Parshat Ki Teitzei 5784 by Rabbi Baruch Taub

okay welcome back everybody good to be back to learn with everybody miss um tonight we're we're going to dedicate the learning to for to of our our learning so a number of a number of uh issues here the first is from the shame Mish who we have uh we've learned many times um one of the great G and um let's see what he has to say um about an interesting topic in the paraa okay so he the medish he quotes a medish quoting a from Mish which really means that we really do not understand Theon it's a metaphor that's I'm not going to go through the whole par in michle what is specifically referring to in the in the Marshall but it means that we have it's hopeless for us to um compare uh to understand to calculate Theon how he functions God says we weigh God weighs on a scale the size of mountains in other words we have an uncommon denominator with the things that does we have no Shas we have no Shas to that so um all of that really I shouldn't have even gone to the Theon did not reveal the reward of mitvah in the entire Torah except for two mitas there are only two mites in the Torah that the ronam revealed the reward right the most severe the most serious mitvah and the most simple lenient kind of a Mitzvah you know with very few consequences what's the most severe which has so many consequences honoring father and mother this is the most severe Mitzvah because it impacts on the the entire way that the world functions with a sense of Co for parents who brought us into this world and without it there is anarchy if there's no proper familiar relation and the reward is long life which is in our para today sending away the motherb bird when you take the chicks or you take the eggs there's a Mitzvah in the Tor that if you're going to take the chicks or you're going to take the eggs you have to first send away the mother to spare her the remorse of seeing this happen and by this because it's a midst of a very little consequence for us right so it's it's on the lower end of the totem pole and what's the reward also long life so you have only two Mitzvah that are given the reward is given and the reward is a significant reward long life right so now the Sham is gonna ask two questions with regards to this idea we have to figure out what's going on here why is thear equal why should thear for be the same as uh going in sheing away a a mother bird when you take the eggs of the mother right M what's what's we we have a very famous my in P this is the season of saying pumar Agra right according to the to the pain is the reward right no pain no gain that's a that's a mishna that's a mishna in in the Torah so uh that would tell us that there is a hierarchy in Mis the more the more difficult it is to perform the Mitzvah the more reward there should be for that Mitzvah so what does it mean that we don't know the difference barab that we've spoken about this he says my second question there's aor in the reward for Mitzvah ultimately is not in this world when the Torah says it will be good for you and you will have Length of days either for sending away the mother bird or for honoring mother and father the rabis explain this is in the world that is is only good this is only in the world to come only in the world to come is there reward for me there's no reward in this world nobody ever saw it nobody ever came back and gave us a report except for cannot describe we cannot begin to describe for ourselves what is all about we who are living in the physical world the ra writes just like similarly you cannot explain to a someone who was born blind um right from the womb hamar you can't you can't tell him describe for him adequately the sun sunrise or Sunset you cannot explain the really the beauty of music to someone who is is deaf who cannot here right so how can we really understand what the reward is going to be in so the first question he's asking is zof what are you telling me that all all rewards are equal and it's a Level Playing Field the mission says it's not a Level Playing Field the more the more the more the more pain the more gain the more the difficult the Mitzvah is there should be more so that makes sense right so he wants to add one more point before he answers this these two questions um I want to to add something here I want to say is a hidden world it's a hidden world it's impossible that we should be able to see what's going on in the world of Truth in the in the afterlife in the the met the world of Truth we're in the revealed World here right so what is revealed in these two Mitzvah is going to come to answer these two questions now says that the reward is obviously in the world to come right that's clear any reward that we get for these two Mitzvah or any other Mitzvah is in the world to come right it cannot be that it's about the quality of the award the reward that we're getting the quantity of the award that the reward we're getting what we are sure of what we are yes assured of is that we will be rewarded for misas in the world to come yes Mitzvah are equal in the sense that every Mitzvah that we perform comes with a reward in the met in the world of truth that's true but what the reward it's the world is purely good right so everybody gets a reward but what the reward is we don't know what it is so there are two Dimensions here there's not a contradiction here right all rewards are equal even the lowest what seems to be the most insignificant mitzvah that we're going to change the world by doing that Mitzvah of she away the motherb bird and the most dramatic most powerful mitvah the relationship between Generations between mother and father and children right they all get a mitvah in all but with there's a a m there's a there's a a scar in one dimension is yes we will receive a reward in the world to come everybody gets a reward that's the Level Playing Field what the reward is right that depends on how difficult the Mitzvah is and he's going to explain obviously in the world to come the reward that someone gets is not the same for each person everybody right there's all kinds of things that are impacting on our lives even with the same mitvah so the reward will be for someone who who keeps Shabbat and another person who keeps Shabbat but the reward for keeping Shabbat will be depend on the the Mah the quality of my shabas observance right my my my emotion my passion how much passion am I putting into the M how much spirituality am I putting into it right again passion attaching ourselves to Theon that're we we want to embrace Theon through this mitvah and a sense of reticence and fear how much love do I have when I perform the mitvah when I do the mitah because is hidden it's it's a mystery so there's two Dimensions here there's not a contradiction here with regard to the fact that everybody can get an a reward in that's equal Level Playing Field what the reward is that's not level right so everybody gets a a reward right other saer he's quoting and that's what the Miss is saying that according to the the pain is the gain is the reward just to get a ticket to get into right that's equal you perform a Mitzvah you have a ticket you can get into you can get into we get into it's you know the rabbis give a marshall everybody comes in the same door but once we get in everybody you check in you check in the counter in but everybody is given a different room right some people get a penthouse some people get a deluxe room some people have a room they have to share maybe with 47 people right it it's it's not the same the the quality of the reward is not the same so there's no contradiction here and the Torah doesn't tell us all we know is that the reward is we don't know the exact reward what it's going to be this world the revealed world you can't sit and say well you know what let me do this Mitzvah this is a more important Mitzvah maybe I'll get more for this right let me do it right Torah doesn't reveal such a thing I I won't bother with this Mitzvah it's not no that's what he's telling us do every Mitzvah right we it doesn't work that way we have to do everything we have to do do all the all of Torah right clearly for the reward for a small Mitzvah seemingly small Mitzvah but it's done with passion it's done with love right obviously that person is going to get more more so than doing a great mitvah which is given with done with a little bit of passion you know how serious are we when we get up when we start to Dove and are we really paying attention to what we're saying are we really concentrating on we're talking we're actually talking to Theon and he is he is listening now actually the rambam says it in in in in he doesn't bring the rambam but the r in h Chu is timely now to talk about the laws of chuva from the rambam and the rambam says it very clearly you know um how do you who decides what is going to be what's a better mitvah right you live in you live in you live in another and you do all the Mitzvah you study Torah you keep chabas you givea right and you know but then there's this one Jew who lives in Witchita Kansas and he doesn't do anything else except one thing he keeps kosher he has his meat flown in from I don't know what the closest place is from Denver he has his meat flown in but he keeps kosher strictly keeps kosher the one mitv he keeps in Witchita Kansas who's who scar is more the scar that we have by doing trying to do all the mitzvah or this this Jew so the r says you know it's only Theon it's only the the the the person meaning the who knows our inner Hearts but also could mean the worlds this world and the next World right the r knows who is getting the better reward we don't know it but it would make sense to us that such at you obviously is all the facts on the ground it doesn't seem it's not fair Z fair I'm doing all these MIT keeping one Mitzvah but you can see that how the Ron functions is very differently he looks at M neish he looks at our passion he looks at our love and our fear so there's no question here there are two concepts of the mitz a very simple Mitzvah with very little consequences in in the world that we live in right it's not going to NE necessarily make the world a better place although the ramban does say that it's a lesson it's all I would say that it's uh I would put it in in the fall it's the first animal experimentation in the Torah right we're not really showing rahas we're by by showing a kind of Rahman to a bird a mother bird it teaches us to have rahas between human beings so it's an animal experimentation so it does have an effect on society but a very limited effect when you compare it to to other mites like right um it's interesting by the way just to get before we move on something very similar to and even though they're at opposite ends of the spectrum uh except for the and maybe one other authority there's no BR that we say on there's no BR um most poim say if you're going to when you say without right something like that right have you ever noticed there's no for you know mother asks you to get her a cup of tea sure just a minute before you give it to her why is there why is there no right because is is in the category of it's just logical it's common sense you don't need the Torah to command you right you don't have to be a brain surgeon to understand living in a civilized world that you have to honor parent one has to honor parents so for MIT there's no there's no that's by the way one of the reasons why there's no BR for the MIT of same idea there are other reasons other reason the rash say a reason the person might not take it so it'll be a you're giving money but he doesn't take it you've made a blessing in vain but the other reason is it's a MIT to help other people right okay let's move on the number two starts at the last line happens to be on the bottom of page one it's from the EMS leako from rakov kineski and it's over the page to the second page and um he's going to talk about something very interesting it says lo bahashem in this para it talks about uh who we can marry and who we cannot marry right talking about mser Egyptian amoni uh AUM Garis if there's a get if there's a divorce how do you relate to that who can marry a divorced person and so on and so forth right so he has a very simple question there is a there's a watershed moment between sa for bamidbar and sa dor until Bidar we were living with revealed Miracles right mosenu was was direct with a direct relationship to we were living in a miraculous time we were living miraculously and the watershed moment is when we when we now are going to enter into a which saor is preparing us for the last of the is a a different it's now up to us in other words until dvor it was a world the kadha was coming from God to us our responsibility now is to build the land it's we have to we have to bring the kadha up to the Reon it's in our hands now we have to have a Mel we have to have a society a just society and create an environment social environment so it's a watershed moment and therefore he asked B men we have to understand what are these laws of marriage family and marriage doing here right says this iski I've said in many places that in other actually last week's par she has a comment we're g to have soon the book of The Last of the five whoer it is a safer about the king and the Commonwealth right it's about the collective of the community it's about building a meaningful Jewish Community ideally in in Isel that was where we were heading right when MOS stood in in the plains of Mo saw that he's not coming into so he made a determination to review those mitv much of the last safer by known by another name as mishna Torah repetition of the Torah that he reviewed all of these laws that will be necessary to build a just Society to build a a a a society with law and Order and governance a m a king and and and judges and so on so we would know what to do when we come into is so why all these laws of marriage who you can marry who you cannot marry why why is this important to talk about marriage at this point right it belongs in by there's a whole discussion of who we can marry and who we can't marry that's where the broader topic is discussed so he wants to say something which I think is a very Majestic idea what I want to suggest is a marriage for the Jewish people PR it's not a private Affair it's not a family affair you get an invitation you're going to the wedding it's a private Affair it only applies to the to the two families to the that's what a wedding is it's a private Affair the wedding is a CLA moment a wedding of a Jewish boy and girl is a CLA moment it's a national celebration the marriage the the couple enter into the community of the Jewish people they become part of the collective the collective of is those who are not allowed to marry into the Jewish people are called they're rejected from the he's not part of the he has to remain as a single person by himself not part of there's he's not joining joining the means to create a family so all these laws who is allowed to marry who you're not allowed to marry when do you get married when do you not get married how is how are the details right this is this is a a national a national moment a marriage now if there's any generation that could appreciate this it's our generation the weddings that are taking place now particularly here in AR Isel you know I did a wedding last week and I have another one in mm on Friday and these are and KS who were in the Army who are still in the Army and with everything we're going through now we're making weddings right which maybe doesn't make much sense how can we have a wedding under these circumstances well those words are maybe for the HOA and know you can come to the way everybody's invited to the wedding it's a CLA isra moment but we're celebrating Simas it's a it's it's that's the national moment the war the fighting the Army this is temporal but building a Jewish Home Building a Jewish Family that is the real clausel moment so then he he adds a kind of PS here beautiful idea from yob but he adds a halic PS an interesting the men will be familiar with this you know there's a prayer we say in ding called there are certain days that we don't say right two examples right this is the reason he says is in during the week of we don't say if there's a then we do not say but there's an opposite side of the coin in a house of mourning we do not say right the house of morning we leave out let's say there's no minion there's no sh minion in the sh house and the AIL the mner has to come to sh so he doesn't say in the mourner's house so he's now coming in to sh sh not ding in the sh but we still say is said in sh even though the mner is there and normally by the M you don't say but when the comes to sh we don't say just like the right why it's not just a private the a wedding the it is a moment it's our when he comes into my and he's doing this I don't say the whole doesn't have to say because it's our and we're all exempt from saying it's our not just but by when someone is more it's a private it's a private tragedy we have to beim him we have to comfort him but we're not mourning right by a wedding we're all celebrating by a m we're comforting but we're not celebrating and therefore we have to say okay let's go to the the third piece here that we have on the sheet and the third piece I have is two two suum of introduction um to number three pieces it's really an idea from RAV Schwab which is in number six but we're going to build up to it just some Source material we need to understand it in our para right talks about the Mitzvah of having just measures weighing by when you in business right when you weigh that meat if you're a butcher right you have to have precise measures different measures you have to have proper right so that your days will be long you will have long life right from the the land that gave us now somebody actually wrote me a shil an email this week about this why is there we say that there are only two Mitzvah that we have right but here you have a third mitvah it says you have but if you read the carefully it's not it's not the that we talked about for sending away the or for honoring mother and father that's this is a promise of that by keeping these monetary laws of of of honesty in business we will Merit long life in Isel for us and for all of Cl Israel it is an omation to God whoever does this right and what's comes after what happens to us if we don't keep the proper of of of of business ethics remember what did to you will come as a result of our of our rejection of the business ethics and not being honest in business okay number five that was our par but if you go to back to par you see another reason for the for coming Mara the Jewish people were complaining in Bish they wanted water it came out of MIM we want water right they tested hasem but you have a right to ask from the raon but not to be testy you can test hasem you can ask him but not with maybe God was not here right so they actually challenged their faith in was was very very on a very low level right what happened because of that came and he took he went to battle with us so here Rab in a very lengthy piece I'm just sharing one one paragraph with you in a very lengthy piece where Schwab talks about what's going on here right why why is a coming why are we what's the threat of aik so he says like this he's gonna ref this review this quickly now that I've come to whatever he came to name I want to say something the reason why amalik will come and battle us right the Archen enemy of the Jewish people amalik we don't know officially who amalik is but we don't have to be again you know nuclear physicists to figure out who is amalik in our in our day right now right the arch enemy that wants to kill the Jewish people for no reason of that Rhyme or Reason except that they want to kill the Jewish people right NY a steup but there's a steer up there's a contradiction the Torah why aik is going to come the threat of aik in this here it says we we we was a lack of faith the crisis of comes from that quotes this he that he heard their question right he gave them he answered them he gave them the food they wanted right you you question my existence by your life I'm gonna send a you're going to now have to deal with a that's right the medish makes it much clearer but theim say it right for our lack of we in our par this week it said don't have don't have unjust business ethics weights and measures that were no good this is an Abomination I'm gonna bring remember what AM did to come back there says if you see a generation whose measures are false whose ethics are she are false d you should know that the that we are going to be persecuted in that generation right shenar listen I'm not a prophet right I'm not going to make this make a uh a contemporary uh commentary here but we can do better in in everything that we do and if we and every Mitzvah that we do everything we do will will bring about Shalom but right don't have different kinds of measures a heavy measure a light measure you know depends on who comes in you're going to use the easy me you're going to give him a bar right you're going to you're going to lie you're going to cheat for the other person because this is an Abomination what's the what's the qu Pro I'm G to bring a mo so which is it why does a mo come is it because we are dishonest in business ethics or is it because we lack amuna we lack faith so he says both now the easy way to answer this is one is between man and man to be honest in your business ethics right the other is to have a but I think he's saying something much deeper he says both of them work in tandem they blend together there's a synthesis here right because I lack everything really depends on him right in other words somebody you know has the answer sometimes I'm gonna cheating business right so for $20 not good but somebody offers me a deal for $50,000 you know I don't know it's a little bit under the table you know I'll just share with you an example somebody came to me a few years ago they had a shil about about National pension here in Israel if you making money from outside the country let's say you have Investments or if you don't have in if you're getting a social security from the United States or from Canada or from Great Britain and you're and it's a certain amount you have to declare it and it's not a lot that you you will lose the you will not be able to get the in Israel if you are getting this social security in a different country if it's over a certain limit right so this person came to me and she asked me a Shila I could very easily I am getting Social Security but it's not a lot of money we make I can put it in an account in wherever the origin whether it's England or America or Canada and no one will be the wiser right can I do that I get I earn I'm here I earn earn I earn the money so the one you say you earn you earn the money you're you're eligible for but comes the rules and regulations one of those rules I mean we can try to fight it in court right we can try to change the law right that's by the way a lot of what this is in the parcel by the way in the package of uh reforming the the the justice system right A lot of these things are these are not really in the law books but they were they were personal decisions of of people that did not go through a a proper uh justice system but in any case the law today is you can you get but if you're making such and such from a different bu you can't get me what can I do so the answer is you have to go with the law especially Israel you're talking about Jews you're talking about a Jewish State talking about ER Israel you're talking about Isel that's a a whole different ball of wax right and the answer is no so what's going to stop a person not even asking a Shila you know I'm not going to cheat all my life I ran a business I didn't cheat anybody but here you know I'm retiring I need a little bit more money so you know so maybe you know I can do that right no no it all impacts on the Mitzvah of Amun bashem if I have aab bashem if I am connected to the raon then it's a no-brainer the two work in tendon right just weights living ethically and being responsible to the Rabon that I have to do what's right in the eyes of the Ron so that's um that's what RAB says that the two reasons are really are really one reason okay let me just add something we have a minute or two just add something that's not on the sheet um we have a number of mites here well we talk about amalik we have the mits of amalik of destroying amalik right the arch enemy of the Jewish people so um the um the the Torah says that they cooled you off in the in the in the uh kind of a metaphor but they cooled the Jewish people off when they came to attack us now what does it mean they cooled off the Jewish people so Rashi brings a a story of a mushro which I'm sure many of you are familiar with what did a mullik do you think of a a boiling cauldron of water nobody everybody needed to bathe to use the water to cool it down but nobody wanted to take the chance you dive in in the boiling C you'll die a mle dove dived into the into The Cauldron which obviously lowered the temperature right so that's what amalik did right and made it easier for other people to attack us now this really requires a little bit of an explanation amalik came to fight with us and we decimated them that battle of amalik we were victorious right it was a showcase battle between us and amalik right so how did he actually pull us down right what's going on here so one could suggest that the amalik amalik cannot live with a world with the justice and the ethics of the Torah the monotheism that AB ainu brought into the world and gave over to his son and his grandson and Mosher Renu in the Torah that was our our goal we came out of MIT and we were headed to Isel and our our purpose our raon Dean life was to bring monotheism and ethics to the world Amal can't live with that they can't live with the fact that Jewish ethics the ethics of the Torah are going to be ruling the world right they couldn't bear it right so you know you're you're even willing to jump into a cauldron and kill yourself that's a suicide bomber that's a suicide bomber because I I would rather die than live in a world where there are Jews I would rather die than live in a world where I have to I have to go with the the Justice of the Torah right that's in a certain sense that's what it means it cooled it cooled it cooled us it made it easier for them to even under even a threat of death to to repeat their mic experience of of being a suicide bomber right to the point I would rather die than uh fortunately we're living we're living in a in a in a time where we're seeing this in real life and we have to continue our dubing and our learning and that the bonus should bring an end to this situation and bring home the hostages both kinds of hostages the real hostages and theim the holy soldiers are also Hostage to this war they fighting for us for surv for survival so um the these should really we should really be saying send them home not bring them home as if the government is at fault the government's not at fault they have to support and and protect uh Isel Andel and Isel