Emor: Second, Second Chances Rabbi Ari Kahn | April 30th 2026

Okay, so the sheer sponsored by Rabbi Michael and Jerry Laxmeter for full shalom of their granddaughter Avigail Sarah but Shayna Aharona. And additionally it says here that today's morning of learning was dedicated for full shalom Meheira for Rabbi Sorto Liam Yakov Nissan ben Ora. So may they and all those who are in need of a refuah that God should give them full shalom. So you you asked for a good sheer today cuz you needed Torah. So you may have to stay for the next sheer after this one. I'll come back. So let's [snorts] let's start in this week's parsha and we'll we'll notice some things which are obvious. At some points we are going to and I'm going to just put it this way especially in light of the way that the ideas are framed here and you'll this will become this sentence become clear in the next minute or two that we're also going to note some calendrical issues and that's going to end up taking us in a slightly different direction. Ela Moadei. So right away Moadei we're dealing with Moed. Moed are going to be holidays. Moed is a word which is interesting because you can have Moed in terms of the Chumash sometimes meaning a place oh a Moed a place of meeting and sometimes as Sherley gets shish mish gash there's a meeting but because of the time. So therefore a Moed is when we meet God as it were because there's going to be some kind of holiness imbued within the time. So Ela Moadei Hashem so the holidays have this extra for lack of a better term right now I'll call it an extra spiritual charisma to them. So again the verse Ela Moadei Hashem Mikraei Kodesh Asher tikre'u otam be mo'adam. So there is an emphasis over here that they are the Moadei Hashem the Mikraei Kodesh and tikre'u otam be mo'adam. So the Moadeim have to be be mo'adam cuz if the Moed is not be mo'adam it's again it's the calendar. And if it's not be mo'adam then it's not the Moed. So you old time. Again there's a mifgash in terms of place there's a mifgash in terms of time and the Moadeim are places of Mikraei Kodesh. They're places of meeting with God in terms of time because the Mikraei Kodesh. Bechod ha rishon ba basar lechodesh bein ha'arbayim. So a very specific time is given. Now this is actually going to be an outlier because we know that when it comes to just but everything else on this list that the Jewish calendar begins with well I'm going to call it sunset. You want to argue with me you want to call it shkiah fine. You want to say it's 20 minutes earlier it's fine with me. You want to call it 40 minutes earlier. I mean what what whatever you want. Actually when it comes to counting the Omer there's uh for let's be honest according to most people counting the Omer be zman hazeh by the way just in case you're troubled I'm going off on the Omer the Omer is in this week's parsha. So this is about the parsha. The Omer be zman hazeh according to most is derabbanan based on the Gemara. The Gemara a memar says that today it's zecher lemikdash it's it's a memorial it's not the real Omer which would be between the bringing of the korban Omer moving forward. The but being that today the Omer is derabbanan so then the question becomes from which point can you start to count? So if you just want like really simple halachic logic okay the best time to count would be after tzeis hakochavim because after tzeis hakochavim is night. That's why we end Shabbat by tzeis hakochavim. On the other hand you all know that we start Shabbat already by shkiah or bit before shkiah going to your 18 minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes 40 minutes depending where you lived and when you lived. So there are various customs regarding when you start. But when it comes to this actually an interesting formulation and it says that like and I'm not going to have the exact citation but there's a little bit of an argument about what it means in the Shulchan Aruch. And the Biur Halacha brings opinions that says before the night actually mean you can count actually means from plag hamincha. And that Wow we got a wow out of that. You know how much rabbis and people argue over this? >> Yeah. I like I appreciate all So if you want I can show you inside where he's where he says this. And from plag from plag hamincha certainly certainly from shkiah one can count. I have to explain plag hamincha because it makes no sense and then we'll come back to this point. Which means the shkiah versus the tzeis hakochavim tension is based on a very simple point. How do you define day and how do you define night? Do you find night and day based upon light and darkness or do you base them based upon sun or lack of sun? If I say that day is as long as there's sun so sunset is when the day is over when the night begins. If I say it's light so then it's still light after sunset and that brings me during the time of bein hashma'ashot until it actually gets dark. That that I'm I just said it in the simplest way but that's the point. Is day based on when there's sun or is day based upon there's light? Is darkness based upon when there's no sun or is or is night based upon when there's no sun or is night based upon when there's darkness? That's that is essentially going to be the question. So now when some opinions say that you can count before night did they mean during bein hashma'ashot? Now the simple point would be of course you can count during bein hashma'ashot. And not only that there's a Tosafot that says it's preferable. Why? Because of this famous idea of temimut. Oh you want to be temimut so make sure you count early. You like that right? You want temimut so you have to count early if there's going to be I know that the Taz plays this game I'm sorry for calling it that and everybody's impacted by this that you can't daven on Shavuos until no Gemara no Rishon as far as I know. I can show you the Biur Halacha the Biur of the Gra who says there is no concept of temimut be zman hazeh because the whole thing is derabbanan and there is no idea of temimut. The Magen Avraham who has the same idea says therefore you shouldn't make kiddush until it's dark. By the way in my shul nobody fights. I say we can daven early and we daven. That's all. That's what happens in your in charge. So yeah so we daven. I tell everybody make sure that you'll make kiddush you know it's not going to be an issue cuz no one's going to really get home in time for kiddush till till it's safe but don't don't wait to daven until uh until it's safe. Yes there's a Taz that says that and everybody else disagrees and uh or we'll put it this way. I think it's a chumra that brings down some various kulot you know to push everything later and later. Anyway we'll we'll leave it at that for for the moment but there is a Tosafot that says that you shouldn't dafka count early because of the same consideration that each night if you want completeness so then you want to count as early as possible. So but it comes to a very simple halachic point. And that is that it's a safek derabbanan and this is apologies to the Rambam now that can when you count Sefirah it's safek derabbanan lekula. So you can count during shkiah cuz shkiah is night at least at again at least on our rabbinic level cuz there's no sun anymore. So how in the world can you get some people to say no but from plag is good enough? So it's because of the following thing. I'll give two I'll give two considerations then I'll give it a name. One. From when could you possibly light Chanukah candles? And and don't answer me I don't know I'll ask a different question. When should you light Chanukah candles? So you should light from tzeis hakochavim you sorry you should light actually from shki'at hachamah is what it says. So why some people think shki'at hachamah actually means tzeis hakochavim that goes back to this argument what in the world shki'at hachamah means. Stop. Full stop. When could you light from? You could light from plag hamincha. When do we take advantage of this? On every Friday of Chanukah. Why? Cuz you really don't have a choice. You're not going to light after shkiah to do a mitzvah derabbanan of Chanukah and therefore possibly break Shabbat but nonetheless you could do it from plag. That's important. On the other hand from which point can you have an early Shabbos? Right we're getting into the season of early Shabbos. You can accept Shabbos upon you from plag hamincha. Well why? If I can make Shabbos early why not Wednesday? I that's a very bad question. If I can make Shabbos early why not from after mincha time from chatzos? Why not after a little after chatzos chatzos another half an hour? But the answer is and this is now I wanted to give it a name that plag hamincha is already evening. From plag hamincha is evening. What's evening halachically? I don't know. It's from plag hamincha. And from evening already it's already connected to the night. And therefore Excuse me. >> It's plag hamincha from you. That's evening. Plag hamincha is evening. And it's not shkiah it's not bein hashma'ashot it's evening. And from evening I can light Chanukah candles. From evening I can already make kiddush. From evening I can accept Shabbat. It's already evening. Whatever that now means so therefore there are going to be opinions that you can count the Omer, which is as much as from the evening. I'm not saying anything else about this, but what I am going to point out now is that the Jewish calendar begins, now you can decide now, the evening shkiah say that and you'll realize that it may make a difference you're dealing with the Torah law, not a Torah law, what exactly is taking place over here. It's Shabbat, is it a Torah? So leave all of that right now. That everything all the things on our list over here, all of them should be whether it's Shabbat, whether it's whether it's all of them should be things that begin with now pick your favorite demarcation if it's or if it's or so on, but what it shouldn't be is the morning. And what it shouldn't be is the way that the first law begins. And then I am so happy that so is actually a bit earlier. It's not just from it's a bit earlier. So all that I'll say about this for now is that is a How should we put this? It's a as much as all of us know that in Judaism first comes the night and then the day or the day follows the night. That's true in all orders of Judaism except for the dash. The it's first the day and then the night. Different etiquette, different rules, different laws and this is one point and therefore again those who pay attention know that there's two different holidays over here and in the next verse a different day, a different holiday. Well, when it's going to be from pick your time sunset until sunset. Okay, so those those nights. So you have this this combination or a conflation of two different holidays and of course there's overlap and that's part of the excitement about Pesach and which biblically are two different days and you all know this already. Wonderful. But so far what we have is an emphasis Pesach Hashem a particular day on the 14th continue with the heat of the Ritz. So we here we have this emphasis of the land. So for our Zionists among us so now it's time to pay attention. heat of the Ritz Hashem with the heat of the Ritz Hashem with the heat of the Ritz Hashem with the heat of the Ritz Hashem with the heat of the So this whole idea of the Omer is it's an amount. It's an amount which is brought as an offering. It's brought as an offering heat of the Ritz Hashem because it's agricultural. It's things that grow. It's the first thing that that grow, the first things that going to grow. It's going to be barley. And you're going to bring it and there's actually more discussion about the Omer here than anything else. with the heat of the Ritz Hashem and you're going to bring some offerings on that day and so on. with the heat of the Ritz Hashem with the heat of the Ritz Hashem with the heat of the So the idea of not eating new or is dependent upon the Omer, which is dependent upon a day, which is dependent upon an act, dependent upon a place and there really is an interesting interrelationship between Israel and not Israel over here, but if we were to pay attention to all of the laws of the holidays written and listed and explained in partial MR all of them are land oriented. All of them are speaking to the farmer. All of them are speaking to the farmer who lives in Israel. And these are the days the dates are actually quite important. This should not be a surprise. All that you needed to do till now would would have been to pay attention to one particular holiday or two holidays and that's either or because it's been said already multiple times. Only question is we paid attention to it. In source number two, this is the end of partial bow right after we were told which by the way gives us the ability of appointing the months, of declaring the months. That's important. But I just want you to think about that for a moment. the heat of the Ritz is never given the never given a date. It's based upon our counting. And the very beginning of leaving Egypt was based upon our counting and our determining the months and our determining the time. the heat of the whenever we decided Pesach was then we're going to count 49 days and that's when it's going to be. God has lost control of that. It's very interesting because God can kind of I guess micromanage when the new moon will be seen or not seen when they'll declare. I mean again, the the points out that could be on different days of the calendar at least three different days because you have a number of different months that could have 29, 30 days. So depending on the variables over here, the can come on a number of different calendar days, but once which is actually very funny. Why in the world are there two days of in I mean they they deserve an extra for why should they be two days once you started counting? How in the how in the world are you going to get to number 50 and then say oh, but we're going to get to 51. And if that's the case, then how can you start counting on the on the very beginning? I mean there are those who bring this up. Why not just count every day? Today's the first day. Today is today is the second day or today is the second day and and yesterday what how do you count? How do you I mean you should not only that if is not dependent on that month and not the previous month, right? Doesn't make a difference was was it goes all the way back when Nissan was presumably they had a lot more time to figure this out. So I'm not going to ask any questions about this. I I will I will say something which I find difficult for multiple reasons. And that is the position published by the Rebbe saying that if you were in Australia and you cross the international date line and you ended up in Los Angeles and you've been counting, so therefore you're going to get to your 50th day the day before them. So you should keep your 50th day as and then keep their 50th day as the and then keep the second day that they keep and you just now turn into three days. And my question on that is and what if you go around the world a second time? Do it again. If you go around now, if you go around the second time, a third time, a fourth time, are you going to make a whole week of I mean what are you going to do at some point? I mean this is part of the problem of having an international date line. Again, if you go the second time, then presumably then you should have kept skip a day and then keep their and then keep their second day. Really? Really? I I don't see that. On top of all that there's another thing which I find perplexing with that is that it's ultimately determined when it is. It determines when the holiday will be. But nonetheless, it's interesting. By the way, just in case you're worried about the second day, there is a great that I guess I could have showed you in this context. I did not I did not always going to talk about this that indicates that I gave you it says something like this. I gave you bad like bad things, whatever. And he says because you didn't keep you didn't keep this way you didn't keep the holidays properly here, then I gave you two days there, but don't think you're going to get double the car. Actually, it's quite the opposite. It's going to take you two days to get the same as one day there, which means really is saying that and the wrote about this in his there's an article on there quotes there and there he goes into this a little bit. Um So essentially I mean here we are at the point that it's understood. There's also interesting how he understands one day or two days. It's also connected to this. But essentially it's claiming that in it has half the you need two days to get to the same that you have in Israel. And therefore you have a theoretical what if somebody were in a boat? Right? And they're traveling from and they're in a boat and they arrive in Israel on the second day. And they want to stay in Israel. So still they have to keep the second day because they only had half the on the first day. They didn't they didn't fulfill this properly. Then they need they need two days. They need two days to get up to the same amount. You'd be right except for one problem because that second day is here. So they don't have the here. So let let us let us let us then continue. Let us then continue. So the reason I said this shouldn't come as a surprise. Yes, so we started counting. So again, I'm going to say that's interesting. Look. Just parenthetically, there are those who imagine and if this sounds disrespectful, I'll tell you some of those include the the so very very so very very important in them. Will imagine that even though the Torah just now told us what is this spirit of Omer? It's when you go into the land. Which means during the 40 years did they do this? Presumably not. Keep the heat of the when you go into the land, you're going to start counting from the time that you bring the carbon omer, which is when you grow the first barley, which is going to grow in the land, and then you start counting 7 weeks until that other holiday to Chag HaBikurim. So, this is all agricultural, which means you didn't do it in the desert. So, what is it the Rambam says? He believes that they did it when they left Egypt going to Sinai. By the way, this is this is in the Moreh Nevukhim. This is great because everybody teaches this. You You ask any kid who learns in a yeshiva day school, by the way, I'll tell you a secret, ask their rabbis as well, what is the omer? The omer is from leaving Egypt to getting to Har Sinai, and we count the days to prepare for Sinai. That's all great. It just happens to be against what the Torah says. Total malpractice in terms of If you want to say additionally, no, no, what does the Torah say? It says Ki Savo HaAretz. When you enter the land, there's an agricultural mitzvah that needs to be done. So, an agricultural mitzvah is based upon But, this is not a trick question. It's based upon agriculture. So So, for the Rambam to say that God put that mitzvah in as a memorial for what they did when they were told that you will be leaving It's It is really interesting cuz I'm going to say it again, leaving Egypt begins with HaChodesh Hazeh Lakhem. That's the beginning of the end. You have to start counting. And then they start counting, right? We're going to get By the way, that also presupposes that they know they're getting to Sinai. That they know where they're going. I think also, just in terms of shot in the Torah, okay, on the one hand, they were told, you know, I'll give you a sign that you'll see God on this mountain. So, all the people know that, and all the people that know they're going to it. They're going to Sinai, and they start counting, then they know that there's 49 days to count. That's what I'm saying. All of these things are are making very big assumptions. The Rambam says it. Everybody teaches it. It's just not shot in the Chumash. Okay, good. But, we go to source number two. Hayom maten yotzim b'Chodesh Aviv. Emphasis. You're leaving in the springtime. V'yoki'akha Hashem el eretz haKena'ani v'haChitti v'haEmori v'haPerizi v'haChivi v'haYevusi. Right, the day lakh eretz zavat chalav u'dvash. Va'avadta avodah hazot b'Chodesh Hazeh. Do Do you like now the emphasis? It has to be in this month. It has to be in the springtime. Doesn't work otherwise. The omer doesn't work. The bikurim don't work. The whole calendar doesn't work if it's not adjusted. And now you see from the very beginning, it says so. You left b'Aviv. You go into the land of zavat chalav u'dvash, which is very much describing the agriculture. You're going to live in an agrarian society. Va'avadta avodah hazot b'Chodesh Hazeh. If In just in case you missed that one in source number three, in perek Kuf Gimmel, you have Tishmoru shivat yamim tokhlu matzot. Again, Chag HaMatzot ka'asher tziviti Chodesh Aviv ki vo yetzatem mimitzrayim. It has to be in the spring, and that's By the way, is it because you left then, or is that the reason you left then? It may very well be, and that's the reason you left in the spring. You look again in perek Lamed Daled, Et Chag HaMatzot Tishmoru shivat yamim l'moed Chodesh Aviv ki b'Chodesh Aviv yetzatem mimitzrayim. Again, that ki now becomes interesting. What's you know, what's the cause and what's the effect? In case you missed it over there, what are we up to? Source number five, Shmor Chodesh Aviv. You have to guard and make sure it's going to be in the spring. Va'asita Pesach ki b'Chodesh Aviv hotzi'akha Hashem mimitzrayim lailah. Again, ver- very very specific. You need more times? That's enough. Now, all of this should lead us to one place, and that one place is very very simple. That Pesach, Chag HaMatzot, Chag Aviv, Sefirah, Chag HaBikurim, for that matter, Chag HaSukkot as well, Chag HaAsif. All of these are connected to the calendar. All these are connected to the land. All these are connected to agriculture. All of these need the calendar to be established. And therefore, all of this should be non-negotiable. So, [snorts] what did Jews do when something is non-negotiable? We negotiate. We negotiate. Just cuz something is non-negotiable should not stop any of us. But, I I That's what I'm saying. I just hope you see how clearly, absolutely embedded all of this is, and it's non-negotiable. There are so many other layers to what I'm saying right now. A deeper point in terms of the matzah, a deeper point in terms of bread, and deep deep All of this is connected to the land, to the calendar, and so on. And all of this should be non-negotiable. In case you need, like, just one rabbi to say something about this, the korban Pesach has to be at that point. Chag HaMatzot has to be at that point. The omer has to be at that point. But, I just want to go back to the korban Pesach. We do a a general principle when it comes to the korban Pesach. And what is it? In source number six, we just had to get someone to say it, so why not the Rambam, especially if I may have been perceived as picking on him before, even I didn't. Tz'khirah d'at et ha'klal hayadu'a, over is mano botel korbano. That when it comes to certain things, you can't negotiate. One of those is the time to bring a korban. A korban is connected to a time. You can't negotiate. A korban is a specific time. By the way, it's interesting that when we have this perception that the prayers that we have, Shacharit, Mincha, Ma'ariv, are based upon various things that happened in the Beit HaMikdash. We also have this perception that it's based upon it's based upon the avot, Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov. So, when it comes to If you miss Shacharit, without getting into all the details, you could daven Mincha twice. You miss Mincha, you could daven Ma'ariv twice. Miss Ma'ariv, daven Shacharit twice. That's That's just again, broad strokes, that's the law. What if you miss Musaf? You miss Musaf, you can't make it up. Why? Because the others are based upon two things, based upon the Beit HaMikdash, which by the way, actually gives it its time, and based upon the avot. When Avraham davened, when Mincha When Yitzchak davened, when when Yaakov davened. But, those are based upon the avot. Whenever something's based upon the avot, there's an aspect of rachamim, compassion. We can negotiate. Avraham negotiates, right? We can negotiate. And therefore, we can make it up. Musaf, which is only based upon the korban, there's no negotiations, and it can't be made up. Over is mano, botel korbano. Which means when it comes to Shacharit, I don't say over is mano. I don't say, "Oh, the time has come to Shacharit." No. There's enough Avraham. Avraham got up and davened. We daven cuz Avraham davened. So, presumably, there's compassion there. And if Avraham would have missed davening one morning, so then he would have made it up afterwards. It's actually a Gemara about Avraham davening davening Mincha. So, we're going to pause here for a second. All that I'm trying to insist, then, is that pure logic, pure theology, understanding of everything we've seen till now, and I've brought you so many pieces of evidence that if you miss the korban Pesach, you can't make that up. Over is mano, botel korbano, and there is no negotiating. So, what do we find? We find negotiating. We find negotiating. And that And that And that itself should be interesting. Now, the motivation and the reason that I'm talking about this is tonight, tomorrow is Pesach Sheini. Okay? So, if any of you have a custom for whatever reason, which again, no Rishon ever heard of, to eat matzah on Pesach Sheini, I have some leftover matzah, which I could I can bless for you, and >> [laughter] >> and give it some special holiness, just let just let me know. And why in the world should you not say Tachanun? And hold on to that for a second. But But, we'll we'll come back to that. In El Ein Adam. In In source number seven, and now we've moved over to Bamidbar. And we're told something which is interesting and important that I want you to pay attention to. Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe b'Midbar Sinai b'Shanah hashinit. Year two. Let's say tzeitem mimitzrayim b'Chodesh haRishon. Leimor, one year after HaChodesh Hazeh Lakhem. V'asu Bnei Yisrael et haPesach b'mo'ado. And you're going to do Pesach at the right time. Now, was that predictable? Or was that not predictable? So, my feeling is, you can debate this. You could decide this. My feeling is is that it was not predictable. Cuz everything we've been told till now about this has been Ki Savo HaAretz. You go back to perek Yud Gimmel, Vayoki'akha Hashem et eretz Right, By the way, there's a reference also in perek Yud Bet as well. But, it's also Ki Yaviyakha. When you're going to go into the land which God has promised to you, and then you'll do do this. That's where the so-called Ben Ish Chai says, "Ma avodah zo lakhem?" He's going to ask in the future when you're already in the land of Israel. So, there's been numerous references to doing the korban Pesach again. All of them had been when you get to the land. Now, we revealed another element of it, and that's the ones that I All the quotes I focused on because it has to be in the springtime. Why does it have to be in the springtime? Because that's meaningful to the farmer. Why does it mean to the farmer? Because you're already living as farmers in an agricultural society and Pesach is embedded within the calendar. So therefore, when I'm going to say it again, when you're in the desert and you're eating mun, and you're going to say, "What what are going to eat the korban Pesach with some uh with some mun?" Imagine that it's uh I mean let me imagine that it tastes like matzah. Do I imagine that it tastes like a broxt? I mean what what what can you do if you're a khasid? So it's not such a simple point. Well, I'm going to say it again. If you're going to argue with me that source number seven, perek tet in Bamidbar, parashat Beha'alotcha, second year, oh, do this b'moado. B'moado is really interesting cuz what are you lacking? You're lacking kitav ha'aretz. And we had every reason to believe that was really a part of the idea. Now, all of you, especially people who are diasporic Jews, I mean there's been a lot of pushback recently. They don't like us telling them that they should live here. It triggers them. Right? It's not nice for Jews who live in Israel to make Jews who don't live in Israel feel bad. I'm amused. Okay, I'm I'm not saying anything else. I don't want to trigger anybody. I don't want anyone to get very upset. But I could have asked the question, do I really keep Pesach outside of Israel? The answer is of course yes. Not only yes, you keep two days, right? You have the second seder, right? Takes you two days to catch up to the kedusha of one day. As I said, that's not me. That's Yerushalmi. Nonetheless, [clears throat] it was framed that you don't start doing this until you're in the land of Israel. Nonetheless, "V'arba'ah asar yom la chodesh zeh bein ha'arbaim ta'asu oto b'moado. Ki chol chukotav", which is really interesting, "all of the rules of chol mishpatav ta'asu oto." So, okay, we have See, this is the first Pesach Sheni. Do you understand why I'm calling this the first Pesach Sheni? It's the second Pesach. This is the second Pesach. So, we had Pesach Mitzrayim, which has its own rules. We have Pesach in the desert now, which has its own rules. We're going to then have Pesach in the land of Israel, which will have its own rules. But along the way, we're going to get to that other Pesach Sheni, which is really the second Pesach Sheni. And therefore, the title of today's class I I already gave him, right? We decided it was second second chances. Okay, yeah. Um Pesach um is is the korban Pesach, which is that first holiday, it says that they celebrated that the the day of that Yeah. >> doesn't say that they Good. celebrated Good. Good. Good. And now, the question you I agree and and and I'm not engaging with that word, but correct. You're reading correctly. So, it continues and it says, "You'll do it with all of its rules and so on and so forth. V'daber Moshe el Bnei Yisrael lemor la'asot Pesach. V'ya'asu et ha'Pesach ba'rishon b'arba'ah asar yom la'chodesh bein ha'arbaim b'Midbar Sinai. K'chol asher tzivah Hashem et Moshe, kein asu Bnei Yisrael." They did Pesach. And you're saying, "Hold on, where is Chag HaMatzot?" Well, maybe Chag HaMatzot is a little more awkward. Maybe they don't have matzah. So, what I'm I'm just saying is that that's certainly interesting. And now, there's always someone. "Vayehi anashim asher yitma'u l'nefesh adam." So, they had a particular type of tumah, tumat met. "V'lo yachlu la'asot ha'Pesach b'yom hu." They couldn't do it on that day. It doesn't work out. "Vayikrevu vayikrevu lifnei Moshe." And they came close in front of Moshe u'fnei Aharon. "B'yom hu." "B'yom ha'hu anashim heima." "Eilu elav." They said, "Anachnu tmei'im l'nefesh adam." "Lamah nigara l'vilti hikriv et korban Hashem b'moado b'toch Bnei Yisrael?" Why are we being left out? So, if you wanted to put this in in terms that any child would ask, what would they say? It's not fair. Why should we be left out? And what's the answer why should we left out? The answer would be, "Have you read all of Have you read all of Vayikra?" Right? [snorts] Do you realize that when someone's tamei, then they tamei met, they can't eat kodshim, they can't eat a korban, they can't enter into the Mishkan? It's a problem. Okay, it's not your fault. How they got there is also somewhat of a of a of of a question, but you can't do it. So, instead of saying no, again, they approach Moshe and apparently they do it respectfully, but they they feel very left out of this. is interesting. Baltigra, right? What what Why are we being, you know, removed and taken away? And it's also interesting thing "B'toch Bnei Yisrael." There seems very much to be a sense that korban Pesach is this national building event. We became Bnei Yisrael during that night when we all brought an aid and did the korban Pesach. The Jews were saved, the Egyptians weren't, and now you're going to commemorate that. We want to be part of Am Yisrael. We want to be in B'toch Bnei Yisrael. And again, there's every reason to believe that everything we're saying is positive. Although, you can question. Same question I already asked. And what's that? Have you learned Vayikra? Right? You learned Vayikra. I'm sorry, you know, you can't do it. But instead, Moshe does something else. "Vayomer aleihem Moshe." It's interesting they approach Moshe and Aharon. Moshe says, "Imdu." Stay here. "V'ishma mah yetzaveh Hashem lachem." Let's see what God has to say. Let's try. I'm I'm going to kick your request upstairs, senior management, most senior, and see what he has to say. "Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe lemor daber el Bnei Yisrael lemor ish ish ki yihyeh tamei l'nefesh o v'derech rechokah." That's interesting. Derech rechokah, how much and how it impacted the times in the desert. "Lachem u'l'doroteichem." Now and in the future. Which is Now we are unveiling or revealing or creating a new law. "La'asot Pesach la'Hashem." They they they will make a Pesach. "B'chodesh ha'sheni b'arba'ah asar yom bein ha'arbaim ya'asu oto." You'll do it in the second month on the 14th. Now, I want you to already appreciate that that's absurd. Why is that absurd? I hope you know why that's absurd cuz everything we've learned so far about Pesach, it has to be b'moado. It has to be in the right time. It has to be b'chodesh ha'aviv. It has to connect to this larger agricultural phenomenon which is taking place. So, how in the world can you have Pesach at the wrong time and the wrong day and the wrong situation? And therefore, there is something fascinating about this Pesach Sheni, but it just doesn't really follow the rules. It continues and it says, "B'chodesh ha'sheni b'arba'ah asar yom bein ha'arbaim ya'asu oto. Al matzot u'marorim yochluhu." And you're going to kind of make believe you're doing it the exact same way. "Lo yashiru mimenu ad boker v'etzem lo yishbiru vo. K'chol chukat ha'Pesach ya'asu oto." Do it just like the rest. By the way, I mean ultimately that's not it's limited in its application. Just for example, do they have to clean their houses, get rid of all the chametz? And the answer is no. They They're allowed to have chametz in the house still. By the way, in Egypt, Pesach Mitzrayim, were they allowed to have chametz? Presumably yes as well. Which is really interesting about Pesach Sheni, but "V'ha'ish asher tahor u'v'derech lo hayah v'chadal la'asot Pesach v'nichdah ha'nefesh ha'hi mi'ameha ki korban Hashem lo hikriv b'moado, cheto yisa ha'ish ha'hu." And here it says, "But if you didn't bring the korban, then you become somehow separated from the Jewish people." So, their sensibility is right. God breaks the rules for them. And God And it's But it's it's more than breaking the rules. Which means, if I wanted a rule, how would I articulate the rule? "Over z'mano batel korbano." Once you missed the time, you can't do the korban. And this is saying it's so much it's so much worse than that because this is embedded in the time. This is not like any other korban. It's worse than any other korban cuz it has to be in the proper time. It's built in the proper time. It was created in the proper time. Again, we could put forth the argument that it's an inverted relationship. The reason they left Egypt in the spring is because it was spring. Not we commemorate in the spring. No, that's why they left in the spring cuz the springtime is how we start this entire holiday season, as it were, in the first month. That's the beginning. That's when we leave and God created all of this having the farmers in mind in the future on what the significance will be for them combining their lives, their livelihood, their activities, and their religious sensibilities. And then again, that that's what it does. And Pesach Sheni then, again, use that word once again until you get to until you get it down, it's antinomian. It goes against, right? You got it. It just goes against all sensibility over here. And nonetheless, God says, "Okay, I'm going to give you a second chance even though it's absurd." Or if I'm if I'm being Am I being too strong there? Even though there's an aspect of absurdity. Even though it stretches the imagination. Even though it doesn't fit into our simple understanding based upon at least six or seven different psukim. Yeah. I have just a question. Um So, what is it the people who are tamei met? But if if anybody who says, "Oh, no, I does not want to find out other ways Yeah, and I'm and I'm deliberately I'm deliberately making this as simple as I can so I don't have to go any more laterally than I want to. In source number eight, Rashi may or may not be telling us something. I'm going to imagine what he's telling us. I I may be wrong. He says, "Vayedaber Moshe, mah ta'am u'l'mah lo ne'emar vayedaber Moshe et mo'adei Hashem?" "Elu k'she sham'a parashat mo'adim mi'Sinai, amru lahem b'chazarah v'zaru b'sha'at ma'aseh." It sounds to me that all this is the rush of hearing about Pesach Sheni. It sounds very much that what he's referring to over here, again, Sorry. Source number seven that God says do Pesach the second year and Moshe tells the people. And now they respond, but I think part of the response may very well be Again, this is this is beneath the surface and you have to think for a second. And I already set this up for you. Pesach in the desert itself is an absurdity because it's independent of any of the agricultural trappings that were supposed to be from the beginning and as soon as they're told in the desert you're going to keep Pesach then the Pesach Sheni people can say, "Hold it a second, why can't we do it?" Because obviously the date is no longer important. And therefore Moshe now can go back to God and say, "Hold it a second." Again, there's an argument over here. They don't articulate it but there's an argument. The fact you do it in the desert and not just now made it independent of the agriculture and therefore for the calendar. So what difference does it make if I'm doing it in the desert if I do it in Nissan versus I do it in Iyar? So again, I'm going to say it again, that may be the opening. I'm reading it into that Rashi. I will admit it's my imagination but I'm I'm reading it into that Rashi because I wanted to read it into that Rashi. In in source number nine, again you have to be a little honest sometimes. In source number nine, the Gemara over here asks a really simple question and it gives us three possibilities. These people that were why were they What's the simple answer? Cuz somebody must have died. But instead it uses our theory of conservation of characters and theory of conservation of dead bodies. So the first opinion is it's goes over here right and who are they? Last line of the page. No say By the way, once again, this is like the 730th place that I can point this out that talks about it. Talks about actually saw passage in the that I have to save. I don't know when I'm going to save it for but it but it said that was a descendant of Caleb. >> [laughter] >> So I I like that a lot. Um Over here says it was Can we pause there for a second and reflect? Please excuse my theological mixed metaphors. is the patron saint of second chances. There's a much deeper point over here. You have a family that breaks apart. Let's get rid of him. Let's throw him away. He's not part of the family and now there are people who are carrying his remains in the desert and taking care of him. That's That's just a second chance. We messed up but we want to make it again. >> [clears throat] >> Can you imagine now how meaningful it is for the people carrying to say, "But we want a second chance and we're only because we're carrying and God's response is Okay, I got Okay, I have to I have to find Okay, okay, we're going to work this out. This is It's just too strong of an argument. So you all saw what I just now did. Which means it's not just a question of theory of conservation of dead bodies. It's who this is and this is and we're not going to allow to create a fault and a division in the Jewish people. We want to be is right. He's looking for his brothers. We want to be together. How could carrying the remains of be a reason to break us and separate us and be away? And if you again, if you wanted to use the Gemara it's so much deeper than that. Good. That's the first approach. What's the second approach? The second approach is Rabbi Akiva Michelle Sefan. Are you sure you another value? So again, our theory of conservation of dead. Who's the last dead people that we've seen? So that was Now Could we just go a little bit deeper now? What happened to them? They didn't ask before they went in and brought their offering and brought their service and they went in and did what they did. Here are the people who are because of they're going in and asking so there's some kind of kind of a over here cuz there's now God says, "Okay, now we did follow the rules properly. We're asking what we could do. We want to bring a carbon." And God says, "Okay, fine. You could do it cuz then it becomes a for this." What about the third opinion? The third opinion is Omeir. So sorry, sorry, before I get that. He asks they all should have had time to become pure. The the people if it's Michelle Sefan Ella Oskin the mate are you? Rather they were workers. They work for Zaka. Yeah. You know right that I'm one of the rabbis of Zaka? And and I was actually invited to go and speak by Zaka event tonight which tonight yeah, which I'm not going to go to. But if I would have this is what I would have said, right right over here we have Pesach over here. So who was it? It wasn't by the way not as dramatic. It's not as dramatic as I gave you a whole theological reason. Wasn't as dramatic as and I gave you No, it's just those guys every day that take care of unfortunately the situations that you don't want to know about that I get texts on. Unfortunately sometimes multiple times a day about various kinds of tragedies that have taken place that they then go and they and they deal with them. So it's Sometimes there's heroism in the small forgotten daily acts of greatness. And that would have been the that I'm not going to give tonight cuz I'm not going to go to to that particular event. Unless they yell at me much more but that's that's my assumption. So we have Pesach Sheni. So now, right away when I mentioned that it's Pesach Sheni tomorrow, the first and this is a very Jewish response was, "Oh, we don't say Why?" Because that is the single most important thing for many many Jews. reportedly said that non-Jews don't understand true happiness cuz true happiness is on a Monday and a Thursday when a walks into a shul. And non-Jews can't begin to be to understand what depths of joy comes from not saying on a Monday or Thursday. So Now the only question is is this really true that you don't say on Pesach Sheni? So I'm just going to ask it like this. Is Pesach Sheni a holiday for the public? Or is it only a holiday for some random individuals? Theoretically, what if every single Jew was before Pesach Do you say, "I got to wait for Pesach Sheni?" No. Then you bring. Which means Pesach Sheni by definition is for individuals not for the So how in the world can you tell me that the doesn't say on Pesach More than that, more than that Pesach Sheni. More than that, the actually gives you a list on what days you don't say and guess which day it forgot to mention. Pesach Sheni. Therefore, if you want me to ruin all of the excitement, the said, "Of course you say Why? Cuz it doesn't say you don't say And if you were the you say cuz you follow the How dare you not follow the So let's pause for a second cuz it's not necessarily the end of the story. There is a great argument and you'll see right away now that there's two sides of this. In the in the me source 11. If the situation arose that the Jews were given permission to build the By the way, didn't say comes they're given permission. So who can give permission today such a thing? You want to say Trump? It's not Trump by the way. No, it's not him for sure. It's It's actually Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is in charge if in case you you have not figured it out yet. We can We can argue about this. We can discuss this. Trump and everything he's been doing is been listening to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia says Israel can build the then Trump says they could build the and they could do it cuz they're the ones who are really behind everything which is happening. You like my analysis? You don't? You want to argue? We'll debate. You want to give me to think about it at least? Finish thinking. Okay. Anyway, if theoretically they're able to build the they're able to build the they're able The first approach The first approach over here is wonderful but but it's only for a It's not for the But there is a second opinion here. No, the table could do Pesach Sheini, which means clear your calendar tomorrow. You never know, right? May Maybe maybe you'll be able to bring a Pesach Sheini tomorrow. Again, there's a lot of things that have to happen before then. Um >> [snorts] >> This continues in the Gamara in source number 12, which I'm going to limit. I'm just going to point out one thing and then I'm going to move on to where I wanted to get to, which I won't get to as well as I wanted to get there, but I will say this. Almost every kid, I can't say every kid, but almost every kid who gives a dvar Torah because he became a bar mitzvah during the Omer gives the same dvar Torah. And And And And what's the dvar Torah? The dvar Torah is if a kid becomes bar mitzvah during the Omer, does he keep on counting the Omer presumably they started counting before. And presumably what he'll do is he'll say, "And this is the Hakira of the Minchas Chinuch." Which is true. It's the Hakira of the Minchas Chinuch. I'll note that that's a very What How should we put this? An of the world. Cuz long before the Minchas Chinuch, it already was found in the Birkei Yosef in the Shulchan Aruch. And he quotes the Pri Chadash, who actually was his teacher's teacher, which means we're just now pushed back hundreds of years before this they're already discussing what happened if somebody becomes a bar mitzvah. I mean, the simple answer is there's some who say no, there's some who say yes. Rav Rav Soloveitchik thought the whole thing about the Omer cuz you know this idea that if you missed a day of the Omer, you can't continue. There's no Gamara like this. It's This was made made up by the Bach. There's two places in Tosafot that he talks about this. One place is in Menachot, where he quotes this and says that that is absurd below Cain and it's impossible. And then there's a place that he quotes it in Megillah and there he agrees with it. So, I don't know what to say. I'll I'll I'll leave it at that for for the time being, but what I will say is that most Rishonim were unaware of this. Rav Soloveitchik said that he thought that the issue is not one of if you it's one of counting. By the way, there's even opinion the Rema brings a very early opinion that let's say I missed yesterday. So, okay, I can count today. Okay, I missed yesterday and two days ago. So, he says then I can say, "Okay, yesterday was so and so." How can you do that? So, the answer is it's a question of counting. I can't count to 32 unless I counted to 31 and I give it's counting. So, I So, if I say, "Well, yesterday was so and so," then I can keep on counting because that's what counting is. Leave all of this. And what's interesting is that the kid who's out of his bar mitzvah should have learned this Gamara in Sukkah cuz what does it say in the third line? Detanya Ger Shenitgayer bein Shnei Pesachim u'vechein Katan Shehigdil bein Shnei Pesachim which means if somebody converted between Pesach Rishon and Pesach Sheini or which by the way, there they also talk about somebody who was an eved became free and so on. Can they count? Can they keep on counting? They were non-Jewish when they counted. Or a katan. But here, what if what if a katan ate the Pesach? What if he ate the Pesach by Pesach Rishon, but he was a katan? So, did the katan fulfill the mitzvah or not fulfill the mitzvah or not? There's Rav Chaim from going to get fancy, there's Rav Chaim who claims that the question is is the ma'aseh mitzvah of a katan a ma'aseh mitzvah d'Oraisa d'Rabbanan? And he does And he says it's d'Oraisa. He brings a proof it's d'Oraisa cuz the Minchas Chinuch. Anyway. By the way, do you have a dvar Torah yet for Shabbos or no? You're still looking. Okay, I'll keep on going. So, so >> [laughter] >> So, but here you have the question regarding regarding Pesach Sheini. This question The The kid The The katan who ate the Korban Pesach Rishon, should he eat the Korban So, essentially what we have here is a machlokes. I'm not going to read any read everything. Source 13 is the Shulchan Aruch that forgets to tell us that you don't say Tachanun on Pesach Sheini. The Aruch Hashulchan writes V'eish K'mo Eino Me'eis the seven days after Shavuot, which is based upon the Zohar. And he says V'Pesach Sheini Lo Chishvu B'chlal. They forgot Pesach Sheini and he finds that surprising. Well, Minchas Sefarim a little little bubble. Essentially, what happened is in the Luach of Yerushalayim, it says that we don't say on Pesach Sheini. And everyone else says, "Okay, let's follow the Luach of Yerushalayim and not do it on Pesach Say on Pesach Sheini." There's another point and that is Safek Tachanun L'chumra. It It's actually written in the in the Torah that Safek Safek Tachanun is L'chumra, but I'll I'll just say it like this. I mean, the these days as some of you know, after my mother passed away, so more often than not I'm a I'm a chazan for for Mincha and Maariv and Shacharis also. I hope my mother appreciates this. And [laughter] And I'm also the rabbi of the shul, so you know, I get to decide everything. But, we dav- we daven right before shkiah and then we daven Maariv right after shkiah. By the way, sometimes we actually start Maariv before before shkiah and we don't get to Shmoneh Esrei until shkiah, which is good enough. Again, I'm in charge. I I I decided. And but there's two shkiahs. Being at an elevation of 750, 800 There There's two different shkiahs, which are at least 5 minutes away from one another. So, already from the first shkiah, I won't say Tachanun. Right? Once you get to the first shkiah, I won't say Tachanun. But, why not? Cuz Safek Tachanun is L'chumra, but not but it's more than that. It's not just Safek Tachanun. There's another point. Is that the kabbalists, including Rav Elyashiv, I mean, his grandfather was one of the greatest kabbalists of the of not the greatest in the 19th century. Rav Zalman Auerbach's father was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Kabbalists that you may not have known. And both of them write that again based on some kabbalistic sources that if you say Tachanun at night, it's a sakana. Because the night is a time of darkness and evil and and all kinds of other forces. You don't say Tachanun at night. So, already Safek Sakana L'chumra. So, once I get to the first shkiah, I don't say it. So, then everybody confused because because right on the clock it doesn't say shkiah yet and I won't say it because it's already Safek Sakana and Safek and Safek of Tachanun and uh But, Pesach Sheini is not written over here. Aruch Hashulchan says it's a pele. The Pri Megadim writes, "Of course not. Why? It's for Yechidim. It's not for the tzibur." Now, in the remaining time that we have, we don't have that much time. I will point out the Pesach Sheini is a Torah law. It's a See, I would go so much further and say it's a holiday of second chances and because it's a holiday of second chances, there's still a holiness to it and that holiness should be celebrated. Just a very basic idea that somebody could be out of the community and in the community and God says I'm going to break the rules and let you bring a Korban after its time of other Korbanos and that very the very idea that there is a giluy revealing of that that should be enough. So, the Now, theoretically, if anybody needed to, they should be able to get married tomorrow also. Pesach Sheini. Why can't you get married Why can't you have a wedding on Pesach Sheini? Rav Herzog has a Teshuvah about it. My son is performing a wedding tomorrow. And uh he had to go and get permission from the chief rabbi. He got to the chief rabbi and the chief rabbi said, "Oh, no, the guy in charge right now is the other chief rabbi. It's Ashkenazi, it's Sefardi." And then the guy who was getting married said, "I don't want to go through I want to go through Torah." Then he had to call up Rav Stav and everybody agreed that they can get married and and I When I talked to him, I said, "Oh, you know, there's Teshuvah from Herzog." He goes, "Yeah, I found it." But, that's cuz he didn't ask me right away. Anyway. It's better that way anyway that he looked and he found it. Now, theoretically, [clears throat] I would think you should be able to shave also for uh for Shabbos uh on Pesach Sheini. I think that it's no less of the argument a couple of weeks ago that it's Rosh Chodesh and Shabbos together, it's Pesach Sheini and Erev Shabbos together. But, why does no one write about it? Why does no one care? Cuz Lag B'Omer is coming soon enough. The The reason why the Rabbanut right now, by the way, is meikel is because there were a lot of weddings that were canceled over the last couple of months and therefore and therefore if you know, if you can get a wedding date right now and you can get a hall and whatever, so they're allowing you to So, Pesach Sheini makes it really much much easier even. But, the reason I'm going to say it again why I think that people were more Okay, we'll wait. Is because Lag B'Omer is coming up. Now, Lag B'Omer is absolutely fictitious. Did I say that strong enough? >> [laughter] >> There There's There There's absolutely no source for Lag B'Omer. It's not written in any Gamara. It's not written in any kind of Chazal. There There are some later sources who quote a Midrash of having existed, but I I I know the source of them thinking that there's a Midrash. It's actually somebody saying it's a Sefer Hamonim saying that the Rav Chaim Halevi, the Baal Hamaor, told him that he saw it in an old book. When that got repeated enough times, that old book became a Midrash. The The point was during which days did the students of Rabbi Akiva die? Simple answer is they died during the entire period bein Pesach to Shavuot. That's what the Gamara says. We find that we find this opinion that they died perhaps for 33 of the days. There's so much convoluted, complicated, and interesting math involved in this. But, actually it seems that they died on Lag BaOmer as well. So, where in the world did Lag BaOmer come from? So, you don't want to hear this. Most likely, it's based upon a mistake in a manuscript of a later manuscript of a student of the Arizal who writes that it was Yom the earlier sources say Yom Simchat Rabbi Shimon. And the later ones left out one letter in Simchat and it became Yom Shemate Rabbi Shimon. So, Simchat Shemate, what's the difference? So, then it becomes the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon. Now, that's a little perplexing cuz if Rabbi Shimon died on that day, he's one of the students of Rabbi Akiva. So, if he's one of the students of Rabbi Akiva, why are we happy Why are we sad when the other students died? We're happy when he died. Well, the background for that is cuz at least according to the Zohar, the day that Rabbi Shimon dies, which by the way is not mentioned in any source until that source, which is 1700s. I mean, people like the Chasam Sofer have no idea what Lag BaOmer is. They don't know why they're burning things. They've no idea. I I I gave you some of these sources. But what happened on that day? I And I And again, I want to reflect on this a little bit. Rabbi Akiva has 24,000 students, or if you want to correct me, 12,000 pairs of students and dies. Most people would have been devastated. Most people would have given up. Most people would have said, "That's the That's the will of God." And how do you start all over again? Rabbi Akiva starts all over again. Rabbi Akiva picks up and starts over and gets five new students. One of those five new students is Rabbi Shimon. So, even if it were his Yahrzeit, which I'm going to say it again, there's no source for that, there's something else. And that may explain the Yom Simchat. It's the day that Rabbi Akiva starts teaching Rabbi Shimon. That's That's what the tradition That's what the Arizal said. It's the day that Rabbi Shimon became a student of Rabbi Akiva. Yom Simchat Rabbi Shimon. It's the day of the second chance. It's a day that Rabbi Akiva picks himself up and has five incredible students who have Me'ir, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Shimon, and so on. And says, "Okay, let's let let let let let's roll it back. Let's start all over again." What's the difference? And And this is absurd. Five students, 24,000 students. I'm going to do it all over again. And those five students are the are the Torah Shebe'al Peh that we have. But if you look at Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Shimon is also about second chances. The Romans wanted to kill him, and he goes hides in the cave. He comes out of the cave and actually comes out of the cave and he sees people working and planting and plowing, by the way, agriculture, which is where we started, and he says, "You know, they're they're involved in this worldly things. What's going to be, you know, with other worldly things? Torah." And God says to him, "Go back to the cave." And he goes back to the cave and comes out the second time and he sees a man running with some hadassim, and he says, "What's that for?" And he says, "Shabbat." "What do you need two for?" He has them both in his hands. He goes, "Zachar u'Shamor." So, I I have to one again, a couple more quick reflections on this. Rabbi Shimon is quoted in the Gemara as saying that people don't need to work. I don't know if you know the Gemara in Berachot. And God provides everything. The Gemara says that people tried to live their lives like Rabbi Shimon and didn't really work very well. But that's Rabbi Shimon. I gave you a source over here. I told you we didn't get through most of what we have here. In source 24 is the Steierman. Steierman, again, all of page four is about this Well, most of page four. And he says that Rabbi Shimon's approach that you're just involved in the in the spiritual, you don't have to be involved in the agriculture, the physical, he says that that was Rabbi Shimon before he came out of the cave the second time. And what Or even the first time. He comes out the first time, he still has that opinion till the Bat Kol says, "Go back to your cave." And he comes out the second time and then he realizes, "Well, if somebody didn't plant those hadassim, didn't water those hadassim, didn't cultivate those hadassim, you wouldn't have those hadassim." Which again, a lot of people a lot of Sefardim you can see still smell them in Erev Shabbat, just like Rabbi Shimon the understands that that's what you need them for, which means things don't just happen by their own, and the people involved in this are doing things which are holy. If you read the the whole Steierman, if you have the the time and the patience for it, then you'll see that the that he argues very forcibly that Rabbi Shimon eventually comes to this understanding that of course we have to be involved in the agriculture. Um I have another statement over here of this Chasam Sofer who says that Rabbi Shimon's idea that you're only involved in the spiritual, and this is very surprising, and I I can't tell you that it I can really support it completely. I just like it. He says that's only in Chutz La'aretz. He goes, "In Eretz Yisrael He goes, "In Eretz Yisrael, what are you talking about?" He goes Again, this is this is somewhat famous. He says that in Eretz Yisrael to tell somebody not to be involved in planting and plowing and so on, that's mitzvah to Yishuv Eretz. He goes, "It's like telling somebody you don't have to put on tefillin because you're busy learning." He goes, "That's absurd." He goes, "In Eretz Yisrael, of course you have to be involved in the Yishuv of Eretz in the in in in the in the building of the land and so on and so forth. I'm just really in the sense doubling back to where we started that this whole all the holidays are being framed in terms of the agriculture. That's the existence that we have. That's how the holidays are built. But we have a holiday of second chances, and that is Pesach Sheni. But you know, everything is due to luck, right? As it says in the Torah Shebe'al Peh, holidays are based upon luck. You know, I discussed months ago in terms of Tu B'Shvat is a very lucky holiday. I mean, beyond any kind of proportion. On the other hand, what can I say? Also Also Lag BaOmer, beyond any rationale for it. By the way, the first one to call it the Hilula of Rabbi Shimon was actually in a book which some people think may have some influences of uh It's called the Sefer Chemdat HaYamim, which may or may not have some Sabbatean uh um influence upon it. But what can I say? Lag BaOmer ends up becoming this holiday where people celebrate in uh you know, as if it were one of the major holidays. But I wanted to point out that the way I just now framed it, it's also a holiday of second chances. It's a second chance of Rabbi Akiva, a second chance of Rabbi Shimon. It's Rabbi Shimon coming out of the cave. And it's as if the kedusha of Pesach Sheni, where God says again, go back to Joseph. You want the second chance? You want to make the family whole? You We're going to work again? And God says, "Okay, I'm behind that. That That's a good thing. I'm behind it." And it's as if to say that even this, you know, terrible thing can happen to Rabbi Akiva's students, but you're going to pick up and try again? So, God says, "Okay, I'm behind that." And therefore, in a certain sense, I'm seeing even the holiness of Lag BaOmer coming out of the holiness of Pesach Sheni, coming out of those people. And therefore, again, the the the closeness in the calendar, I don't think is a coincidence, but I see the same kind of holiness behind it. And you know what? All of us should have the strength that on the things that we do that we don't succeed the first time, that we should succeed the second time. And God, if he doesn't only give us a second chance, maybe even sometimes when we need it, he'll give us a second second chance.