why does the have to mention the s in other words it has reasons it has li it mentions and it mentions and it mentions salma why does it have to mention uh by Each of the three other categories of lost objects explains what what novel information was contained in them. Meaning why the toy had to mention those three categories specifically. But we don't specifically understand why SE had to be listed in one as one of the categories in so yeah why what's what's the deal with s I'll translate it what's that pounding noise you hear that I don't know probably next door neighbors that's our next door neighbors. The Reba warned us about the next door neighbors. There's this pounding noise next door. Okay, if it continues, we're going to have to go check it out. Okay. So, we explained before all of these categories of lost objects correspond to different things in our service of Hashem. And we can explain it very, you know, briefly, says the rabbit, but we're going to explain it like this. An axe means a goring axe like a wild animal base. Donkey is apathy because we said even though it's warm out it's warmth represents hashem because sheish the sun represents hashem and nevertheless this donkey's cold. So that's apathy. So the the the axe is the violent wild crazy guy and the donkey is the apathetic guy. What's we said rebellious because the word bagged which also means garment means rebellion. So all of them it's sort of a novel thing to find out that they can be redeemed. you can get them back. Meaning, if they're lost, lost objects, but also if they cause you to lose touch with your can get back on track, you can get everything [clears throat] worked out. But when you talk about the sheep, of course, the sheep's just lost. What's the big deal? What what what is it even teaching? What's the What is it even teaching you? In fact, if you can get back the axe back on track, of course, the the sheep. So, why does he even have to mention the sheep? And so, we're learning it homalytically. Kasha means it was difficult for the gum to figure out why s is mentioned. But now we're interpreting it homalytically. No, a lost sheep is difficult. is it's actually the hardest to get back. of the entire by the way someone donated to us last week our friend David donated if you don't have the foundation of the foundation of is the first in the it's not in the it's in the he says the very beginning the first sim first do not be embarrassed in front of the scoffers so it's explained often that it's the beginning Because if you don't have that, you can't keep the rest of it because you'll whatever else it says to do in you'll be embarrassed to do it. The minute that somebody looks at you funny, you'll stop doing it. So, the first thing you have to have is that um [clears throat] that attitude of of pride, of autonomy, that you're not going to be reactive. You're not going to be a people pleaser. You're going to do what Hashem wants. So he says like this, if you're a sheep and you're a follower, so then you don't have that ability to ignore when people mock you, which is the beginning of if you don't have that ability, how are you going to do the rest of so the sheep surprisingly is the most difficult guy? You would think that the the axe who's crazy and wild or the donkey who's completely apathetic or the garment which represents rebellion, I mean all out rebellion, that those are the most difficult circumstances. He says, "No, actually the sheep is is the is the toughest because he's such a wimp. How are you going to get him back on trap track?" Unos, where are we? Where are we up to? All the way at the bottom. Okay, we're almost there. Okay. Yeah, right there. Last sentence. Okay, let's see how quickly you can do it after I finish it. And that's the even even the sheep. We were first thinking like why are we even why are we even including the sheep? Of course the sheep. No, no, no. the biggest even the sheep who's lost because a little wimp and a little follower. We can get him back on track. Yeah. Nothing stands in the way of chuva. You did it already. No, it was perfect. You're so slick. I didn't even notice it happening. Okay. Yes. Now I got to turn the page. Okay. Amazing. A is so he says later what's the remedy for this situation when a person loses the ox the donkey the garment and even he says here even the sheep because now we understand sheep is the hardest situation to fix what's the remedy to the judges the judges the matter of the two should come was dos gate of And who is the judge? The first judge of and the extension of Mosa that exists in every generation of he the of every generation gives the power to do to pay back double to his fellow. What does that mean? His fellow means Hashem. What do you mean your fellow is your friend? I mean your fellow is Hashem. Hashem's your friend. Yes. Hashem, you know there's a concept of being fellows, friends of Hashem. And he should pay back his friend double. What does it mean? Pay Hashem double before the sin. Double before double then before the sin. What does that mean? Like it says invari before he sinned he was it was his regulus who was regular for him to study one page let's say now he should learn two pages is like explains that like when a when a cord is severed and you have to retie you have to tie a knot to reconnect the two sides. So in the place of the knot it's doubly thick. So ch means double and Hashem will pay him back. Hashem does everything measure for measure. So now this guy is doing chuva and he's doubling up his service of Hashem. Hashem pays him back or mirrors back to him by turning his sins into merits and um also making his animal soul become a helper. So now, not only is his animal soul not making him go off track, his animal soul has been enlisted as a helper in his service of Hashem. Let's get specific from the animal soul that's called a goring ox. He's no longer a goring ox. He is like King Solomon says, much produce came about from the yield of an ox. I mean, a beast of ver of burden. You take the ox and you put a plow on his back and he gets the soil ready for planting. So if the the o ax is just a bull in a china shop, he's causing damage. But if you make him work for you, then he's helping to to get the to make produce. So we get him back on track from the donkey. You make him into is a donkey. A bony donkey. Strong bone donkey. Bony implies like weak. No, this is like thick boned donkey. Big boned donkey which means receiving the yoke of heaven like a donkey receives the load. So it used to be this apathetic donkey, but now he's this donkey who carries a big load of how do you transform the lost sheep which we said was a really difficult situation to deal with like it says in uh it's no it's shim Um, straying like a lost sheep. No, it is Jesus. Is a test. Yeah. Um, yeah. Should I sh him or something else? What am I looking at here? That's a different thing. What happened? Says low battery. We got to call you throw. What is No, that won't help. What you're doing there? No. No. The laptop has low battery. How How low? We'll just have to go fast. Let me Yeah, we're just going to have to go fast. But I'm going to call you SH anyways. By the way, you're on the camera. You're famous now. Are you not supposed to be here? Um, we're going to call you. So, >> you throw the laptop says low battery. >> Okay. So, do you have a charger? >> No, I don't have a charger. I didn't bring a charger. this time. >> Okay. So, hopefully it lasts. Just dismiss it and hopefully it last. >> Dismiss it and hopefully it lasts. Okay. I'm going to have to read fast. Bye. Okay. So, yeah. He's wandering like a sheep that just kind of lost. Uh, oh, that's the but then he becomes a follower in a good way. Yeah. Draw me. It's that's the that you um ask Hashem, draw me, pull me. You become a follower follower of Hashem from sorry fine salma then the garment level that's also um the um the the the garment I'm so nervous because I the the laptop is out of battery. >> You made a dim. You're so smart. Thank you Mushki. You are hired. Okay. The the garments though the the the the the fragrance of your garments. Yeah. So that becomes good. We're almost finished of the with the first of two more in. And that means that in the end both souls are helping. Like it says not when it says what you should love Hashem with all of your heart. It says with two bases which means um both hearts the heart of your godly soul and the heart of your animal soul. So all of these animal souls can get back on track and become an asset. Not just that they don't disrupt Hashem but they become an asset in Hashem. So bottom line we are a bunch of sheep today. A bunch of followers who want to be like everyone who we think is cool. Okay, fine. Yeah, that is a problem. But think that Hashem is cool and follow Hashem and then you'll rechan that um that quality in a way that is productive. All right, that was the end of the first Sikha. [sighs] Let's take a breather for one second. The second Sikha is fairly short. All right, Tess, here we go. >> [clears throat] >> In this week's it says if [snorts] you loan money even though it says the word which usually means if it doesn't mean it's optional doesn't really mean if it's actually obligatory. You must give alone on the verse that says Hashem gives his commandments and laws to the Jewish people. The sages say and everything. What does it mean his commandments? Commandments that he himself follows. Anything that he tells the Eden to do, he himself does. is aim his laws meaning the laws that he himself keeps from this we understand that Hashem also follows this law of you should give a loan to my people base not base um uh what does this mean is you see where Here we are. We're on 158 bottom of the second column. Ice Y. What happened? [clears throat] Okay. Let's call you. >> Yeah, the uh your laptop died. >> Okay. So I'm just going to switch it to big big screen and people could use the link in the description. >> Okay. So switch it to the big screen and it will give us an opportunity to mention that in the description below. You can click on the link for the kahos. Oh, I'm going to turn off the I'm going to turn I'm turning off the phone. I'm hanging up the phone. You Oh, that's full screen. Now in the description below you'll see a link you can click on where you can open up a pamphlet not a real pamphlet so a digital pamphlet that is um the for the week it's the kahos um from we we get this directly from kahos publication society it's a very generous and uh very uh supportive of thing that they do for us that they're involved in this and they support us and help us to do it. We should also mention another partner very important partner sik is in English who also makes available every week and you look there's another link sik is in English and uh it depends on your taste you know the kahus is the authentic original image how it looks in the lutas books and then the sikas in English doesn't have the same layout but has incredible translations and footnotes and explanation ations. So, it has those advantages. Anyways, in every class, if you look below in the description, you have both of those links. So, we're going to ask you to open up those links. Okay. All right. All right. Here we go. So, Hashem also follows this mitzvah of giving loans to his people. Uh is what's the concept of a loan? [clears throat] You give somebody money even though he doesn't deserve it. What does it mean? He doesn't you don't owe it to him. It's not like you're paying him where you have to give him. You don't owe him that money. He's not giving you anything in return. But it's also it's not a gift either. Gift also is [clears throat] not in a gift is also not payment for something but then it's completely just a gift. But rather the recipient has to pay it back later. Okay? I'm I'm sure that's obvious to many of you, but how many of us think about it like that? There's a difference between a payment, a gift, and a loan. Payment is you owe the guy so you pay him. Gift is you owe him nothing and you give it to him and he never pays you back. A loan is you don't owe him anything but you give it to him and then he does pay it back. All right. Shem gives you a loan. All of your talents, all of your abilities are loans from Hashem and he expects to be paid back. How? How? What's the payment? The repayment that you use it. Whatever he gave you, you use it to uh to fulfill Hashem's commandments. Flip the page. There's no page to flip, unfortunately. H Mushki, it's not your fault. Don't worry. But this is where you would turn the page. Okay. All right. We're on page 159 if you're following. Just flipped to page 159. Okay. on the top of 159 alfinab sorry regarding giving something on a condition that you're going to get it back there's two two ways actually that works shilon alvo alone and alone We use the same word in English. Shila loan is like, "Can you lend me your lawn mower?" Halva is alone like, "Can you loan me 20 bucks?" Is what's the difference? When you borrow somebody's object, you got to give it back. The exact object doesn't become yours. What are you complaining? It's the same model lawn mower. No, no. I want back my lawn mower. No, but a loan of money. Obviously, he's not giving you back the same coins. If he asks for a loan of money, he's going to spend it. Then he'll make other money and give back the same amount. Doesn't have to be the same exact coins. You don't care. It's irrelevant. In fact, you expect him. It would be weird what what was he using for for a doors stop? Like why it would be weird if he gave you back the same coins or or paper or whatever. It belongs to the borrower. He could use it for what whatever he wants. So why do we call the the loan that Hashem gives each one of us by giving us different talents and abilities? Why do we call that because you can spend it on anything you want even on low things. Hashem is not going to limit you how you in fact god forbid you could even misappropriate it. Could use the talents he gives you to do things that are not good. But the point is that it really is like get someone giving you currency. It's not like somebody giving you an object where you need the exact object back. Hashem gives you kis and just like someone who takes a monetary loan. It's expected he's going to spend it on whatever you can't. But if someone gives a monetary loan, he's not monitoring you and making sure you only buy things that he wants you to buy. He's the only thing he cares about is he gets paid back at the end of the loan. Okay. So let's apply this now in what it looks like in actual life and specifically in the in the area of learning. There are people who think that before you learn, you have to be perfect in your adherence to mitzvah in every little meticulous call man. And he thinks that as long as he's not on that level and especially, you know, and who even it goes without saying that if he feels that sometimes he's not on that level in a little meticulous thing he does not doing or maybe even something that's a more clear prohibition of the rabbis or even sometimes something that's a clear biblical prohibition whether it's a something that's an active thing where you have to get up and actively do it or it's something that's passive where you're supposed to just not do it. You're supposed to refrain from doing something you're not supposed to do. Either way, So he thinks he's not allowed to learn. He's not allowed to din. I mean dav, you show up, you d but like real deep doing. How can I do it? You know, I I know that I just did something wrong. And he thinks he's not allowed to be involved in lofty matters. Zuckman. So we what do we what do we tell him that he has this inferiority complex? Maybe it's a genuine inferiority complex. Maybe it's um the whole thing is a pretext just to avoid learning and domining like aid. But either way, the point is he's using his deficiency in adherence to mitzvah as an excuse why he can't be involved in learning. So we tell the guy a loan was given to spend it on whatever you want. setting aside for a moment the greatness, the loftiness of like the famous parable that the gave that is like the crown jewel, the centerpiece jewel on the in the crown of the king was on them is and when you remove that cast that crown crown from the kesser from the when you remove that jewel from the crown it compromises the entire integrity of the crown it loses its beauty there's a whole parable about that the alterba had to defend the practice of disseminating and he said a parable a king had a son who was very weak and the only cure was pulverizing a certain jewel and making it into a into a medicine but the king's son was so weak maybe he wouldn't even be able to drink it. Nevertheless, the king said, "Go ahead and do it." And where was the jewel? The only place they could find that jewel was in the centerpiece of the king's own crown. He said, "It's fine." Not that it's fine, but you have to do it. There's no choice. So, so tidis is like the the crown jewel, the centerpiece. The crown itself is to. from all of there's the so the secrets the panmus which is and yet it's the most cherished and it's most precious and nevertheless that's what it takes to uh save the king's son meaning to revive the Jews from their spiritual slumber and exile okay so nevertheless every is given permission to take the king's crown and use it however you Well, in other words, yeah, ideally, if you're taking from the king's crown, yeah, you should be super super careful in all your mitzvah observances. Yes, that's true, ideally. But if not, if that's not the situation, okay, fine. A halva, a loan was given to spend on whatever you want. Okay. Yeah, you should, if you're learning, you're given a loan. You should spend it, so to speak. meaning use that inspiration to be perfect in your adherence to Yiddish kite. But if not, if you're spending it on other things this then that's the reality, okay? Doesn't mean you don't take the loan. We say it doesn't matter how low you've fallen. God forbid, don't miss your daily. The guy says me, if you knew what I was up to, you would you would tell me, not only it's no big deal I'm missing, you would probably not even allow me to learn. You would say, you until you get into shape, you shouldn't even be learning. No, the opposite. is in. That is a powerful sentence. The Reb said even on the very same day that he god forbid stumbled and violated a biblical prohibition on that very same day he should not miss his session of learning. And it makes no difference if the biblical violation was something proactive that he should have done and his sin was a sin of omission or if it was something that it was uh a sin of commission where he got up and he actually violated something. He should not miss his daily study session that dayclo okay we have to explain a and hcala two types of like there different styles of some arevedic and some areas aveda means workca means intellect so sometimes a mimer is more aic it's speaking about more about like how we work on ourselves, how we improve ourselves, how we the application in a person's life, um refining your character traits. A lot of my like that then sometimes it's hcala meaning it's describing levels of sedless. was talking about like levels of spiritual reality and it's getting very particular and talking about how they operate and the mechanics of these lofty levels and it's not clear how that even applies to personal um improvement and there are different types of different even even one safer there could be different myimm or different uh different sections that have different styles. Okay. So, we're saying like this. Don't miss your daily learning of this. And the Reb says, and it doesn't matter if it's oral, even something that's where he doesn't even have a clue how he will bring it down and and apply it practically. Meaning to say, a guy says, "All right, fine. Maybe I'll learn like you get us a chova where it's talking about how to work on yourself and how to do chova and come back to Hashem. But I'm not gonna like learn um I don't know uh not going to learn let's say from the we're going to say no no no you are yeah you are going to learn that. Okay. [sighs] Tom of them. Yeah. Gimmel. We're on page 159. Second column. Bottom of the second column. Page 159. Why does Hashem give this loan? My people that's the reason the sages say if you have only enough money to give one loan and there are two people who are applying for the loan one is a Jew one's a non-Jew you have to give presidents precedence to your relative to your family member to to the Jew The fact that it even needs to be stipulated that you give precedence to your fellow Jew means there is at least a logical place where you wouldn't necessarily be so sure. Maybe you should give to the non-Jew first. By the way, it we're saying it's a good thing to give uh a loan if you can to a non-Jew. It's just like if you can only give one to the other. Yeah, you do give preference to your fellow Jew. Very interesting. The Reb says in this case it's clear if you think about it, it must be talking about a place where does not reach means the work of the created beings. Why? Because you're looking at a situation where it's not so obvious to you that this Jew is of such such an amazing spiritual stature, let's say. But what we're saying is it's irrelevant what he's actually doing. We're calling we're we're accessing a level which is called it'sab um the source of all source the the the one master source of all sources. It's like it says Hashem on one level so lofty. He says I don't know if I want he says he created the the and the and I'm not even sure which one I prefer. It's talking about okay please if you have a concrete mind and you want to be sick and you want to say oh Hashem is saying he's amoral okay so then you're not intellectually mature enough so I'm sorry. It's talking about such a lofty level of infinity where the actions of the finite don't even register. And so therefore, it is not clear that there's necessarily any difference between what we call good and bad. The deeds of the righteous, the deeds of the wicked, it's all the same on the scale of infinity. Neither of them register. and and that's why clarity has to be given and know there is a preference and at the end of the day nevertheless yes Hashem says I do prefer my sadikim the the deeds of the the righteous why not because of their value but because Hashem makes a choice real choice and asidus explains all the time. Choice means completely uncompelled. Completely uncompelled means not even by an advantage that the the chosen possesses. If you choose something where there's an advantage that the chosen possesses, that's we don't call that pure choice. Pure choice is what we would almost call random where the choice is just purely the exercise of because I can. I'm choosing it not because of any pros or cons, but just because that's what I chose. Okay? Is that Hashem quote unquote randomly chooses the Jewish people and therefore you give the loan to your fellow Jew. Meaning to say, back it up. Follow me. This loan that Hashem is giving, we're calling it where Hashem gives you access to the crown jewel and says, "Here, I'm giving you the secrets of the Tyra. Do it. Do with do I cannot stop you. Do with it whatever you want. Uh I hope you use it well, but even if you misuse it, I'm still going to give it to you." Okay? So, that's what we said first. Then we're saying now, Hashem gives this loan to a Jew, not because that Jew is necessarily sof like we're saying two people want a loan and you give to the Jew. Why? The fact that the Reb says, the fact that we even have to stipulate you give to the Jew means it's in a case where maybe this Jew doesn't look like such a a compelling applicant. You look at the different I'm saying spiritually, okay? You look at the two different loan applications quote unquote metaphorically homalytically and you're like this Jew isn't so special. All right. So who's this Jew? What is he so special that he should be getting the crown jewel from Hashem? And we say you know what it has nothing to do with it's not assessed based on things that finite beings are able to measure. It's purely just an essential choice on Hashem's part that he said, "I'm having this relationship with my people and that's it." So therefore, we're talking to you. If you're a Jewish person and you're thinking, "I'm not on the level to learn this has nothing to do with levels. It has it's an essential connection. It has nothing to do with levels." Yeah, obviously you should try to be as observant as you can, but that's not a factor in assessing whether or not you should be learning. Okay, where are we up to? Where are we up to? Um, one. Yeah, page 160. I forgot to tell you to flip the page. Yeah. Where are we? Page 160. Okay. But es and this is the level where it says Mali Malachi um Hashem says I love is not are Jacob and Esau not brothers and yet I love Jacob and I hate Esau. By the way, I saw a where the deb was explaining this verse in another context and saying doesn't mean that he hates Asov. Just like it says that Yanke married and he loved and he hated Leia. Obviously, he didn't hate his wife. You're not allowed to be married to a woman that you hate. It means relative to his love for it's called it's not a translatable word because we translate it as hate. Doesn't mean hate. The point is yes, there is favoritism. There is favoritism. So, Hashem says, "Yankeov and Asov are twin brothers." Really? Seemingly, what's compelling me to say that Yanke is my favorite? And yet, that's what I decided. That's what I That's what I chose. That's what choseness means. Okay. We're talking about such a high level of godliness where the actions of the created beings don't register. So, therefore, they're both equal. and are equal and nevertheless because of Hashem's essential choosing an essential love is he decides I decided I love Yankee that's just what it is just just me that's also why it says if you lend literally means silver not just money is means love and said, "You were yearning for the house of your father." So means yearning, love, pining, longing. etmologically has that connotation. It means that the silver that you're getting is the love. It's not because of it. Don't say, "Oh, I'm not worthy." You're right. You're not worthy. Has nothing to do with you. Hashem chose. He wants a Jew to learn, but I'm not on the level. Levels don't come into this discussion. Hashem chose. Now take theidus and run with it. Okay. Vald vald you're right. Okay. Gam since this is coming from a level where Hashem is empowering um in a way that has nothing to do is not a response to our deeds. It's completely unilateral. It's completely his fiat, his whim. So therefore, it's to every single Jew. And uh a lack of a lack of serving Hashem really isn't relevant. And then the verse continues, the poor one who's with you. So he's an he's a popper. A person's thinking about himself. I'm a spiritual popper and he's broken over that. The Reb says and it's actually legitimate. He's not just um you know without cause saying oh look how awful my situation is. No no he really messed up. Nevertheless, he should know he also has the special power from above because it's Hashem's essential love and it reaches everyone even this guy to the contrary is the fact that he is a spiritual popper. Well, good news. Hashem is close to those who are brokenhearted like a nation. Now, the verse continues. It says, "You should not act as a creditor." You know what a creditor is? They call you up and they bother you and they harass you. So, a creditor is someone who puts on the pressure on the debtor. But it says when you give a loan to my people, do not act as a creditor. Don't put the pressure on them. So remember if Hashem tells us this as a commandment, Hashem also has to follow this. So what does it mean? Hashem doesn't act as a creditor toward us. If the lender that's the borrower, lender means the guy gave the loan. The borrower if the borrower is unable to pay. So there's no point to ask. just makes him feel bad and you're not allowed to ask. In other words, you're allowed to ask to collect a loan that's due. Obviously, how else are you supposed to get it paid? I mean, you can't expect everyone's going to run to you to pay it. But you're not allowed to ask if you know he can't pay it because now you're just harassing him, making him feel bad. That's part of this mitzvah. In fact, to the to the to the extent the prohibition is so strict, you're not allowed to walk by this guy. No, I'm not even going to mention the loan to him. No, but if he sees you, he's going to be reminded he owes you the money. He's going to feel bad. Okay? So, that's the mitzvah in the literal terms. Like we said before, So we said anything Hashem commands he himself keeps. If Hashem sees that giving a person what we call kava small the left vector which means and he gives him punishment. He gives him uh you know tough treatment but it's not affecting. He's not making it more from now. You're just randomly harassing. [laughter] Don't be a creditor. You hear what the Reb is saying? Being a creditor means demanding from someone who can't pay. So, Hashem already sent this guy some tough love, you know, to wake him up. But it didn't work. The guy didn't become more scrupulous in mitzvah observance. So, if Hashem were to continue harassing the guy, that's called STM harassment. Now, he's acting like a creditor. Now, Hashem's not allowed to do that because he told us not to do it, so he can't do it. Now, we're going to play a little bit with this Pik U from Yeshu. So, simple reading. What are you being beaten for? Because you continue to rebel. Beatings will continue until morality improves. No, the mor not morality although that's a oh that's a good Freudian slip because that's what it actually means. Okay, there's a funny office sign. The beatings will continue until morale improves which means it's a vicious cycle because morale gets worse when people get beaten. But this is actually until morality improves. So imagine Hashem would say the beatings will continue until your morality until till you become more of a sadic until you become more from. Okay, so watch what the Reb does with this BK. Why are you being hit? If it's not affecting you, it's actually making you rebel more. The literal reading of it is what are you being hit for? Why is Hashem chastising you? Sending you cuz you're rebelling. But the Reba reads it like this. If Hashem is hitting a person, God forbid, sending him messages, wakeup calls, but it's not waking him up. Now, not only is not helping, no, it's making him rebel. HASHEM IS BEING THE GUY. Hashem is causing this guy to rebel. Now you're going to say that goes against the whole. Okay. So take it up with I didn't say it. I'm reading literally from the text inside. Okay. When he sees when Hashem sees that giving this guy harshness is not working. Hashem will start with the love with the love closeness kindness and compassion with revealed good. So what does it mean? Just like you're not allowed to be a creditor, someone who owes you and that's Hashem's mitzvah. Hashem has to keep that keep that mitzvah. That means that Hashem of course we owe Hashem. We owe him everything. But instead of acting like a credit to to us and harassing us and making us feel more and more pressure and feel more and more deficient, uh, Hashem will come and say, "Sweetie, it's okay. You're wonderful. You're beautiful. It's all right." No. Does it mean you're not supposed to pay back? Of course, you're supposed to pay back, but that's going to get you to pay back. Being treated like a mench will get you to pay back. Okay, let's take a second to breathe. All right. Uh page 160 on the very very bottom we have a short little sika here. Um also continuing the theme. So that previous was from Mishbatim base. This is from and same shabas or um short little where the history is that there was uh I think they still do actually the um the gamak called I think it's called sham shabas that that mentions here in the sika but uh it was administered I believe originally by and gordon and Then I think uh his son-in-law Goldman took it over and it's still it still exists. Anyways, it's gam and there was always a malava mala para mishbatim is the para where it speaks about the mitzvah of giving a loan. So here the is speaking about this uh free loan society. Okay bottom of page 60. So in it says on the verse from our week this week's para if you which we said doesn't mean if it doesn't mean it's conditional but it actually is an obligation when you loan the poor of my people that the medishma says that you're actually um lending to Hashem. You're not lending to the poor man. You are, but you are also lending to Hashem. So, Hashem is going to owe you. And you should know when Hashem pays, he pays according to his measure, which is pretty big. You know, he's infinite after all. When Hashem pays back, he pays back infinitely. So, it's a good thing to give a loan to a poor man because Hashem is going to repay you infinitely. Like we spoke about at the So, this is like a couple weeks later. is obl. So we explain something from the from the is just like the name indicates it's different from now is not the time to get into the difference between but we generally call it like Jewish philosophy like is like a classic example or kuzari is a classic example of okay so in the says that in created beings you can't really have true infinity because no matter how much you add and add and add and add it. It still has a limit. in that's in actuality in p. But in coak in potential there is a concept of potential infinity meaning where hashem just keeps paying and paying and paying and paying generation after generation and it doesn't run out. Now on a deeper level of understanding, we know that something that exists for a limited time um it starts to decline before it actually ends. It dwindles. It starts to change. It starts to weaken way longer before it actually runs out. So it's not just things run out. Boom. Kind of like the laptop. Boom. But I guess it dwindles. Yeah, it dwindles. It goes down and down and down. Okay. Like uh like we know the expression that created beings because they're inherently finite. They start dwindling from the second they are created. When the second you drive the car, the new car off the lot, it depreciates. So when you see something that's not dwindling but it remains strong constantly that shows you a little glimmer of infinity in this world and that's what we call infinity showing itself in the finite. Okay. So what we're saying is Hashem paying back the loan that you give to the poor man is a little glimmer of infinity that takes place here in the finite realm is tantamount to all free loan is greater than conventional teddaca charity handouts because there's many reasons but one reason here that's given according to our sages is that a handout is only to the poor only people who need handouts but a loan could be even to a wealthy person. You know there's something something called liquidity. Sometimes a rich guy needs to make a deal and he's not liquid and he says can I can you wire me $100,000 so I can make my business deal. He's not a poor guy by any stretch, but he still needs a loan. If you can give him a loan, that's that's a mitzvah. So that's the advantage of over when it comes to there have to be rich and poor because without rich and poor like it says without there's a question why are there rich and poor in the world? Because without rich and poor then what the who would perform kindness in the world? There has to be disparity, wealth disparity in order for kindness to occur. But that's only for which means that there will never cease being the poor from the earth. But when you're talking about free loans, there does not have to be there does not have to be any poor people. No more poor people because you can give even to the wealthy. Tonight is going to be the meeting of Yeah, that's the name of it. and says the in parenthesis truly shabas is a misnomer because just like when you're giving loans there's no distinction between wealthy and poor so to other distinction should not should not be made in other words it shouldn't be that we're only giving loans to from people who keep shabas But probably they meant it as an ideal as a target. Not that the people have to be shabas to receive a loan. But God willing they should all eventually aspire to be shabas. Obviously that's the ideal but doesn't mean that it's a criterion. Everyone should take take part in this event tonight. Menzel Untailing Gelt in the in their Koopa of the Langster site was demoled that the Koopa can untail. Everyone should um I guess taking part doesn't mean you have to necessarily go eat chicken at the dinner, but it means everyone should donate to the fund and uh that enables the loans to be given for longer terms and um bigger [clears throat] amounts. And just like when it comes to loans, there's no distinction between who's allowed to take a loan, a rich person or a poor person. Rich people take loans all the time. So too, no distinction should be made regarding who donates to the um to this Koopa to this fund. meaning to say I guess on the other end if someone says I'm poor you know is this really a fund that I should be taking part in maybe this is for rich guys to be involved in no says the everybody should be involved in the gachim and says this ties in very nicely with because it wasn't just like this year by the way next this coming is also which is so that very nicely fits with which we read today and like it's known from the you have to live with the times meaning with the with the Torah reading with whatever is read whatever you're reading in at that time and is you're reading about you know the you have the extra four paras that you read in. So the first one is parish parish. You read about the half shekele donation that was the flat tax that was taken from everyone as a headcount in the wilderness. Everyone participated. There were other donations to the Mishkan that were wealthy people gave. Then there were things people gave in accordance with their wealth. They give more, they give less. But mak the rich didn't give more. The poor didn't give less. The says that taking taking part in the shabas is like a shak situation. Everybody should take part and um that's a the the gam still exists. So I don't know maybe we'll find a link maybe I'll call some of my friends who are involved there. or we'll get a link and we'll put it in the description so people can fulfill that uh from the Okay, that was our from today. Sorry, we had a technical difficulty. It was the laptop battery running out and we didn't have the sika on the the screen the whole time, but it gave us an opportunity to shout out to kahus and toas in English and to remind you to make use of the beautiful PDFs that are in the description and uh they're there every week. They've been there the whole time. If you haven't seen them yet, go check them out. Thank you for joining us and we'll see you, God willing, next week.