Mitzvos Hashekulos Torah (12)

We're starting to learn where we were up to Tyra. >> We're right there. >> What? >> We're right there. >> Okay. I think it's good. Perek Tesha, Bris Tyra. Okay, so we did we did um since we started the mitzvahs has shkulas we did the mitzvah of kaifer ba'avoda zara being kaifer ba'avoda zara didn't just mean that I reject avoda zara, but it meant that I reject every value that's not reflected in the values of the Tyra. Not only that, we rejected any order of values that doesn't reflect the order of values in the Tyra. In other words, that we build our value system to match the Tyra. When we have a value that's not a value in the Tyra, that's avoda zara. That's zar, that was one. Remember that? That was the beginning. Then we spoke about chesed, tzedakah. Chesed was the the way he explained it at least this time around was that once a person puts himself in a position that he's completely completely completely here just to serve Hakadosh Baruchu so then what's motivating him even to take care of himself? So the idea of chesed is that part of serving Hakadosh Baruchu is to give, is to serve, and that also includes doing chesed with oneself. We we based it on the pasuk of go'el nafsho ish chesed, that a person even that gives to himself, it's a fascinating thing. We used the mashal at the time of taking a shower, that 99.9% of the world takes a shower as a favor to themselves. Cuz it makes me feel more comfortable, and it makes me clean, and it makes me feel good, so I do it because I want to. But what hap- Why does a person shower who's completely motivated on taking care of their bnei Yisrael? Because he has a tzelem Elokim to clean. Because he has a body that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave him, and it's his job to take care of it, and that's why he eats, and that's why he sleeps, not selfishly, but because he's here to give, and that's the chesed, tzedakah, just like we give to others, even to our own physical body, we're giving as a way of serving Hashem instead of taking. That was chesed, tzedakah. Then the third of the mitzvos atzulos was tzitzis. And tzitzis was very, very fascinating. Tzitzis, which is about zechira, remembering, and we learned the sugia of remembering that remembering doesn't just mean that my memory remembers it. Remembering means that it's alive to me. And we discussed that length, the difference, that there's a difference between knowing in the back of my mind that something's right or wrong, and living it, that it's present and clear and here right now. You know, at the time I gave you the mashal that um you know, there's a interesting thing that like for example, I gave a bunch of meshalim there, but I'll pick one of them. Let's say you have a food that when you eat that food, it gives you a stomach ache, so it gives you indigestion. And for some reason you keep eating the food and getting indigestion. You imagine that? Such a such a thing, right? And every time you're sitting there going, "Oh!" You're saying, "Why did I eat it? This is horrible." So, what's the answer? Why did you eat it? You forgot? If someone would ask you, "What happens when you eat that food?" What would you answer? You'd say, "I get indigestion." Now, could you pass it over here? >> The good outweighs the bad. >> What? >> outweighs the bad. >> But no, but you No, but so then you Then I once sat with someone who was going, "Oh, but it was worth it." Okay, fine, you know. But but but what happens if the person's like, "Why did I do this?" We don't have things in our life that we do and we knew that it would hurt us and then after we do it we don't know why we did it. You know why? Cuz we forget. We didn't forget the information, but it's not alive. If for 1 second you could feel that before you eat the food, you would not eat it. But you don't feel it. It's not alive. Titzis Lamantiscus is that it's right here. It's the muchash. I can feel it. The serving of Baruch is alive and present to me. And that was the Indian of Titzis. So we did so far the Zara, Kesser, Tzedakah, and Titzis. And then we went on to start the Kedushas. And we said there are four Kedushas. After that foundation of three mitzvahs, there are four Kedushas. The Kedusha of the body, the Kedusha of the mind, the Kedusha of time, and the Kedusha of space. And that translates into the Kedusha of the body translates into bris milah. And that's what we spent a lot of time on last man learning all the aspects of bris milah and learning how a person practically could relate to his body in a way that in our world in tough shin pay vav, in 2026, we could actually be sensitive to our bodies as being vehicle of Kedusha. And then the next part the next the Kedusha of the mind that we're going to start tonight is the Kedusha of Torah because Torah is what lifts up our mind, what inspires our mind. That's the Kedusha of the mind. And Kedusha of time is represented by the mitzvah of Shabbos. Shabbos is what shows us the concept of time. Time being able to carry Kedusha and we'll see how that extends to every day of the week. And then finally, the last mitzvah that we're going to do is the mitzvah of Kedushas Eretz Yisrael because in space, in place, in geography, it's Eretz Yisrael that teaches us that a place could have Kedusha and we'll discover hopefully with Siyata Dishmaya when we get there that that even living in Chutz La'aretz, we can gain an appreciation of how Hashem's presence fills the world from leaning into the Kedusha of Eretz Yisrael. And al achas kama vakama when we have this zechus to be in Eretz Yisrael, it gives us that appreciation. So for now, let's start with the Brisas Torah. Afilu it started in Yerushalmi, afilu kol mitzvoseha shel Torah, even all the mitzvose Torah einan shavos ledavar echad min haTorah. They they they're not equal to one word of Torah. So there's some there's a very very We're used to hearing like all of these poetic, dramatic statements about the greatness of Torah and sometimes it numbs us from trying to really understand what that means. And what does that mean? That means that 613 mitzvahs is not equal to the words that I just read about the 613 mitzvahs. What does that mean? Hadvarim tzrichin biur, this needs explanation. Halo tachlis chochma, teshuvah u'maasim tovim. The purpose of chochma, the purpose of engaging in the chochmas haTorah is to return to Hashem, to be close to Hashem, and to do mitzvahs. So it's a little bit backwards. How can you tell me that the thing that I'm doing in order to be mekayem the mitzvahs is greater than all the mitzvahs that I'm going to be mekayem? And it needs some explanation. How do I understand the structure here about the chashivus of Torah? The tachlis divrei Torah, the purpose of divrei Torah hu kiyam hamitzvahs. The ein l'cha dvar there is no word of Torah she ain't by Mitzvah. Even Torah itself is really just a series I shouldn't say just but the Torah itself is a series of Mitzvahs. It's the famous Kadima Hamuva in the safer Milas Torah like the words of the grow that are brought in the safer Milas Torah. Milas Torah is a safer beautiful safer and this is the time of year to learn it if you want to get it. Milas is a beautiful safer that talks about the Milas of Torah and it was written by the grow's brother. So he quotes Aki or a guy in Rebbe Leo he quotes his brother and he says that the grow said and you've heard this before I'm sure that when you're learning every word is a Mitzvah. So he says what does it mean that Torah is greater than all the Mitzvahs? Torah is a Mitzvah and Torah is a kind of Mitzvah so what does that mean? I have onus Indian he's he's the understanding of the Indian is as follows. Call Mitzvahs Carlos Allah Varam. All Mitzvahs and this is like the way we discussed last time when we did about Kadisha I got Mitzvahs are how on the Avaram. What comes to mind and I'm sure he'll mention it soon what comes to mind is that there are 248 Mitzvahs I say that correspond to the 248 Avaram in the goof because Mitzvahs are done with Avaram. The Avaram are here to fulfill the Mitzvahs. Hekdish half Russia's true mice to mice rice miss guy mice with pet. You use your mouth to be mocked dish things. Sadaka be odd. Aliyah Baragal the rag lion right? Each part of your body services another Mitzvah. Limo hot Torah learning Torah which part of your body do you learn Torah with? Now the truth is that when we learn Torah our whole body is involved, but that's not the fun That's not the iker key lead with which we learn Torah. If someone can't move their body, they're still able to learn Torah. What do we use to learn Torah? That's bidus. We learn Torah with our dus. Listen to these next words because they're very very powerful. The hadus, and I know that you heard them from Reb Hutner. The hadus, dus he Adam sheba Adam. He he iker Adam. Dus is the Adam sheba Adam. I want to explain what that means. What that means is as follows, that even within a person, a person is made up of of seichel and a body. So, of course the whole picture, my seichel with my body, is Adam. But within Adam, there's the animal in the Adam. And then there's the dus in the Adam. The dus is really the Adam of the Adam. That's the part that sets us apart from the animal kingdom. That's the part that's unique. If someone said, "Point to the Adam in you," it wouldn't be your hands, it would be your seichel. The seichel is what separates us from the rest of the world. It's the Adam sheba Adam. It's the prime It's the maila of an Adam. The divrei Torah lo chalin The divrei Torah lo rak chalin al hadus Elohim hoifchin es hadus atzmo midus Adam l'dus Torah. Divrei Torah are not just something you do with your mind. And you understand what he's getting at here. What controls all of the evarim of the body? The dus. So, it's true that I give tzedakah with my hand. It's true that I do aliyah l'regel with my body. But what's the power that animates my whole body? My das. My das is the thing that's the melech of my whole body. And what's the mitzvah of the das? Torah. So Torah is the mitzvah that's makoyim is in the part of you that's the shairesh of everything about you. The Adam She Ba'Adam. And not only is he says the mashgiach and we'll see more about this as we go on. Not only is it something that takes place in your das, but it actually transforms your das. It actually changes your mind from a human mind to a Torah mind. This is a very, very, very fundamental thing and something that's only shiyach to Klal Yisrael. have a chiyuv to learn to to learn the mitzvahs that they need to learn and to do the things that they need to do. They're here to live in this world and to run their lives in this world al pi the the ratzon Hashem. That's the job of the of the We have a whole different avodah. To us, living in this world al pi the ratzon Hashem is the lowest part of our avodah. We live a godly life in this world. We don't just live in a way that's appropriate for this world. We infuse into our lives mitzvahs and hanhagos that come from Hakadosh Baruch Hu that we would never have thought of, that are not part of the regular running of the world. They're godly actions. They're godly ashkafahs. And when a person learns Torah, it's not just that his das registers Torah and he tells his body to live al pi the Torah. The mind of a person molds itself and connects itself with a higher form of das. You know, one of the things that we do when we're learning that could be very very um a very big drawback in our learning is when we're when we're dishonest in our learning. So, I'll give you a few examples of dishonesty in learning and something to think about. First of all, sometimes we tend, especially when it comes to learning like like a vart on the parashah or or mussar, so we tend to try to find the type of dvar Torah or the type of mussar that feels good to us. And we learn the mussar that our daas likes. Now, there's a place for that to try to start in your learning in the area where you feel comfortable, but you see the drawback of that, right? Because then, instead of your daas molding to the Torah, you're taking the Torah and molding it to your daas. I only learn the things that I like. I'm not Growth in Torah, I hate to say I don't even hate to say it. Growth in Torah comes from stress. When I say stress, I don't mean that I'm stressed out, but it comes from friction. Think about it. We just finished Pesach, right? The whole Pesach seder is derech she'eilah teshuvah, questions and answers. If someone's having the seder themselves, what do they do? They they say the Shulchan Aruch, they ask themselves questions and give the answers. What's the pratt? Why can't you just tell the story of yetzias Mitzrayim? Why does it have to be questions and answers? The answer is cuz growth happens when something's not working. And you have to apply effort to understand something that's bigger than you. That's where growth happens. People, even in learning sugias, sometimes people will manipulate the sugia or manipulate a Svara. Shmaya and I have this all the time when we have we like to learn together, staying loyal to what it actually says. Do you ever have that challenge? Staying loyal. The Rashba says something. So, when I'm younger and less experienced in learning, I take what I think the P'shat is and I say, "Oh, that's what the Rashba means." That's not the fullness of growth in Torah. The fullness of growth in Torah is that my mind is empty and I take in the words of the Rashba and I try to understand what he's saying. And if it's not the Torah that I thought, because he words it a little differently, now I have some stress. I have some friction. I have what I think the answer should be and I have what the Rashba actually says. You know what the result of that stress is? Your mind becomes a Kli Sharesh of Hakadosh Baruchu. Your mind works hard to absorb the values, the ideas, the Ratzon, the Svaras of the Torah. Something to think about. We have areas of Torah sometimes. We have um um a Mitzvah sometimes. Do you ever have this or Mitzvahs that make people uncomfortable, you know? They make people uncomfortable. Like people like to say things in a politically correct way. You know, um And I'm not going to get into too many examples right now, but but but use your imagination. People try to say the Now, it's true. There's a there's a there's a balance here between understanding Look, everything in the Torah is beautiful. Everything in the Torah is majestic. Everything in the Torah is precious. And if I'm learning that there's a Mitzvah to do genocide on Amalek and that bothers me, I certainly have to tell myself there's a way to understand this that's Darkeiha Darkei Noam, because I know that the ways of the Torah are pleasant and sweet and good. So there must be a way that Mashiach Amalek reflects that. But I should not be apologetic about it. And I shouldn't try to avoid it. And I shouldn't tell myself I'm not thinking about that one. Because I'm not allowing myself to grow to take on the values of the Torah. Is there such a thing in Torah as being a kannoy and screaming at someone who does something wrong? Is there such a thing? Yes or no? Is there such a thing? There is such a thing. Beis Din I don't know if you know this, but Beis Din used to do capital punishment. They would kill people who did the wrong thing. That means if somebody was mechallel Shabbos and Beis Din I feel uncomfortable. Beis Din would kill them. In our culture today, we look down on people who are so judgmental. We look down on people that don't understand. What do you mean? But there's a pintala Yid that wants to serve Hashem in there. We look down on the fact that that um that why are you killing someone because of his beliefs and all of that stuff? Now I want to tell you something. If you don't know me, and I'm not convinced that every single one of you knows me, you think I'm one of those guys THAT'S LIKE KILL SHABBOS. YOU KNOW, I'm one of those guys throwing rocks on on Bar-Ilan. That's what you think. But if you do know me, you know no no no no no. I'm one of those guys that understands that all these guys have a pintala Yid. Shemaya, that's who I really am. But that's not the point. The point is yes, my sensitivities are with the victim with the with the with the mechallel Shabbos with the with the with the you know, that everyone should do teshuvah and that Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves everyone. That's where my sympathies are. But I know that there's a place for saying all that notwithstanding, and I'll say a chapter of Tehillim for you, but I'm going to throw you off a mountain cuz the Torah says you have skilah. I know there's a place for that. Is that always pleasant for me? Maybe not. Maybe yes. I'm not getting into it now. But the point is, if you want to be zocheh that chalfim as das atzma, midas adam, l'das Torah, if you want to be zocheh that your mind transforms to the das of Torah, you can't be afraid of the Torah. You have to be willing to submit yourself to the gorgeous beauty of Torah. Now, there are people whose Yiddishkeit is on life support. And when you find people whose Yiddishkeit is on life support, you have to focus on the things that are the easiest to understand and to click with and to be sympathetic to and so on and so forth. But if you're not on life support and you're ready to accept the stress that there are going to be areas of Torah that you're going to be like, "Why is that okay?" There are going to be parts of Torah like that. And you're prepared to say, "I trust Hashem and I trust Hashem's goodness, and I trust that Hashem wants what's right, and I trust the kedusha of the Torah, and I know what the Yerushalmi says when the possuk says ki lo davar reykam mikem." The Torah says that the Torah says that the words of Torah are not a davar reyk, they're not empty mikem from you, that the Yerushalmi says, "Im reykam, if it's empty, mikem u'reyk." It's empty because you are empty. And the Yerushalmi doesn't mean that to be disparaging. The Yerushalmi means it because we don't always have the full kalev to have the full perspective and the full understanding of what the beauty and the yashrus and the correctness of every single ois in the Torah is. But if we stay if we keep at it and we submit ourselves to the dots of the Torah, it's unbelievable how over time we start to develop Torah sensitivities. And that's one of the things that Gidolei Yisrael have, that sometimes people be like, "Oh, no, I think that Godel is wrong because he because of this or because of that." That there are There's such a thing as sensitivities when a person's mind becomes a mirror image of the Torah. And he's learned that absorbed so much Torah that he literally thinks like Hakadosh Baruchu. Watch out, cuz that person is reflecting the Torah. His dots was never after the dots of Torah, and that affects every single part of him. But, don't think that this is just like a gift to Gidolei Yisrael. This is something that we can all work towards. Gidolei Yisrael achieve it maybe on another level, but we can all work towards having a sense of what Torah is, and a sense of how to be devoted to Torah in a way that it transforms our way of thinking and influences everything from the top of our head to the bottom of our toes. It affects every part of us in a way that lifts us up and makes us into that majestic Adam that Hakadosh Baruchu created, that Adam Shebo Adam that carries up within him the ratzon Hashem. Asher Koach.