Parshat Lech Lecha 5785 by Rabbi Baruch Taub

good evening everybody okay so I have uh for Le three items uh which somehow um dovetail together and I'm starting with something that I I did many years ago which is a classic and um I want to do it again um I don't know how many people will remember this but this is the introduction to safer bis of the a mcav of the naiv we many times have learned the rali Yehuda Berlin the rash and his classic D Onish which was his he gave a sh on the par once a week in the Yeshiva that's what this safer is I think I've mentioned to you in the past that a great great grandson published a copy of the amcd which I have in which he Incorporated notes from the na the na published uh the amcd when he was still alive so he had additions and he made additions and this new it's not new anymore it's about 10 years old I think uh this new a MCD has all of the additions of the N the only problem is and I and I told him I was very upset with him he didn't make a notation you know usually when you do this when you add things you have an asterisk or something that this is from this is the later and a later addition an addendum but he didn't do that he just Incorporated it everything into the uh so unless you're really a complete Bucky in the naive you really won't recognize what's new what's not new and any case that's just an aside let's do his introduction and um it's a classic very a classic and um it's a lesson that we all need particularly today the first of the is called but it's called by the prophets Saar it's called The Book of yosar the book of the uite the book of the straight People based on Inu theor brings this from the yua H Yeshua says it's written in Bas it's written on Sear in the book of the upright the book of the straight to teach it's written in the book of yaham yov this is the book of Abraham yov shikuar who were called yarim they were called straight people shenar where's he quoting this from of all places from bam harha when billum in one of Bam's prophecies he says let me die God the death of the yesharim of is and yob if billum understood billum recognized that their greatness was they were straight we have to understand the reason why did refer to and not highest people them right see in the classic sense people who go beyond the letter of the law not in the Contemporary social Dimension why not why not they were they were why call them why is that their their label also to to the extent that the saer is called by the Nim by the prophets saer Yar the book of the oper WR the book of the of the straight people the himself he prayed that his end should be like the end of these the idea is go all the way to the end of the God the rock is his is tummy Paulo he's pure he's per he's he's straight and perfect sadik isik he's Pious and he's straight the word Y is used to support the when AES there a prophecy there about the destruction of the Bay sheni right this is to justify the Reon destroying by sheni the second temple Tale the generation of the second temple was a crooked and and and negative generation but the posi you should know the Jews in the time of the second temple of were they were they were Pious righteous people tah they were steeped in Torah and learning Torah however Lo they were not straight in the the way they conducted their lives Al therefore what was the major destruction of the B causeless hatred right being dismissive of people for no real reason in their heart they had seen to each other listen to this they were suspicious they were suspect as me sh shal that their approach to Torah was different than my approach to Torah be hasem in fear of Hashem sorus you don't wear my color y you are an aorus you're a heretic you don't do things my way you're a heretic so they were they were they were they only Torah but they were dismissive of anyone who disagreed with the way with their particular D it went to the extent of murder tremendous everything bad happened because of this because they were not straight people was destroyed right I mean I I again I don't want to get into politics but we see what's been going on here for the last few years the the the struggle between the the they spoke in in terms of uh the justice system reforming the justice system was the religious against the non-religious and there were problems on both sides of the offense both sides made terrible mistakes in how they handled with each other there was really no no communication really this is the cause of in many sense historically this is without being not being prophetic here but you see the timeline here we're into this situation and they knew about it Hamas knew about it they knew this was the time to strike right this is this was the the the final Judgment of the destruction of the temple based on this and this PK by the way is used in the the prayer when someone passes away and we we speak to the ronish God is straight has no patience for such quote unquote sadim righteous people right right I I often tell the story the kotar idea you know we're com to the story we'll get to the story of stor soon and uh in our para parot and abam argued for sto which also shows how great he was he's going to mention this but but he said if there are 50 sikim if there 50 sikim in the city could you save the city for 50 sikim and said okay there 50 sikim no problem so the kuk says you know why because he said in Yiddish it's much better in Yiddish but he said said 50 sikim can also destroy a city 50 quote unquote sikim froma religious people who have no patience for anyone else's approach they can also destroy a city that's exactly the point that the na is making here these so-called sikim were not straight they didn't go in the straight path in their dealing dealing with people you don't go you don't go even if it's Shay I you know I mean it Shay I mean it you know for the sake of Torah you have to go my way you have to do it the way I say you have to do it not the way you say you have to do it my approach to Torah not your approach to religion my approach to Misses not your approach to miss I mean sh sh am right I'm a I'm a warrior right for God Z this destroys destroys people it destroys it uproots the calmness the Tranquility of society social norms and this was the praise they were true and lovers of the highest level was possible but they were straight they were straight they dealt with the nations of the world even Idol worshippers terrible people straight with straightness with love they were all creations of God they were concerned for their well-being because we don't want to destroy Society we don't to destroy the world gives an example how much AB prayed for sto he brings this there 50 and please 45 whatever he do give them a chance right was a very evil evil degenerate Society even though they hated sto and they hated Mel sto because of their their riches because of their evilness they hated their evilness not the people the evilness of who they were is what he what he actually told the king of stone m that being said didn't want to see them die he tried to save Stu said to go to love righteousness and hate evil not withstanding the fact that Theon told him that what do I mean loveed you should love to bring back my creatures my non-jewish cre my Creations in the world back to righteousness and hate the fact that they became evil that's why was called the father of a multitude of Nations even if the sun doesn't Rock in walk in the right path he still searches out his goodness even though he's not walking in the right path he still tries to bring him back theth look what L did what did for load for his nephew who is not a not a good good person we we have this in this week's para right how he goes to bat to save to save load from sto right how how dealt with his haters in with passively quietly May how we'll see all this later on in the Torah in he's going what L did to him look what Lin did for 14 years what how he how he deceived him he spoke to him softly comments on this right he was he tried to appease he tried to appease him so much we see about the in their their deportment how they dealt with people which would keep the world going over the page unique to this toer the safer of creation nikra Saar that's why it's called saer haayer This is why the world was created this is the goal of the world that it should be a world of straightness of honesty ofit Al in this idea and therefore right B had Hades right when he when he offered these prophecies right he got it bam got it he understood how bad he was how bad things were he know knew it he got it I'm not like even though I'm a prophet of the nations of the world he understood was was was the lowest level of t how could he hate how could he go against the holiest people he couldn't bring himself to destroy the nation he understood what they were all about that's why he screamed out I get it I get it I'm a fraud let me die the death of of the righteous of the straight people these straight people and of course we know in the end he died by the sword because that's really what he deserve right these are the people who keep the world alive you go with the straight straightness this is explains what thean says let me die the death of these right these straight people that my end should be like their if not I will go to G that's what Rashi says it means and in the end he didn't he didn't die he died by the sword right he died he died of his own sins okay we'll leave that next paragraph now in number two we have a piece from Yakov keski and this really fleshes out he doesn't mention theive but he brings out something from our para which really velops and exemplifies the idea of Yar of the straightness of the listen to this he heard that his brother talking about his nephew Lo his brother was was taken prisoner and he took his you know he he saddled up his soldiers right and uh according to the rash he says it was really only elzar he had to take but he took 18 whatever how many soldiers he took he went to fight with stor to save to save his nephew Lo listen to this dilemma would ask a sh am I obligated to go into the lion's dead into stum stum were you know they would give a person in stum the gamor says they put him on a shortbread his leg were too long they cut off his legs that's what sto was all about come we'll give you that's what sto was all about right so am I obligated to go and save Lo if you would ask a would be told you're not you're exempt to go person is not obligated to put himself in a situation where it's even a questionable Danger you're walking along this the shore and you see somebody drowning you can't swim you can't swim right so this is not this is already s what are you gonna do you can't go in if you go in you're gonna die right you're not to do it if to try to get a lifeguard try to do something throw him throw him something but you can't go in right that's the why did he do it because the didn't go just with they went with an ethic in a certain sense be outside of right everything they did was not okay the is like this I have to do like this no no I gotta save my nephew what can I do God created man to be and Yash had an obligation to save L why I explain he felt himself responsible shal for the safety of shal Haron his father Haron made he threw himself into the fiery furnace too AB was saved he thought he's gonna be saved so he threw himself into the fiery furnace right but he died and he translates yosher for us a way that we should really understand it men that's what men is it's not simply the sometimes that we have to do something that's beyond an emergency situation had to take out his whole Army and Chase all after these Kings the truth be told the entire lifetime of The Who Lived before the Torah was given all based on this is the statement that the rabbi say what's comes before Torah meaning he says before the Torah was given right somebody once said re once said I don't remember who you know you have by PES shabas you have the shabas by four PES shabas the shabas between rash shab what's the shabas before sh shabas be shabas right this is simply the understanding of the he tells mosha I'm going to give you Torah what is God talking about I'm gonna give you the Torah in the mitvah what's Torah it's talking about the stories the narrative in over the page the story line the Narrative of before the mitzvas right teaching demonstration a tour guide we say in modern Hebrew but is a is a a teacher he shows the way the stories of the teach us how to live even without a commandment from the even without a director from said about sh when he when he when he was made when he said Aina eulogy on now he add something rash from rash at the beginning of we all know this rash why did God begin the Torah with why did he start should start with that's the first mitz in the Torah right establishing establishing the new Moon by the way why is R considered such an important Mitzvah that it's the first Mitzvah because what is page is the establishing of the calendar establishing everything establishing our timeline right that's call torul establishing our timeline is the keys to the kingdom the ronam gave us that Mitzvah of establishing the timeline of of right but the Torah should start there skip to what are you starting with the stories for right Theus and Rashi answers to he that we should be able to tell the world he created The World God created the world but not and he gave Isel the one he wanted to give it to right God created the world and he gave Isel to us that's why right that only that only answers the questionus that only answers the question why the story of M basus is there m basus is there because God created created the world and he's the one that's going to give us there so you can't take it away from us right what about from why does have to give us all that just do and Skip doesn't say anything so says according to what I said would appear it's not a question why these are here at the beginning from these stories they're crucial they must be there at the beginning we can even demand this of the nations of the world we have to teach them they didn't get Mitzvah granted that's the Torah they didn't get to live like mention to live with ethics and morality from saer bares he only has to want it okay finally I have a piece from the Tor and the L Tor is a later um rotkin was a r around the time of the founding of the state here in a Israel he came from Lithuania from Lita and he is going to demonstrate for us an example of the opposite of yoser L okay so listen to how he Tes up a there's a at the beginning he told he went right according to what God told him right what is the Torah coming to tell us that he went according to what wanted him to do could he go any other way God told him to go he's going says and went with him why did he take he took the whole B why does it say he took L what's going on he took L with him this is how the p goes right say and went with him and was 75 years old when he left right so the is kind of out of order right abam went way was told and lot went with him and by the way AB was 75 years old say AB went with with he was 75 years old and L went with him why the order of the P this way why is's age mentioned here why does he put in between A's going and Lo's going with the age the old age of look at another sa for that WR SH explain like this said to himself look I believe in the god of Abraham I want to go along and call out to God I want to have a relationship with God I want to help right had to take him he took him right but let's see the real reason that L went went because God spoke to him he didn't have any other any other intention there was no other agenda that abam had in going with him right no ulterior motive he only wanted to do the will of God and lo went with him now listen Ando in hebreo is external I'm gonna be with him externally right a kind of external relationship attachment but I could be different right emo I go if he would go emo with him I'm one I'm one with with him if I go emo with somebody I'm going with you U with you that's that's one I'm one um IM comes um comes from IM we're together but at is external I have my own agenda but I'll go with you right so he said he went he had he had a another agenda he had another another reason why he went the thoughts of ab were not the thoughts of L the goals of what was Lo really after to go with he was already 75 when he left not sure why would be a fool to leave my old Uncle getting older and he's going to inher I'm going to inherit him was a very wealthy person I'm gonna go with him to this strange what am I going for right right now it mentions going of Lo really it doesn't belong here it belongs in another perck it's only AB went and then L went and ab was 75 years old that was his the opposite of menite right he was looking out for himself to become rich to inherit AB that's the structure of the P okay thank you all we're going to end here thank you appreciate being with you have a nice evening thank you