Parshat Chukat 5784 by Rabbi Baruch Taub

good evening everybody okay let's get started okay first of all um the the shear is uh forua for Elana Esther B and is s okay for all right so I I last week well let's do number one is is EMS Yakov we're going to do a piece from Yakov which I think is very special the opening ofuma so gets down to Torah gets right down to business this is the of the Torah we know the is the mysterious Mitzvah of the Torah this is theor is paruma paruma we know is a strange Mitzvah it's um we take a red heer a uh and we should we we kill it we take hiip we take ashes we put it together and it's used this combination is used to be mat someone who is T M right to purify him the um the question is the following that rabaka is going to deal with we know that at there was an introduction to Torah the introduction to Torah were three Mitzvah were given to shabas anduma so what rakov is going to deal with is why paruma we understand shabas and Mar and and and that's what he's goingon to deal with okay let's see Pur rash so the the nations of the world what is this Mitzvah all about what's its reason therefore it's called means it's a decree no questions asked that's Rashi you can't question this this is a Mitzvah I'm giving it to you it's a that's it near would appear the so would seem that the essence of the Mitzvah is all theim with regard to Puma how it's done how the get it going it's it's kind of a strange situation because the the some of you might know the kohanim are involved in it become Tam themselves when they're m the individual who is T and they have to wait till Nightfall to become the essence of the Mitzvah is the laws the dos and the don'ts do this do this do this not the Mitzvah not that it's a Mitzvah to purify the the impure person but the essence of the Mitzvah is following the script okayo said in Co you know I said about I tried to learn all of the Torah was the smartest of the world he had everything but one Mitzvah he didn't understand that's that's established he gave us it was a mysterious Mitzvah you have no permission to start going after the reason for this particular mitvah this is the essence of serving with all right with with with Y with fear on the lowest level fear but it means standing back and accepting my responsibility to serve to be so I want to bring you what the brings is one of the brings the with and he always gives the reason for the Mitzvah right by the way I might have mentioned in the past was written by and it was written for his son so that he would not waste his time on chabas afternoon he wanted him to learn the on shabas afternoon right um in fact kind of a PS We in my Toronto that's the safer that we give out we give out for years to the bar mitzvah boys and the B Mitzvah girls is the in any case the says the following I've always my meaning is always to give you a reason for the Mitzvah a hint a reason for the Mitzvah which seems to apply to the essence of the Mitzvah the way it's presented I I I wipe my hands away from it I'm not going to give you a reason for the MIT I'm keeping my mouth shut why because I saw that the rabbis the remember the himself I saw that the deor soda that they they spoke about the the depth of the the essence the foundation of this Mitzvah how great it is remember it it purify someone from Death it sort of brings somebody back to life that's the essence of taharas the Tuma of ma to bring someone back to life kind of right himself tried to understand it he gave a reason for all the mitz except for this mitah said we saw we quoted that I don't understand asks wrote in his in his how can he be sure that each one was the reason for the theor in actually in the end of babsia those who were learning DFI saw this gor not long ago whether we're whether we we try to give a reason to a a mitvah that's in the or not but but shim according to this re shim the Mitzvah there's no Tom given for the Mitzvah K but if if there's a reason G Kim for example right that's where there's no reason given Al there's a there's a Mitzvah that if someone owes you money right you have a loone outstanding right so you can take a mashk you can take you can take a collateral and hold on to the collateral but um the the collateral has to be returned if a person if you take someone's thing pillow and blanket that they need at night you have to return it if it's something they need during the day you have to return it to them during the day that's the way it works come but let's say you have a widow a widow you don't you're not supposed to take for a widow poor Widow you don't take a mashkin because you're going to have to keep going back to her and it's going to give her a bad reputation they're going to see coming some coming and going to her house this this fellow right but a wealthy Widow you don't have to take you don't to take you don't you don't have to return the mash you can take a mash right so that's the that's the but for us if we say a reason for aah maybe there's a reason why we keep the Mitzvah right what do we care so let's let's create let's have some kind of a reason for the par what's what's wrong with it you know so really maybe I can come up with a with a reason for the MIT right something that's so obvious in the P were like the by the Widow that's something else but here let me come up with something right no the whole idea of this Mitzvah is not about the Mitzvah it's about theim it's about the order of the mitah following the orders the laws of the MIT so the whole reason to fulfill the Mitzvah right this is the essence is following the order of the order of the to do the Mitzvah and the Mitzvah is secondary in a certain sense right that's what he says now now with this he wants to explain why this is one of the three misses that given at now we can understand why was one of the three major mitv that were given to CL Israel as a a a an introduction a taste if you will of Torah but we know move on that makes sense right you can say very simply shabas is an extreme expression of mitz between man and God the MIT of chabas and is a headline Mitzvah between man and man to honor parents right that we should do certain Mitzvah gave us these Mitzvah to do would be easier for us when we get involved in both concept of the acceptance of of becomes an easier an easier thing for us to to accept how can you can't even do it we don't have the B right most of Jewish history there's no sprinkling the blood at the doorway of the why why this Mitzvah it's a Mitzvah that is only for certain when in idic times when we have the let me explain rash says in this is what he said about the Mitzvah that were given at Mar I want to give them Mitzvah Russ doesn't refer to it is mitv he calls a number of three of Torah that they should engage in those chapters of Torah that's how he's referring to these three Mis meaning the main intent of giving these three Mitzvah it was without necessarily fulfilling the Mitzvah to study the laws of shabas to study the laws of to study the laws of accept Torah by virtue of learning Torah by accepting Torah through learning it now we understand now we know why was it's not about the right learn we don't fill the because we understand it right people are going to say sometimes well I'm only going to do this I don't understand it I don't have to do it if I understand it I'll do it right right that's the the generation we live in today right there's no there's a NE negation of authority right if it sounds good to me it makes sense you know this this Mitzvah I'll do right no no no that's not what Torah is all about that's the uniqueness of Puma not because I understand it my with my my logic they seem to me to be okay it's the opposite here you have one Mitzvah that's only given because I say you have to do it because I'm telling you to do it says and you'll never understand really why we do it and this is a proper introduction to really the whole the whole gamut of Torah even though we understand it or we might think we understand it this is this is what we do we do in other words Mitzvah the ultimate reason to perform a Mitzvah is because it's a Mitzvah right right I've often said what's the definition of the word Mitzvah what's the definition of Mitzvah right what's the definition of Mitzvah right right commandment that's a translation what's the definition of Mitzvah the moral says the definition of MIT this is the desire the will of will is that women should do this Mitzvah men should do these Mitzvah women don't do this mitzvah don't do these Mitzvah right do these Mitzvah nonim don't do these Mitzvah that's R it's fulfilling the will of Theon that is ultimately the reason for every single Mitzvah we do because truth be told those reasons that the and many other offer sest there there there's another word for I think I might have even mentioned this last week the word Mitzvah Mitzvah has two me the reason Tom means a reason what's the other meaning of the word to taste it's a taste of the Mitzvah it's not the entire reason don't think for a moment that we have a full grasp of of every Mitzvah the T we have the taste of it for some mitzah it's more understanding the MIT of kib right we can we can certainly understand as the says that parents give children the three basic things in life they give them shelter they give them food right they give them you know they give them security right they raise them right so it makes sense right but there has to be more to it too there and there is much more to it right okay then he adds a PS here Rabbi but um I tell you we're recording if you don't mind whoever's asking the question you'd wait till the end because we're recording thank you very much so uh to understand which will the next it says in in the in this this par summing up this concept ofuma the Torah says this is the Torah a person who died at home so in other words this this is the law of how we deal with someone who passed away the laws of purifying someone who happened to be present in the residence where the person died right but the gamor darans this P gives some says something else on this on this a man who dies in the house Torah will not survive will not one will not be successful with the study of Torah until a person is prepared to give his life for Tor right ultimately the mitz of Kem right but one has to one has to sacrifice one has to work very hard and struggle to understand Torah to this point right a powerful d right now he's asking a question here right that's very nice you have to go to the to the nth degree of understanding to working in understanding Torah right but he it's very strange Mya why put this together with par with the porum right this DHA of of learning Torah to the an degree why why is that mentioned here with the m of why take a from right I mean I want to just tell you you know I remember back about 100 years ago when I was in the Bas Med yiva and somebody said you have a telephone call on the payones remember pay anybody know what a pay phone is so the payones in the Yesa so I had a phone call so I got up and I'm walking out and as I was walking out one of the r r keski z was at the back of the base medish looking at something up in a safer and he saw me going out said where you going I said I somebody called me I have a phone call he said how can you leave the base Mish right you know phone call for you you're not alive any himore not not you're not here that's what they have to tell them you're G to take that phone call you take away five minutes from learning Tor right I remember from a long time ago but here's the question you can make this it's a nice from the teach your children and many otheruk in the Torah right from there are all kinds of you can make this right but according to what we're saying here it makes a lot of sense T since this whole par is about an introduction to the study of Torah to the understanding of Tor to teach us and ultimately the Torah is is beyond our full total under our grassp so da necessarily in the Mitzvah of paruma is this this message this ethical me message that has given it's impossible to understand the depth of Torah unless one really rolls up his sleeves and works very hard at it and focuses completely on it okay that's okay last week we mentioned something from ronus and David um safer um Bud uh I'm sorry no no no that's something else no that's next week okay no no this from Bud CES this is safer that um rer ProVari the p R Shiva we used to many years ago we quoted him very often and maybe we should come back to him but I want to share with you a thought from ROV parari the rashash of um of panovich and it's on there many things in this para as you know hitting the rock mosha hitting the rock but the death of Miriam is what we're going to focus on butam died she was buried there remember in the of Miram we had the well so there was no water Miriam died they buried her there was no water Isel immediately immediately complained to mosha and AR we're going to die we're not going to have water right the rabbi say the 40 years in the desert we had water we had the water of Miriam's well which miraculously moved with us in in the SC of Miriam we had water Rashi Khan Rashi actually mentions this here in the kakar commentary he writes there was no water for the this is a punishment we were punished because clusel did not give her a proper hpit she was not Miriam was not eulogized properly and that's why it was a punishment right right by m by doesn't say they C people cry for her a hasand brings out the tears there was no crying so she was like forgotten right in the heart from the Mind Right absence a vacuum alcain so we created a vacuum with Miriam by not being eulogizing her so the vacuum water water was taken away from from us right he wants to ask a question he's going to ask three questions here actually would appear this is a punishment that we were not M her properly therefore we lost the the well but that's not so simple from the rabbis the words of the whole Merit of The Well of water was because of when she died there's no reason to have the well anymore right not a punishment that she that we didn't eulogize her properly was that Miriam was gone the well is gone how do we understand these two reasons right question number two another gor that says the bear the water well came back to us in the of mos the song at the well the we see later on is Jewish people sang at the song at the well come come well call call out to us right you were dug by princes who are The Sim right that's mosan that the well returns for the of they didn't sing this song at the beginning of the 40 years in appreciation of the well this this song was sung at the end of the 40 years because the well came back in the of Moshe MOS and now we we have a real problem why is it called the the well ofam was also The Well of M well came back right maybe you can even say more mosar you know it's much harder to to rebuild something than to build something the first time so to speak right but that's a qu that's a second question so the first question what was the why why the absence of the well the death of Miriam she was responsible her SW or Merit or that we weren't masit her punishment and the well why is it called be Miram and not be mosha Miram mosha I'm G to start explaining this based onor sanin I'm gonna ask another question in it says at the end when the flood was over flood was over the waters were going to subside Noah and the Tava were going to come back onto dry land right but took another week after the flood stopped by another seven days what were these seven days M these were the seven days the shiver of M who was a sadic this was the seven day period for that in in what was that to teach you what did they do during these seven days they were no gave there were eulogies there was mourning that if if the that being M UL in at sad takes away takes away bad things bad Tidings floods this is going to be the end this is what's going to bring about the end of this terrible period for for the world the mar explains one of the commentaries through the eulogy of a righteous Upon A righteous person what's the whole idea here because when one hears a right he he he wants to do chuva we're confronted you know SCH said better to go to a a funeral and to go to a wedding right it's a it's a it's a starkma reminder to us of the the temporality of life right and to to make changes in our life right going to a wedding is a beautiful thing it's a Sim and so on but a funeral it's you know you're you're facing you're looking straight into your face you're looking you're looking at at the mor it of of man right so maybe a personal J Chua that's what a h is is designed for one of the reason and it's going to take away bad bad Tidings it'll remove bad Tidings in our life in our lives right by listening to let me let me expand on what the mar is saying according to this that Chua is what removes Calamity right but but the said it's the hpit giving the meaningful hpit for a righteous person giving a hpit for a righteous person that is what removes Calamity from the world it's a great Mitzvah to give a hpit for a righteous person then you're you're bringing an awareness of good things and good deeds and a good life to the world to Humanity but but the gor but there he's saying the mar says no it's the it's the the Chua that is is the creation of the H that's inspired by the H that brings about the end of Calamity think about it so he writes he begins to answer and I said about this in as long as M was alive the great M was as long as he was alive he there was no mble he was such a righteous person it was because of m not Noah because of M that the the flood did not come his Merit and his influence it protected the entire generation to protect them that the flood would not come over the page therefore it says there was not there was not a flood flood we were at that point the world was ready for the flood had enough the flood was going to destroy the world the world was so evil that the flood was it was ready to come but Theon waited right the world was full of evil the righteousness of that the flood would not come once died the flood had to come immediately right I actually said it backwards it was the seven days before the flood came for theik the the essence of the HP itself the eulogy itself know to bring out the the glory of sadim that's what the hpit is to bring out the the glory of the greatness of of M to learn from them you know what that means that means that he's still living it means that m is still living if you can give a hus if one can give a husband and inspire people in the life of the person who passed away to take on to take on the kind of lifestyle that that person took then that person is still alive and that's what it means that the eulogy of a righteous person will take away bad Tidings take away Calamity the essence of the eulogy that that sudden is still alive in a certain sense living through his his lifestyle is being lived he is alive the life of the is now protecting us and certain sense is alive so you have a synthesis here of sadic and HP right is it the HP right is it the chuva it's it's the same thing right it's the sadic and his lifestyle and the power of the hpid right which brings about chuva it's all one thing but it's because the bringing the sadic the righteous person is alive with us right let's say further now we're gonna that's that's the whole story with Miram they didn't give a proper eulogy for Miriam sure they did give a eulogy right didn't give a proper eulogy the bear was gone Miram is gone the bear was gone knew and we asked what's going on it was all because of her Merit that we didn't have the bear anymore not because we weren't eulogizing her since she died the whole Merit of the be the well is gone what do you mean the hasit no according to what we're saying on him if if if we would have given a proper a proper farewell to Miriam to point out her greatness and that we can aspire to that greatness it would the well would continue the the The Well of Miriam would continue it would not have stopped the hasit because Miriam would still be alive the SC of Miriam would still exist would be extended Beyond her physical death right and the bear the will also would have continued but because they didn't give that eulogy right they didn't bring out it's the same thing it's the of Miram and the H of the the HP draws the scoot of Miriam into our lives into our world into time even after she has left the world physically because we didn't do it the was gone comes out according to this that second question we asked that the bear also came to us not just because of but by why is it called the bear of we said that MOS and Aon it wasn't MOS a well they were the ones who took it upon themselves to bring back The Well of to give it over to the world who con it came back because they prayed to have The Well of Miriam come back right it's as if Miriam was still alive her power her spiritual Powers right her Merit and will still exist in the world for those people who lived after her but heard the hpit