Akdamot | Rabbi Dr. Aaron Adler

that fits nicely on two sides and somehow they were using a different font and it carried over to a third side which is okay except for the fact that on the first page source number two was completely in order and here it became jumbled. There is source number two right here. Aha. See? And it became jumbled. I have pulled out of uh Nishmat Kohain and the last word of each line carried over to the right side and it split the the mode with words from the quote from uh Nishmat. That shouldn't have happened but all right, it's not the worst of error. The rest of it is fairly okay. So, see? Okay. Boker tov. As usual the Ishurim are in memory of Elisheva Freist and Elisheva Sima but Zalman Zefunal Bracha. Um My wife gave me an idea to perhaps do the Akdamot or Akdamut as it's spelled, Akdamut Milin. Many people call it Akdomus. Akdamut Milin which is a poem that we say on Chag Shavuot as Kriat Hatorah commences. So, let's say a few words about this particular poem. Um It says Me'ir Me'ir ben Rabbi Yitzchak Shatz which means Shliach Tzibur, Nahorai. Nahorai was a his family name. Today people have such a family name, Nahorai. But in in this case it was an appellation that was affectionately attached to this person who let's put him in his historic context. He's a contemporary of one of Rashi's teachers. One of Rashi's teachers, which puts him in the early part of the 11th century. Um and um he was a top known Thomas Hachem, a known poet, a paytan, and he was also a known shliach tzibbur, which means not only did he compose piyyutim, but he also davened. He was like a chazzan, and he he sang. Apparently, he was musically inclined as well. The name Nehorai actually is mentioned in the Gemara as an affectionate appellation to the Tanna Rabbi Meir. And the word Nehorai in Aramaic means light, illumination. Nehora in Aramaic means or. And therefore, they called Rabbi Meir Nehorai. Not only his name Meir, but he's an illuminator. And and his name is Meir as well. Meir ben Rabbi Yitzchak. So, he was affectionately known also as Nehorai, the illuminator. And they stole that idea from from Rabbi Meir, you know, so he becomes the next the second Rabbi Meir Nehorai. And for all you know, those people we know somebody from teaches in Migdal Oz, Rav Nehorai, who who's who who may have a family tradition of coming from somebody who was of this stock of it became a family name. No different than the the Lubavitcher Rebbe's name Schneerson, which ben Schneur, the son of Schneur. And that's where the family name becomes Schneur's son, the son of Schneur, or Schneur Zalman from Liadi. So, here you have a name. If you just look at the very end of the page, you'll it would be on the second page on the bottom. It was the middle of page, but the last source, which is source number six, it's the acrostic on this the acrostic for the Akdamut. Akdamut actually has 90 lines. I did not print out here 90 lines, but as we'll see in a second, it's it's can be divided into particular sections. One long section I don't have on the page, but I'm going to give you so you get your money's worth. I'm going to give you the gist of it anyway cuz it just would have carried over for another hour just to analyze it. But it ends with an acrostic. He has a double aleph-bet at the beginning and you can see this if you just go back to the first page. Akdamut and Avlah. Akdamut Milin VeShutafta Avdah Shakilna Harmon that's the aleph and then Trei Utlei Yefatah Min Akshuta Devarai Devarai Trei Utlei Adei Lekashishuta. So it's a double bet and the double gimel double dalet double heh double vav and till double tet tav on the second page where it says uh um very far far down. As a matter of fact, the double takes us uh Uh uh I I it's it's part of it's part of the poem that that you actually don't have on the page cuz I I take it down to a sameach and then I have ayin and then I have a shin at the very end of source number three. It's the letter shin and then becomes a tav. And the tav then continues. I'm just going to just read the first words of the continuation after the letter tav and you'll see what it spells out. I have it right here. Minan Don't worry about the words. Just focus on the first letter. Arum mem aleph Yekara yud Reutikh is a resh that spells out Meir, his name. The Hochmata is a bet, yud Yedaton, Rivutron is a resh. So, it's actually bet yud resh. What's beer? Beer is ben rabi. So, they used to write bet They used to write bet and like Gershayim, like a little marker, ben rabi. So, he uses a yud as if it's the Gershayim, it's the marker. Bet yud resh, ben rabi. And then it continues resh, ravuta, bemateh. You don't have this on the page. Yekara, and that spells out resh bet yud, which is rabi. And then it spells Yeshalem set I'm reading the first word of the continuation that you don't have. This whole section you don't have. Tzidakta Hadu spells out Yitzhak. So, we now have his name of Meir ben rabi rabi Yitzhak. That's his name. And then it says Hadu and um yud Kiryata, Yekara Genunei dahei. So, if you just look at the end, it spells it out on source number six, Meir beer rabi Yitzhak yigdal ba Torah u ba ma'asim tovim hazak ve'ematz. That's what the acrostic spells out after he finishes the double aleph bet. And it all adds up to 90 lines because the double aleph bet is going to give you 44 lines, 22 * 2. And then from line 45 until line 90 is going to spell out Meir bar beer rabi Yitzhak yigdal ba Torah ma'asim tovim hazak ve'ematz. He's signing off. This poem was suggested was written for purposes of Hag Hashavuot. A parallel poem, much shorter, was also written by the same author for a piyut that would be said after or before the haftarah of the second day of Hag Shavuot. Second day, here we don't have a second day Hag Shavuot, but if you happen to remember what was read for haftarah from the second day of Shavuot, it was a most rare haftarah that came from one of the books of the Trei Asar that we never ever use for any other haftarah, and it's hard to study it. It's from the book of Habakkuk. From the book of Habakkuk, and so here in Eretz Yisrael we don't have that haftarah at all, but in Chutz La'aretz you have it. And this Rabbi Menachem Yitzchak wrote a poem to be said before that haftarah. Now, what does it mean? He writes a poem in Aramaic. This is Aramaic that could break teeth. It's Aramaic Eretz Yisraelit. It's better enough for me Aramaic of the Talmud Bavli that people who studied Gemara and Daf Yomi are somewhat familiar with the lingo. But if you study Talmud Bavli and you go over the Talmud Yerushalmi, you're in trouble because the Aramaic is a little bit different. It's a different dialect of Aramaic. It's the Brich Shmei Aramaic, not the Yekum Purkan Aramaic. Yekum Purkan and Yishmaya is Aramaic of the Talmud Bavli, and it's Babylonian, and it's an easy read for people who are familiar with Gemara. But Brich Shmei, that is is is from the Zohar, that is in Eretz Yisrael Aramaic. It's the Aramaic of the book of Daniel. It's the Aramaic of the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Hebrew teeth reading because we're not familiar with that Aramaic. It's similar. It's like, you know, somebody from Lithuania listening to somebody from Hungary speak Yiddish. It's a It's the same language fundamentally. You can have some different words here or there, but the intonation is going to be different, and and you're going to have a hard time following it. It's going to It's not going to be clear. No different than you know, people from different parts of England and different parts of the United States who may all speak English. I beg to I know that the Brits tell me that the Americans don't speak English. Beside that, but you know, it's you have to you have to you can pick it out the the Bostonians and the Chicagoans and the Texans and it's it's very easy if you're familiar with the intonation of the of the various languages. So here we have Eretz Israel Aramaic Eretz Israelite. He's writing this long poem and why is he doing it in Aramaic? If he's sitting in the city of Worms in Germany in the 11th century, early 11th century, pre-Crusade, pre-Crusade cuz we read the last 2 weeks the poem for that we used for keynote "Mi Eitz Rashi Mayim" from the Colonimus family bemoaning the Crusades of the of the three big cities, Speyer, Mainz, and Worms. And Worms, Wormeisa. And and we had dates of of the 23rd of the 8th of of Iyar, the 23rd of Iyar, Rosh Chodesh Sivan, the 3rd of Sivan, the 6th of Sivan, which was Shavuot, the day that the Torah was given, that was the day the Torah was returned. Kem Kemochen Chazara, we spoke about this that they had the feeling that the Torah was returned to Shamayim because there's nothing left, the destruction of the Torah communities, centers, and so on in in Europe. Here we're talking about somebody who who he's not living in a picnic there. There was anti-Semitism, but he didn't yet have the pogroms of of the 1096. He's pre-that. And he's suggesting a poem to be read before Kriat HaTorah. Why? Because in those days Kriat HaTorah went side by side with the Onkelos translation of Aramaic, which is also Aramaic of Eretz Yisrael. Who was Onkelos? A ger. He was a ger. Right. Onkelos was a ger. And in the days of still Beit Hamikdash still stood, when when the Torah was translated by Onkelos, and um the idea of Shnayim Mikra v'Echad Targum, that every week you should go through the parshat hashavua twice and once with the Targum. Now, that was kicked in because Kriat HaTorah established by Ezra HaSofer in the days of the beginning of Bayit Sheini, the Gemara in Masechet Bava Kamma daf peh bet tells us that one of the institutions of Ezra was to have Kriat HaTorah with translation, which means they read a pasuk and they read the Aramaic. For example, Onkelos. Now, Onkelos is not word for word. It's mostly word for word, but here and there it's also integrates commentary, halakhic commentary. If you look at Onkelos on Lo Tevashel Gedi BaChalev Imo, it reads Lo Te'ekhlun Basar BaChalav. Don't eat meat and milk. That's not what the pasuk said. The pasuk said Lo Tevashel Gedi BaChalev Imo. Don't cook the meat of a goat in its mother's milk. And that's translated by Onkelos as Lo Te'ekhlun Basar BaChalav. So, it's a halakhic explanation translation, not it's a midrashic using midrash halakha. And there are other examples of that. But otherwise, it's pretty fairly, you know, uh translation, fine, of the text. And they would read it part of Kriat HaTorah. The the the the baal baal korei, the person getting the aliyah fundamentally, before it was even a baal korei, the person getting the aliyah read the pasuk and then somebody, a meturgeman, a translator, read out loud the translation. And the purpose of Ezra HaSofer was that there should be understanding of the text. And they understood the Aramaic the Aramaic from the days of beginning of I chain until the days of the Gaonim for almost 1,500 years. They understood Aramaic. It was their Yiddish, but they understood it. And that's why it was like a translation. The The This was all dropped in Europe when people didn't understand a word of the Aramaic any longer. And what was in what was brought into the picture with two things. One was that my brother had You don't have to read anymore cuz you can have to look at the Homish to understand the Homish. It's going to be a flip this side. So that dropped and they said, "You know what? Read the parsha and read Rashi cuz Rashi is an explanation. So some people do my brother had by simply reading the parsha and reading Rashi on the parsha. And that's how they fulfill their my brother had and in shul what replaced the Aramaic the the translator was the the drasha. That's where the drasha of the love of the enters after learning. He gets up and explains something about the parsha that the average person may have overlooked, never thought about. And if a love gets up and just translates the for you, it's a waste of time cuz you know that as well. Especially if you have a you know a you know Yeah, we have a what do you call it? love Oh, not school. Not school right. What do you say then? If there's no Rashi on the parsha. If there's no Rashi on the parsha, they just go further. That's all. You've said the The whole purpose of Rashi was this was the give you an explanation. The whole purpose of the the innovation of of of Ezra so fair was they should understand the text. And if there's no Rashi, Rashi figured you understood it, right? So So So So here you have the drasha which which takes the place of the the Aramaic. Fine, fine, fine. So, now this poem was done as an introduction to the Aramaic translation that's going to happen now as we read the um as we read the parsha. So, the ba'al korei calls I'm sorry, the gabbai calls up Kayin. Kayin gets up, and the first pasuk is b'yom shlishi where b'chodesh hashlishi where where it's the it's the middle of parshat Yitro, and he reads the first pasuk, and after the reading of the first pasuk, you get the Aramaic translation. And before the meturgeman gets started, kicks in this poem. And what is this poem? It's called a reshut. Reshut means permission granted or permission requested. Permission requested. And there there there was a a very very very known style of the poets that before they introduce something that they're going to have as part of the chazarat hashatz or part of the kriat haTorah as a poetic add-on, they ask permission almost from a Kadosh Baruchu to take a break from the reading. I mean, we're reading Torah, but now we're going to have the Aramaic translation. But before the Aramaic translation, I want to say something. I want to say something. It's like a rav will get up in shul and he says, you know, and I heard this once in Yiddish from a great darshan, "Eidegeh reden geh zogen a por vertel." Before I speak, I want to say a few words. And then you know you're in big trouble. Big Why Aramaic? Because it's the introduction to the Aramaic translation of the kriat haTorah. That's why. The beginning of the 11th century, they still did. They obviously still did. They obviously still did. It was probably that went by after the churban of 1096, things changed, the rehabilitation of the Jewish communities, they were happy that somebody knew some Hebrew. Forget about Aramaic, it wasn't taught any longer, and that's when the reading of the Targum was dropped as part of Kriat Hatorah. You know where it was picked up until almost this day? The Yemenites. The Yemenites, they still read the the Targum as part of Kriat Hatorah. I think they still do in Yemenite shuls. But for Ashkenazim and for North African Sephardim, it's already a thing of the past. Nobody does that anymore. So, you don't have any Targum at all, do you? Today, when we read the Torah on Shabbat, there's no Targum. We have a Targum, except we don't read it publicly. We don't read it, right. Right. So, let's just look at So, I mentioned that this is a reshuth. Look at the first two lines of the poem on the first page. Akdamut Milin v'sharaya shuta. Now, I'm going to tell you that I have open here two translations, one in Hebrew, one in English. This is a machzor that my wife received from her grandmother many years ago, and the the Hebrew publishing company So, and it's interesting The Lancie Street, where you get the pickles. Right. That's correct. So, the and I'm reading the English, and I'm reading the Hebrew, and you can see that both translators had different takes on some of the lines, and that's interesting because the English is trying to give me somewhat of a literal translation, and in the um the Tal Machzor Rinat Yisrael, he's giving me more of the understanding of the pasuk. So, he's translating not literally, but he's translating it so that we should understand it, and so on. So, Akdamut Milin in the English translation is at the beginning of his words. What do you mean at the beginning of his words? We're now starting to read about the Aseret Hadibrot. So, before Hakadosh Baruch Hu starts talking, Eileh Had'varim Asher Dibber Hashem I want to say a few words. I want to be I want to say a few words. I want to beat him to the punch. God's going to be speaking through the but before he gets on track, let me say a few words. But I'm going to ask permission. I will read them. I ask authorization and permission. That's the translation of I will shake our money or shoot us. So, you see the word I'm going to ask for for okay for permission to go on. Now, as I said, this was set began this kicked in after the it may have been the person getting the himself the coin read the first and they're waiting for the translator to start with the Arabic translation and before he gets started comes this poem. Comes this poem. Look at source number one. Source number one is a source. It's the Taz. Who is the Taz? His name was Rabbi David Levy. From the first page. First page on top. First page on top. The Taz is one of the known on the side of you buy a fancy you get the in the middle that's and the in print and on the side on the section of which deals with and you have the two main one is known as the and the other is the Taz. So, who's the Taz? The Taz is the son-in-law of the Bach. So, who's the Bach? If you came with me to Poland, we stood by his in Krakow. The Bach is the Rabbi Sirkus and his son-in-law was Rabbi David Levy who was spent some time in Krakow as well but ended his life as a robe in Lemberg which is Lavov today in the Ukraine but it's Galicia it's it's Galicia in Lemberg so he was in Lemberg and we're talking now about the beginning of the 17th century so he's known as the Taz. I I I'm just going to say something cousin of mine from Teaneck Manny Adler who once told me he wrote in a New York City cab cab the driver was Jewish I mean not a Belzer but Jewish he didn't have a kippah you know and the driver looks at my cousin and asks him he says did you ever hear of the T Rizuv? The T Rizuv? What? What's the T Rizuv? He says my grandmother told me that we come from the T Rizuv until my cousin realized it was the Taz that T the T Rizuv was the Torah Tzav Torah Tzav. So so the T Rizuv says so this is what this guy this cabbie remembered comes he's he's a descendant descendant right the Taz wrote the following the core on basis what says in Shulchan Aruch that we read on the first day of Shavuot because Rabbi Yosef Caro is writing this before he gets there it's Israel the Korban Rishon min min for the first I'm sorry he's reading the first Aliyah Barishon on the first day right Barishon on the first day of Shavuot he's writing min from BaChodesh HaShlishi Chodesh HaShlishi is the is the is actually Shlishi in Parshat Yitro that's what we begin reading on on Shavuot here in Eretz Yisrael on the only day of Shavuot Al Masha Noagim B'Medinot Eilo what's customary in our communities Likrot Pasuk HaRishon to lain the first Pasuk VeAchar Kach and after it's Matrilin you continue with Akdamut Milin You read this poem. Yesh mit more Harbei. I'm baffled by this custom, he says. He Rishaim love sick Mikria. How can you interrupt in the middle of Kriat HaTorah? There are a few less appear with the great Torah. Asur, in the middle of lightning, you're not supposed to talk the great Torah. You're supposed to just pay attention to the reading and let the reading go on. Can Kof Kof mention Kamosha Katu Besiman Kuf Mem Vav. The key the whole of the team and it's Karim Sham and there are a few leniencies that are mentioned over there in Shulchan Aruch when you're allowed to blurt something out in the middle of the reading of the Torah. In Amkan, they're not that's not relevant for this poem of Akdamot. Kosh came Beshvat Chazak. It's a nice praise where poem of praise to God show a no mean Yana Kria Klaw has nothing to do with the reading. And I'm going to challenge the Taz on this. Nothing to do with the reading? Lama Yesh Lanu L'Hafsik. It sounds like a Litvak today. Hefsek Hefsek Hefsek. Nishmati Mikarov, I heard from somebody either a relative or somebody close to me. She and he go rabbinim Mufakim great rabbinim decided Lishover Akdamot Koldem Sheyotkil Hakohain Habracha Shekriat HaTorah. They are variant custom. You know when Akdamot was written? Before the Kohain said Borchu, before he made the Bracha for the Aliya. Certainly before the Laining. They called up the Kohain and the Kohain is standing next to the Sefer Torah and then they start reading Akdamot. The Kohain Olin hold the Kohain Akilot. That's the proper way to do it. Guess what? That's what we do. This objection of the Taz changing the minag became uh very, very much accepted today. And then he says that's the name of the second poem that the same author wrote for the haftarah of the second day of Shavuot. Shamrim beyom sheni pasuk after the first pasuk of the haftarah that was also translated into Aramaic. Ra'ui l'hochen they should also do the same. Read the poem before the reading gets started. Not a big deal if they don't change the minag on the haftarah because haftarah reading is, you know, I I I say with great embarrassment that there's a thing called a kiddush club and I found out about a kiddush club when I was in St. Louis once as a guest speaker. The rabbi tells me just don't get a heart attack if by chamishi you have to show leaves. They're going across the street to some storefront to the guys can open a store just to have kiddush. And and another show somebody told me we're machmir, we're very machmir here. We only walk after haftarah. They stay for the whole evening. My brother show I can tell you in Mincha he forbade a kiddush club. Said it was a chillul Hashem and a busha to to walk out on on your your your mayau you can walk out. It's such a busha, really a busha. This kiddush club concept. So here you have the minag that we do today. Let's get to let's see what this is. I'm on the third line now already on on on the second third line of the line of bet of the poem. The vav tzerei u'tlad. I want to say two or three things. He's going to say 90 lines worth. Right. Just just two or three things. Yeah. It was read integrally inside the reading of the Torah? Not inside the reading. It was read after the reading of the first pasuk of the Torah. Somebody got up and read this poem. That's what it was done. But the task changed it. The task changed it. And what's done is he said, "All right, you want to do it before lining? That's okay. That's okay." And for eight straight if you knock shoot that. I'm not going to translate every word. I'm going to begin by two or three words. The the a day we can shoot that. Chinese, right? So, it reads to introduce them with two or three tremble trembling spoken of the creator who sustains the world to the world that's very old. We I'm going to say it two or three things about the creator of the world. And the world is still going on. She shim in modern Hebrew means old people. And what he's saying is this is an old world already and was created a long time ago, but I'm going to say something about the creator. Goo run all men laid the lot see pick pretty shoot that. A good old who is the eternal power is the key ball all men the key ball of the world. He is the strong one of the world. The eternal strong one and it's impossible to do justice saying everything that we want to say about him. Those see pick pretty shoot that. If I all race if I spread out all the words I'd never get done. I'd never get done. And he says Give you a weak here. Can I call her shoot that? If even if the sky was parchment the entire heavens of the world were parchment. The old in the old you may if the seas were all ink the whole make me shoot that. And and and the entire oceans would be a a reservoir of water to feed the ink. And if everybody would be sofrim, writers, and would be able to inscribe, which means if I had the ability to draft every human being to become a sofer and take every tree in the forest and make it a pen, a quill, and have all the water in the world become ink, and the heavens would be parchment, I'd never be able to finish writing the praise of God. What does this sound like, this concept? Okay, so you look at the side number two on to the left of the after mode on the same page. From Nishmat. Inufinu Malishira. On the first page, first page, just to the left of the after mode. Right, we have it here on the left? Yeah. But it's jumbled, and I'm sorry for that. So just follow with me as I read it. Inufinu Malishira Kayam. The Kayam is under the word after mode. If my my mouth was full of song like the sea, ulshonenu rina kamongalav, and my my tongue was able to like waves keep going, keep going saying the praise of God. My lips would be so engrossed with praise as if the the width of the heavens. And my eyes would be illuminated like the sun and the and the moon. My hands would be spread out like the eagles of the of of the sky. My feet could run just like the ayal. I would never be able to complete saying it all. The the praise you that told the means to praise our God will miracles that you've performed for us taking us out of Egypt as it says later and so on. It's like it's from the God. It's from the we say every morning and morning. This is the theme of what he's saying. It's basically one book of the hill. One of the hill which is now I'm going to forget it. Yeah. Which one? Which one? No. Who's going to help me out? I'll just all the praise what What's the book? No, no, no, no, no. I know the book and I know the book. I'll look up to me in a minute. Look up to me in a minute. The What was that? No, no, no, no, no. No, there's one you never know what it says in the beginning. I blanked out. Okay, I'll I'll get it. I'll get it. The um This this he's going to go on now to talk about a creation as the great creation. Okay, that's it. Who is capable to articulate all the praises of God? Who is capable to articulate all the praises of God. Yesh mia kol tilato. Is it humanly possible for a person to articulate all the praise of God? So what David Melech said in one pasuk, mi yemaleil g'vurot Hashem yashmia kol tilato, so here in Nishmat you got it down in about 10 lines and in the Akdamut he's got interesting ways of saying it, but it's the same idea. And then he goes on to explain something about the greatness of creation. Fine. So Kadosh Baruch Hu who created the world in six days and he made this fabulous creation and all that. And then if you just look under it, where at the bottom of the page it says, "Te'ur hamalachim hamishartim et Hakadosh Baruch Hu." A description of the angels who serve God. Flip to the second page. And it's already letter chet. And it reads, and I'll read the English first. Legions of thousands and myriads flock to his service, newly springing every morning with great firmness of faith. More brightly glowing are the seraphims adorned with six wings, waiting patiently in silence until the word is given. He's talking about the first creation that we should know about is the world of angels, the world of malachim. They are soldiers, cheil elef alfin. They are thousands, multiples, ribo, tens of thousands, who are there to serve God. And what did they do? They line up and patiently wait for a signal to give shevach to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And it's a one-shot deal. Every malach has one opportunity in its spiritual existence to say praise to God. And they don't want to miss the opportunity. What was that? Battle of the angel with Jacob according to the Midrash. Yafé. Yafé me'od. Parshat Vayishlach. Where Chazal say that the ish, the man who did battle with Yakov Avinu, was was an angel. Was an angelic figure. And he represented the nation of Esau. And that's why this whole fight was very symbolic. That Yakov wins, but he wins wounded. So, le'ah al yarecho. Which is spells out that Am Yisrael is going to survive but survive with pain. And limping through history. I mean, how true this was. How true this was. The chutz of le'ah al yarecho till this very day. Till this very day. And the malach wins and and it ends with a draw. A teiku. Nobody really gets a knockout here. But Yakov Avinu causes a type of the lock together. And the malach is begging him to release him because he has to go. Well, you know, in Yiddish we say "Vos brennt?" What's burning? What what what? He's got to say shira. Praise. And if he misses that moment, it's gone. Yafé me'od to them. That moment. That's what we learned about it as kids. In Chumash. In In first grade. This moment. So, the malachim, they have that one moment. And if you look at the just uh scroll down on this on this section where he says It would be youd. Yikav lun daymin dayn. This is a translation of vikara zeh el zeh ve'amar. What does he say in the second letter of the youd? Yikar malei kol ara. Yikar malei melo kol ha'aretz k'vodo. Litzlotei the three times of Kadosh. This is Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh Hashem the whole earth is full of his glory. And where does this come from? It comes from Yeshayahu. It comes from Yeshayahu and Navi who in sixth period sees the scene of the chariot. The Merkabah. Merkabah is the time of Yeshayahu's initiation to prophecy. And he gets an inkling into the world of the angels. Another Malach also got such a glimpse and that was Yechezkel. The first chapter and the third chapter of Yechezkel. And there he hears a different shira. Blessed be the glory of Hashem from his place. And they say if you remember if you studied Yechezkel against Yeshayahu, the whole description of the Merkabah, the scene of the chariot by Yeshayahu is six verses. And by Yechezkel it's two and a half chapters. Why? Because Yechezkel was a person from the Gola, from the diaspora of Bavel. And he was like a tourist. A tourist coming to the to a city, he can't stop writing and photographing and telling the story of it. Yeshayahu lived in Jerusalem was no big deal. So you know, so I saw the Kotel. Yeah, of course I saw the Kotel, you know, I saw the walls around Jerusalem. Yeah, I took the bus. I saw the I saw the I was on the train. I saw the walls of Jerusalem. It was no big deal. He was he was the person who lived in the capital. So he saw the Kadosh Baruch Hu, you know, I'm standing there. Okay. Yechezkel was a tourist. And he gives this vivid description. They say Yechezkel saw what Yeshayahu saw. They saw the same thing. But they had a different take on the Kedusha. Because to Yeshayahu who was here in Jerusalem, the Kadosh Baruch Hu was all around. The whole earth is full of his glory. That's all. The whole earth is full of his glory. As the Eden would teach you kids here I remember in America I remember I remember everywhere but you shall I will say it it was you will see it from a distance. But before I shall the address out there he's got an address. So but they but they saw something about the him and this is what the poet is saying here about the him who was saying and how do we know it because the it was revealed to us by the what do we do when we say the words that we heard from the him we're going to say words of imitating the words that we heard from the him from the him as it's written by the as it's question did you shall I will hear each other say three times or did the you shall I will hear a say except that it wasn't in unison and it sounded like it was it's almost like it's almost like under the when the asked two witnesses to witness the giving of the ring so all of a sudden you start hearing the words that we heard from the him from the him as it's written by the as it's question did you shall I will hear each other say three times or did the you shall I will hear a say except that it wasn't in unison and it sounded like it was it's almost like it's almost like under the when the asked two witnesses to witness the giving of the ring so all of a sudden you start hearing the words that we heard from the him from the him as it's written by the as it's question did you shall I will hear each other say three times or did the you shall I will hear a say except that it wasn't in unison and it sounded like it was it's almost like under the when the asked two witnesses to witness the giving of the ring so all of a sudden you start hearing the words that we heard from the him from the him as it's written by the as it's question did you shall I will hear each other say three times or did the you shall I will hear a say except that it wasn't in unison and it sounded like it was it's almost like under the when the asked two witnesses to witness the giving of the ring so all of a sudden a volunteer it says because which is the aromatic translation of exactly what he writes here you call me lay call our the company and and and you have the aromatic translation of three different understandings of kadosh in that tomorrow we'll get it in the sitter you'll see that the kadosh is mentioned three times with different understandings because that took adopted the opinion that each model said kadosh three times and he's talking about three different aspects of the kadosha and that's what the poet here adopts as well the company shall be the lobby saying it baby car the car me lay call little kadosh three times the word kadosh is being said maloch are called out and he's only talking about malachim and I have on the page here and source number three so you see that the the the version of the kadosh kadosh that we say every day in volunteer is the version that this author also adopted that each malach said the kadosh three times but then if you look on the next stanza where it says the description of Israel with the kadosh bochu it starts with it down you call a casa it's in three where where in the in the paragraph of the poem have you seen the big water break my teeth just reading it. What is this being said? Here the poet is actually saying and now I want to say something about Am Israel who's worth more than all of the angels. Look what he does. He tells us that I'm going to say a few words about the greatness of and he made this fabulous world in six days and all that. And with the world came along angels. And the angels are multiple billions of angels and so on and so on. And they get to say Kedusha once in their existence. And then comes Am Israel and guess what? We get to say Kedusha every morning and night. We are the preferred creation way beyond the angels. Why? Cuz to the angels they did not receive Torah. The whole Medrish that talks about that Moshe Rabbeinu comes to our Sinai and the Malachim do not let Moshe Rabbeinu leave with the Torah. It's ours for safekeeping. And the Medrish says Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Malachim, "All right, let's take a peek at what says in the Torah. It says you're not allowed to eat non-kosher. You guys eat? You don't eat. You're not allowed to steal. You have possessions? There's nothing in the Torah that speaks of the existence of angelic existence. Nothing. It's as we say in this country, lo relevanti. It's not relevant to you at all. And finally the angels had to give up to Moshe Rabbeinu. And Moshe Rabbeinu wins the argument and he takes the Torah down to this world. And down to this world means he gives it to Am Israel on Chag Hashavuot. And Am Israel is supposed to engage in the Torah study and engage in performance of mitzvot and engage in placing Kedusha on this world every single time. You not only mention Kadosh, but every time you perform a mitzvah and bring Kadosha into this world. We are way above the Malachim as a creature. And he says it in this particular paragraph Let me see you bring zero in. In the letter tsadik, and in this paragraph, I'm going to scroll down. Svi, we want the word Svi means wanting. We say it in ketubah, Vitsvi and and the the chatan asked the desire, desire that such and such. Vitsvi the chamid from the word chemed, which would strong desire. Viragig deal on bilauta. We want to swallow up the words of Torah. We have to absorb the words of Torah. Slot home became what slot home means tfila. It kabbal slot home of all of them of all of Israel. Slot home the tfila became mitkabel. God will accept our tfilot. He will accept our mitzvot. Ketira le chei olama betaga beshvuata. On chaga shavuot Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give us the crown of Torah because we have accepted Torah. Taga is crown. God has accepted us, given us an eternal crown of Torah. Kavel yikar to tefta yetiva bikviuta. I'm studying Torah as I am wearing my totefet. What's totefet? Tefillin. What's the relationship of tefillin with Torah? Look at source number four. Source number five first. Let's say source number four first. Source number four comes from the Yeshua. Lo yihe first chapter of Yeshua. Lo ya mush sefa Torah zemi pikha. Don't let the safer Torah leave your mouth. De ha kita vo yo mama layla. Engage in the study of Torah day and night. Leman tishmor la sot ke kol ha ka tu vo. Ki az tatzliach et darkecha ve az taskil. You will be successful if you keep the Torah with you. This is what Yeshua is being told by Hakadosh Baruch Hu and Yeshua is giving it over to Am Yisrael in his first major delivery to the people. And in the next source number five, which is really the beginning of the last page, from Parshat Bo. Vayala ot al yadcha uzi karon ben enekha leman tiye torat Hashem be fikha ki vyad khazaka hotziyakha Hashem mi Mitzrayim. Interestingly, the Torah speaks of tefillin four times. And that's why we have four parshiyot in the boxes, right? These aren't empty boxes, as you know. Of course, if you go to Macy's in New York City and buy the bar mitzvah kit, you can pick it up for $25. The parsha The boxes are cardboard, the parshiyot are printed paper, and why should I spend so much money for tefillin if I just need it for the picture at the bar mitzvah, right? Cuz tefillin costs a few hundred bucks, a nice pair of tefillin, as we know, right? So, here in the first time it doesn't say totefet. The second time, in Parshat Bo, it says vayala ot al yadcha u le totfot ben enekha ki be khozek hotziyakha Hashem mi Mitzrayim. The third time is in Devarim already, ukshartam lo ot al yadcha vayulu totfot ben enekha. And the fourth time in Parshat Ekev in Devarim, ukshartem lo ot al yadchem vayulu totfot ben enekhem. So, the parshanim struggle with the word totefet. It doesn't have a parallel in the Torah, and they work it out that it's it means boxes and whatever. No, total foot or something. Right, full steam. Full steam? That's with a tough that a tet. Yeah, but it sounds the same. Sounds the same. But if you are a Yemenite, you'd never say it the same way. Okay? Cuz the tough is a fader. The tough is a fader. It's a th. Right? Not But we have mix Ashkenazim made a chof and a chet and the, you know, we we mix them all together. But here you have a pasuk where instead of totaphet, it's zikaron. It's the first time this mentioned in the Chumash. V'ayala ol ta' yadcha uli zikaron bein einecha lema'an tihi torat Hashem befiha ki v'yad chazaka hotzi'acha Hashem mimitzrayim. In other words, what's the purpose of tefillin? Purpose of tefillin is to remind you to study Torah. And you know, the mitzvah of tefillin is from morning till night. We take it off after shacharit. Why? Cuz the Rambam tells us in the fourth chapter of Hilchot Tefillin that the sanctity of tefillin is such that when you have tefillin on, you're not allowed to detract from your attention of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You have to be thinking about Hakadosh Baruch Hu full time. And because we know ourselves better than anyone else, that's not going to happen. And therefore, it would be a profane it would be profaning the kedusha of tefillin if we work it wear it the whole day. So, we take it we The great hope is that for a half hour in the morning davening, we can focus on Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That's the great hope. Some of us don't even make it that much, but at least we're engaged in davening, you know? So, that's the great hope. But once you finish davening, you take off your tefillin, and that's it. Finished. But the idea of the poet here means that we are engaged in Torah day and night. And he ends it in the here in the last as lines. It's I called it Pinyan de Shamayim. Limud Torah. It's a call for Torah study. The last lines. Zakain Kad Shmatin. Let me read the English version and then you'll you'll get the whole gist of how this poem very beautifully ends. Zakain, you righteous, as you have heard the hymn of praise, now you just heard what I what I just said here, so may you eternally be blessed of that be that in that blessed circle. You should be in the circle of which Hakadosh Baruch Hu has prepared for Am Yisrael in the end of days. That section that I did not give you on the page talks about how Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to help Am Yisrael get through the the galut, the bitter bitter galut. And there's going to be a circle at the end for tzaddikim, and you're going to be part of it if you study Torah. If you will be worthy of a place in the highest row, if you will obey the words uttered in this glory, exalted is the God from the beginning to the end who loved us and graciously gave us His Torah. Right? Let's read it. Zakain Kad Shmatun. Shvach Da Shirata. Kviin Kenteivun Behan Hu Chavurata. Vetizku Lidi Teitvun Beala Darata. Arei Titzitun Lemilei Lenafkei Behadarta. Meromam Hu Elokin. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is exalted. Bekadma Uvatrata. Early, he's the first one and he's the last one. As we say, "Behu Rishon Vehu Acharon. Ani Rishon Veani Acharon." Tzvi Veatrai Ban Umesar Lan. Oh, writer, God who loves us so graciously gave us the Torah." And then the Ba'al Koreh continues in its earliest version. And today the Kohen then says Baruch Hashem Mevorach, says the Bracha. How could the Taz say that this is not relevant to Kriat HaTorah? The whole poem is a song of love of Torah, of encouraging people to study Torah. So here comes the postscript. I heard about Akdamot for the first time from a Rebbe in sixth grade. His name was Rabbi Geldwerth. He's the only Rebbe I remember anything from from my elementary school. He was a phenomenal teacher. He was a terror. He was a terror in class. He made us If I have a an ulcer, it's from there. The principal, who is a wonderful principal of the Torah Vodaath Yeshiva, Rabbi Elya Schwartz, alav ha bracha, realized that this teacher was so great, but so terrorizing that he couldn't dare give a class more than an hour a day. So he shifted Rabbi Geldwerth to different classes. So you had him a little bit in sixth grade for an hour, in seventh grade for an hour, and he would shift around. Um we learned more by this teacher, and he's the only teacher I remember anything from. With the terror and all. So maybe the shita was okay, but maybe Rabbi Schwartz was very generous that we didn't have to have him for 4 hours. But we learned things there. It was unbelievable. And he told us taught us the story of the legend, the Aggadah, of the Sambation River. The Sambation River, which is in India. So, my wife is reading a book now from Hill Halkin called The Sabbath River. I guess that's the name of it. And it's about the Sambation. And beyond the Sambation, the legend was the 10 tribes were were were that were sent to. And they were hiding behind the Sambation River deep in the Far East. Why were they hiding? Cuz the river is like volcanic. It it spurts out rocks during the week, and only on Shabbat it rests. And that's why it was called the Sabbath River, the Sambation. But you can't cross the river cuz you're not to cross river on Shabbat. So, they were boxed there. And the story goes that in the 14th century, there was a in the city of Worms in the 14th This is now the rehabilitated city of Worms. There was a monk, anti-Semitic to the core, who also used magic. And Jews were dying because of this magic. And the word was that there's somebody from Shevet Menashe from behind the Sambation who had the antidote and would be able to stand up to this monk. Cuz the monk said, "If you have anybody If you can produce anybody who can undo what I'm doing, I'll let you go. I'll let you off the hook." And they decided to send a Rabbi Meir to India. And because it was pikuch nefesh, he would be able to cross the river on Shabbat. And he gets to the other side, and they wanted to arrest him, the Jews of Bnei Menashe, because he was mechallel Shabbos. He went and traveled on a boat on Shabbat. How can you do this? And he explained that he's a representative of the community, and he has to find So, the word was that there's somebody in this community of Bnei Menashe, and they said, yes, there is. He's a very weak weak person. His name is Dan. And he's going to go go back to Worms in Germany and stand up. But you, Rabbi Meir, you're stuck. You can't go back. Unlike the psak that we have today for doctors who have a psak halacha that if they drive to an emergency, they're allowed to drive back to be home for the next emergency or I'm not going to go if I I don't have a head to come home for Shabbos. So that's so so it's a head of two-way street. But no, Rabbi Meir lives out his life. He gives up his family, his whole life, everything. Lives out his life over there going to this legend. And this but before the this Dan from the Menashe tribe boards the boat, Rabbi Meir composes Akdamus with his name Meir ben Rabbi Yitzchak Katz V'eimas. And he asked that they should read it on Shavuos to remember of me to remember me like a Yizkor type. And he does. You know what's the problem with this? 14th century, Rabbi Meir ben Rabbi Yitzchak was dead 300 years already. So the story wouldn't fly. It wouldn't go well. But the association of Worms, the association of the troubles that they had in Worms, the association of a Rabbi Meir who writes a poem of survival of Am Yisrael, we can understand why this Akdamus that was composed in the 11th century takes off in the 14th century. And it becomes a poem for generations to come. Because Chag Hashavuot was a time to remember the decimation of the community of Worms and Speyer and and minds. As we gave the dates of the 8th and the 28th of and the 3rd of and the 6th of it was associated with it and the message that no matter how bad the communities were we will rehabilitate the world of Torah. And promises us that there's going to be eventually an end to all of these so it's going to get back at the enemy and he will save us at the end of the day and this is what is all about. It's the revival of Torah. And that's why is not a historical comment but it's a moment where pledges to the whole we're here to continue with the Torah. No matter what, no matter what it's going to be it's going to be we're going to do it. And in adopted this poem. So you have the in the 17th century have have have have You know the story of the of the who was attacked by an anti-semite and was ready to kill him and the says this from says one second before you kill me I want to make a call and the of the and he and he starts he said all right make a and he starts going and he goes and he goes this anti-semite sees that this is a holy man I shouldn't kill him and he decides he regrets that he's going to kill him and the goes no no no no no shoot have have have have have You have to be a real to understand that but right that's what he I'm saying this now because I forgot to tell you next week Wednesday there'll be a share except that I'm not going to be here.