Parshat Shelach 5784 by Rabbi Baruch Taub

okay good morning everybody um par for years we we've we've talked about the morim which we're not going to really do um don't think I haven't looked too at too much of what I have but I don't think we're going to deal with the marlim so much there's all kinds of other things in the paraa so after the maraging which was a national uh downfall uh there was another National downfall a spiritual downfall as well and that's what we're going to focus on so the first two pieces to I have three pieces two the first two are from R salivic and the third piece is from rev hutner so let's do number one on the sheet so mosha warns Amel that if you don't do all of the mys of the [Music] Torah what happens what happens essentially is if they they um they have to bring a the majority of the of the Tor the majority of CLA Israel does a sin is a special Corbin that has to be brought um and this is we're going to be seeing it's talking about when also when the the um the bezden makes a mistake the bezden makes a mistake in Hala um there two conditions right an erroneous Pak and we'll see in what it in what the specific area is even though doesn't seem like it's specific yet and the other is the majority of Amel has to transgress so that you bring the special corbon so just the he's quoting a little bit toim here you bring a corbas a sin offering and you also bring a Corbin Ola a elevation offer offering Ola is unique because it's the whole thing is burnt on the m and a sin offering so Raji explains we're talking about even though it says and we'll see how the ran explains that in a minute if the should be he's warning them if you trans transgress all of the missiles of the Torah right so Rashi points out immediately based on the med it's talking about AAR idol worship right and way back in VRA where carbonis are discussed it discusses this idea of the a a a misstep of the of thez if the bz the great bezan made a erroneous to in general for anything they they they were M they they allowed any particular series of and most most of the people did it they have bring up a par a cal for the sin offer is a sin offering that's in general when they make a mistake right but there's an exception to the rule when it's talking about idol worship they had to bring an elevation offering in addition to the sin offering say that we have to understand that why and offering is a gift to ronom it's not it's a gift to the Rabon you're giving him a gift special gift right the overwhelming majority of the Jewish people worshiped Idols which is obviously the most significant terrible sin that that a Jew could do because it's the the polar opposite of aod right the whole total picture of what we're supposed to be doing is serving a and this is a z right we turn it on its head and we worship the anti- God right so what do you bring a gift for what's the why are we saying yes to the why are we thanking him and and it's an exception to the rule of of this particular offering right they need a serious uh atonement right so the that's why we have a maybe they should bring two two sin offerings right what about the what's the idea of bringing an a gift offering to Hashem after there's such a terrible situation by the way he says the second question why is this not in where this General Corban uh is is brought for the majority of the right why is it established here in this right next to the right so those are the two questions okay so first he quotes the ramban now it's a very lengthy ramban and he doesn't quote the whole ramban he takes out bits and pieces of it but it's an important ramban first of all if the the misstep of the it's very different than the one in pointed out you have to bring a sin [Music] offering here you have to bring not only a sin offering you have to bring a thanks offering right a gift offering to so the rabis tell us this is we're talking about here you don't see it in thek right the PK said he's that we're warned if we we're do all of the so the immediately explains right you transgress everything from hem you didn't do anything you supposed to do we went against the whole Torah you bring this Corbin but that's what you would that just if you would look at thek without T that's what we would conclude right it means that we guy did somebody did everything wrong because by the say one you did one thing wrong [Music] so there has to be one one mitvah one a that really represents that really is is so significant that it really in a sense doesn't uh contradict what the PK is saying it is highlighting what the P really means somebody you know walks out on is right he walk completely turns over to aod Zara turns over to the nations of the world has nothing to do with CLA Israel anymore right and uh I mean I don't want to get political here this morning but we know we have a lot of pain from from Jews who are so tragically assimilated that they are the Forefront of the Palestinian protesters you know from The River To The Sea they're they're the only ones that really know what the river and what sea right the Jews right they can walk out on that right they don't want to be part of right that's why the says it's the totality of Torah so the Torah the Torah made one Mitzvah that you if you do it even you're you're out you're out of the gate G right that is that's what we're talking about here the seems to be saying you they were K they they denied and rejected the entire T all the by do when someone worships Idols it's as if he's kofer he's rejecting the entire the entire Corpus of Torah that's what we're talking about now they definitely have to bring this Corb right but there's a tremendous here this is not remember what I I really rushed over is that this corbon is brought only for AA where the punishment is chorus right Kate which is premature death right does not have such a punishment because he says here like this it's not the act of the a that that necessitates the Corban it's not the act of let's say worshiping the idol right you know or you know many times says that aara is a generic term you know if someone's whole life is sports and he has nothing to do with anything else not saying you there's nothing wrong with sports right as a sideline right so but but when their whole life is sports that's an AAR right when you substitute something for for the Rabon right so it's not the that's the act of the a but it's not the the act that is the tragedy in aod Zora right it's the rejection of the that's why it's here in exactly what the morim did right right let us give us that we want we're out of here we don't want to go to wherever you're taking us we want to go back to yush to uh to Mez right Le we want to live in MIT below Torah below without Torah and without mitv right that's what we want to do right in fact there's a very famous ramban which uhbe someday we'll do it that he says that the mitz of the Torah were given only to be kept in ER Isel right that's how important Isel right everything was given only to now that there's a whole question what does that mean right we're not going to go there but that's what they so you can see the the the extent of the tragedy of wanting to wanting to pack out here who they they there's a certain um a certain um regret of the past remorse and regret of what they did righta and there's there so but there's also there's two things number one hopefully there's two things number one is the remorse on what you did but number two yes but then then when they come to terms with what they did how serious it was there's a tremendous sense of Shame bu right shiv what you're bringing a Corbin we're talking about someone who realizes he did this AA of aora right so he's now returning to the Rabon he's returning back to Torah right so there there are two emotions here number one is the the tremendous regret and remorse but on the other there's also the sense of bush of Shame you know shame how could I do this to Theon a broken heart it's a sense of mourning right look what I've what I've lost um he writes here in Yiddish um forced him for fored him forced him you know he feels remorseful right it's a he feels terrible um a therefore aside from everything else that he has to do theim the whole idea here is the Torah God wants him to return to sim to a life of of Happiness right he's he's realized what he did he went to the one extreme uh negative extreme of how person should live his life and now he's trying to come back so Theon wants him to come back completely shame is good it's a healthy thing right shame right it's a healthy thing for us right it makes us confront the reality of what we did or what we didn't do but also the r doesn't want us to stop there right we we're not Catholics believe in guilt we don't believe in guilt you know this is a on the way for a few there should be shame but ultimately we want we believe in Sim person should be bimu is about Chua whatever he did whatever a he or she did once they do Chua they have to be hasem is is embracing them the person who sins he's going deeper and deeper into sin over the page um whoops yeah going deep right in the sea of sin when he's when he's drowning in in in water who's going to save him the says this is very important we have in the para also we had Theos of last week's par right we had the 13 M we say oner right hasem hasem the three the 13 attributes of the Ron in forgiveness very important uh suim because the ronam came to mosha and said why do we say it all the time on we're doing Chua why so because the ronam wrapped himself in a in a Talis metaphorically the gorah says and taught him this [Music] the whenever the Jewish people stray whenever Strays they should say this to me and they'll be forgiven right so these they're called the Yim right so but what are the first what's the first two Hashem Hashem why is Hashem Hashem why is it repeated right God is doesn't abandon us even though we abandoned him he is Hashem before we sin but he's also Hashem after we sin he's waiting for us he loves us right that's the point here if would would abandon The Sinner and he would just abandon him completely after his sin so no you know if that's if that's the story here I'm out of here what am I so what you know let me live the good life I can't can't deal with it right there'd be no desire to to turn my life around right therefore every moment of CHA every experience of Chua aside from the DI there two Dimensions to Chu one is the the busha and the a your sense of mourning uh and a sense of BU sense of shame but there's another dimension of Chu that Chua has to feel don't feel like did okay you know but no you're you're hem has accepted you you're a different person again right um in fact the rambam the rambam says that a balua should change his name should even change his name it's like a a witness protection program right change your name right because your name is everything right so can even that's Ram suggests that right so because he merited to do this thing called chuva this this ridiculous thing called chuva because it it defies logic right logically there's no such thing as wiping out the past there's no such thing as wiping out the past right you uh but that's what Chua does that's it's as if you did a Mitzvah that's how looks at afterwards so this way he won't he didn't fall into the sea of his sin there for because of these two dimensions of CH that's the individual sinner they remain Jewish if the entire sins with a a a a dramatic sin like our here right is not so great so if the does it you know okay so you have to bring a that's you have to deal with the shame Etc morning but this sin which is an abandonment of everything there's nobody to help you right everybody's everybody's gone that way you have to bring these two you have to bring the sin offering for the the shame and the bush Etc the the GI to there's tremendous by the way a par a calf offering is on a pecking order of is on a higher level than a lamb or a Ram comes as a as a burnt offering an elevation offering for the sin because the gift is a greater Corbin that's what the really wants wants he wants to embrace you he wants you to feel that you've got over it you're now a new person again for the okay this next piece is from also in the paraa um and it it's a little further down in the paraa but it's something we're all familiar with yosua there's a name change we spoke go about name changes by chuva by Bal Chua but here he mosha changed hosa's name to yua now it's very important that a name is a very essential thing of a person right a name is a very important it's not stum right I mean the word Nish word Nish I have a granddaughter here named Nish but the word Nish the two middle letters in the word Nish is shame right the essence of a person is the nisham of a person is his name and um in fact um everybody knows I assume when you say the Shon at the end of the Shon you say little PUK inur are you some of you not aware of that any you're not let me tell you you know you are aware of it so everybody has a PK everybody has a PK the first letter of the PK is the first letter of your name and the last letter of the PK is the last letter of your name right that's a great PK okay now if you don't have a PK yet if you open up the sitter and most readily it's the art go to the art scroll sitter and there's a listing of all the psim for all the names and you can get your name right get your PK and add it at the end of el SH now it's very important because because rabbis tell us kazel tell us after 120 years when you go up to the Rabon Shalom got identify ify yourself right so you have a POS to identify yourself right so but here um the name affects a person's personality now we don't see it too much in our in the time of the gamor in the time ofal we say k that a person can become what his name is is the potential to really become now we also have that potential we don't see it so clearly right but the name can be a the person's name can really be a that's why we it's so important for us when we name somebody after right and there are all kinds of questions who you can name after who you can't name after right they say someone who God forbid R died very young so you can give the name with another name right um so giving a name is a very important thing to us right by theom they give names of the living to a grandfather who's alive or grandmother right so a name is a very important thing to us right we take it very seriously so here mosha wanted to affect Yeshua somehow like why did he change his name right um so you start now it's Yash Rashi brings mhe I want you have to be say I pray that you will right you will not be influenced by the other 10 Morag you and Ki will not be influenced by there were 12 Morag that came out to check out ER Israel and I don't want you to be influenced so this I'm that's why I'm changing your name how does that work UB it says where did that come from s was SAR so what happened to that yud right that you you know is floating around in the air it's a it's there got do something with it right it was floating in front of right now all this is a metaphor we don't these phrases are help us understand a little bit right beyond our ability to understand right doesn't mean exactly floating whatever that means there's actually I have to share with you I might have mentioned this in the past there's a mlus there's a difference of opinion between the mar between the maral and the mar how we understand the a of the gamor the the stories in the gamorra of kazal you know all the stories that we read right so the Mara says very important the mar says they're literal they're literal right it's if that's what the story says that it's literal the moral says they're not literal it's a metaphor we are generally tmim students of the moral they're not necessarily literal right didn't really happen that way right it's it helps us it's kind kind of um you know uh to help us understand Theon as best we can right so so he says to God so the the ud objected because I'm the smallest letter right so you take me out of s said to him said to the letter listen I'm going to make you are the you you're going to be not the last letter of s you're going to be the first letter of yua right okay so what's theot here explains what what's the what's the significance here right at first Sor was s that's possessive s like me to me she was for herself she was a private citizen right but then s became s for the for the rest of the world K AB Abraham AB became Abraham at first he was the father of this area where he lived but then he became a to the whole world right and the same thing with SAR right in other words they became the greatest the greatest influence influencers in the world right the gor says right now that's a very interesting phrase by the way it's not about um you know it wasn't about some kind of a uh they had a a kind of a game that they played to influence people um it was their personality right it was their the the Abraham Abraham the Persona of Abraham influenced the men and the Persona of SAR influenced the women there were no tricks not it's not about the clothes that she wore right uh or the Charisma it was just who they were and that that is what was a magnet to humanity to teach them monotheism right so she became from being a private citizen she became a public Persona a national person right and what does it say here in other words there's a difference in the letter he and the letter it says in the it's going back to bous these are the generations of Heaven and Earth as they were created right now that word beib if you look at that word carefully you know kind of a word jumbo right so you look at that like you know like he would do in the New York Times word jumble or puzzle you see there are other something else in there Isa hey baram he created the world with hey the letter hey was the Nash creating the entire world right the the whole world was created with the letter A that's a public statement right this world was created with hey right the public world within which we live right therefore the letter heers the ha represents universalism the ha is universalism but the letter yud little yud habal that's about privacy pre reticence right um you know separating separating yourself sort of your own there a two Dimensions to to our lives right we we have a responsibility actually three dimensions responsibility to ourselves but a responsibility to humanity to claw Israel and a responsibility and responsibility to um my my own personal life to my own personal right so again SAR was a private citizen she was herself she took care of her family she did what she supposed to do Sora sh or says she was my Sora Sora sh Sarai she was my Sor right and I'm nurturing her whatever she's going to be but she's right now right he was limited in his leadership right but afterwards just as Abraham was transformed into the father of the the World of Nations the hay that was added to ab's name which it it bespoke his new persona he was now the leader of the worlders now he was a universal univ the universal person with a capital u [Music] kersal so SAR also became more Universal now she had a responsibility now now God is sending her out you're my Sarai but I'm making you the world's SAR right but [Music] yeshua's name started with he right he was he was M's talmid muak his great student he was already groomed to be a public Persona to be a universal leader right but leadership is not just about being out there right Moshe therefore MOS that he should separate himself from the people at times to be a private person also you know the king there's a Mitzvah in the Torah the 63 Mitzvah in the Torah is to write a saer Torah we all have that Mitzvah that's why when there's Torah people pay for writing a letter you're M that Mitzvah right so uh a king has to have two c Tor the Melo Israel has to have two c Torah and one of them he carries with him wherever he goes wherever he goes right to remind him that he is his personal his personal saer Torah right that's the idea here that leadership is is about being um for the people but also you have to have private time for yourself to continue to develop your spirituality strengthen your spirituality have your own intimate relationship withon as well so you have to take care of yourself as well right so that's what Yoshua didn't have that yet so that's what the idea of the yud was not simply Universal you know if you're just purely Universal whatever you want I'm going to do it no no no you have to have have be an independent thinker and maybe that is not what's needed for the universal moment something else is needed right you need to develop your confidence your selfconfidence as well in spirituality so so therefore he was given [Music] to which is the Privacy as opposed to the universal okay how are we doing for time okay over the page excuse me I think we'll go a little over the time but it's worth it this is from rev hutner this is not about the para this is what I wanted to do last week it's about every paraa it's about every para right because it's dealing with the Mitzvah of AAS hasem loving God and the Mitzvah of Yus hasem and the Mitzvah of having a fearing God right so he's going to say something very special and here let's go um there many many prayers that we have many we doem please give us give me a feeling of loving you give me a feeling of fearing you there many we said it this morning you do this morning how many times you said please give me give me love of God give me fear of God right many D but right but there's one exception [Music] they're separate requests every you have it's a separate request for love love I want to feel love for you I want to feel fear for you re respect for you reticence right sh without it's not in in the the second before in the morning or right direct our heart establish in our hearts you it should be blended into my heart to love and to fear your name right it's the only time that the two are mentioned together and it's a prayer for give me that is you know Unity it has many meanings here give me both and but to be something right you have a that's You're Something in Hebrew you say you're something it's specifically it's part of you you make it a part of you right it's together with you to be so please you're my AA and my year for you to should be part of me should be completely integrated integrated word okay now this is the sense that we're asking for the integration I like the word inter the integration of love and fear of in my Persona right but not love separately not year separately I want everything together I want it well together okay what's that all about what's unique about it and why a what what is the uniqueness of this request and why is it only one time in a what's the point of putting it here it's obviously something that he wants us to want and to achieve but why dka here and what is it what is the difference of asking for this y the integration of AA andur and St asking for AA or St asking for yur what's the difference here right let me explain I'm going to try to explain to you separate as opposed to the integration of the heart to right I'm gonna I'm gonna give you an example from aor listen to this right if someone this a h thing someone gives a get stum right just hands a get to his wife right it's not a get it's pule can't do such a thing it has to be there a witness has to be named right um but if you bring a Corbin to Hashem right it's koser even if you don't you just stum you bring a Corbin to Hashem you you brought you brought a Corbin yoush that Corbin you Sanctified you brought it to Hashem it's accepted you wrote a get you know you give it to your wife right right it's it's it doesn't work can have a get stum incidentally just as a as a kind of of interjection why do we have a MIT of get of Gish right why is that why is that a Mitzvah right it's actually a Mitzvah right if you want to fulfill all the 613 Mitzvah of the Torah I suggest you don't chase this mitzah right but why is why is there such a mitzah right why is there such a mitzah because the B wants shom Bay he wants a person to be peaceful to be happy sometimes that peace neb has to come by separating he wants you to be happy but he recognizes that not always does that peace come from being together sometimes the peace unfortunately for whatever reason has to be by going separate ways right so it's a mitz of Shai it's a mitz of sh bu it for the two parties involved right but back to the ranch here okay you give a get stum doesn't work it's not a get right you give K you give Corban to hasem St it works why listen both of them really need it has to be it has to be a have to give it sincerely yet with um with a corbon we skip it right I'll tell you why love a woman does not exist to be divorced that's not the essence of woman that she's she has a life and a personality to be divorced that's not the essence of a woman right theim but but a Corban its whole life its whole purpose is to serve Hashem to be this sacrifice right K in other words since the animal of of Hees of mikash is is its whole purpose in this world is to be to be given to God right so when the person is Mak the animal he is he has integrated that animal that corbon with the Mitzvah of Hashem with the that it's a corbon can integrated the animal with the corbon right therefore so therefore in other words so he was you have to say I am now hereby making you a Corban I am integrating the spiritual concept of sacrifice into the physical concept of animal you're now one thing right so done that so therefore even if I when I just give the Corbin to the to the co here's my Corbin right and the m is it's it's a done deal even though I didn't have kavana when I did it why because I was right I was I integrated it right so even in other words it's um it's on cruise control right it's there once I it once I make that in that step of integrating the spiritual into the physical the corbon into the animal right then it's it's on cruise control it's it's automatic that's it it's got it you added this is what it's this is what it's set up for right that's by Corbin my woman doesn't work that way because you cannot do that right it's impossible that's not who her essence you can't so so therefore hidden right all has to be has to be I have to do it for the sake of the Mitzvah but here you see you can give a Corbin and you're not doing it for the sake of the Mitzvah right but it's built in built in now to the action is this this integrated concept that it is the MIT of bringing a Corbin even if you don't even if you don't say it even you don't express it which is not the case by a divorce a woman is not created to be to be divorced if it happens it happens for whatever right like we spoke before but that's not her Persona Essence her Persona right therefore if a person gives a A man gives a woman the divorce without that I'm giving you a get just hands her a piece of paper right doesn't work doesn't work there's no she was not the act of what he did is one thing right there's no kavana in it right can't be but has nothing to do with giving a divorce let's get back to what we're talking about by that's what it is with love and fear okay love and fear or respect reticence however you want to define fear right there's two kinds of fear Mitzvah two kind of the Mitzvah ofus hasem is number one one to fear God have a sense of of fear right but it's also a sense of on a higher level it's because in one place the ram talks gives the two Mitzvah AA and then Y in another place he has Y and then AA because there's two kinds of yur there's y first the fear you know that comes before love when you fear but then there's also the fear that comes after love be awe a to be in awe of Theon right that's also fear but a higher Lev fear right but he's saying here in in in working on our love and fear let's say I have in my heart I have tremendous AA for a person he's talking about the midst of God right with Theon I love God I feel that I love God I I Fear God right you know do fear you bring flowers you bring one somebody brings flowers to his wife wife [Music] right but if he doesn't have For Love or for this is not really an act of love this is an act of love this is not an act of love this is like you know I want another potato in my CH on chabas right that's what it's all about this is not an act of love right it's not right how does how does that how does it really become AA is not there there was no integration it wasn't just the act right there has to be an integration right but when the heart is you have worked on this idea of being your heart too a you have inter you have successfully you are a person the goal for all of us is to be a person who has totally integrated love and into our Persona into our being right once you were you did that once you did the integration then you're on cruise control it's automatic even at that moment you didn't feel it doesn't matter he does it without any any not withstanding since your heart already you had this pacemaker put into our heart this pacemaker of AA and is in our heart it's there right for the the heart is app pointed it's that's got it automatically automatically it happens whatever you do the kav is there it's a it's built in on it because you've integrated it you don't have to so therefore you give a Corban you don't without saying what you get it's a corbon because you were that Corb right but again it doesn't work that way right that's example that's the is the main thing this integration every good act every performance of a Mitzvah so then every Mitzvah that we do is an act of love to reor automatically if we have developed this sense of Euro and AO not developed it if we have integrated it we've had that up pacemaker operation in our heart right everything we do is automatically an active love act an active right even if you're not thinking abouta it is an act OFA you've proved yourself you are a lover you are a lover and therefore when you do an act of love it's an act of love it's not just a a silly thing he didar the thing is here the the thing is this anytime that a person does an action that is that is based upon the fact that he has integrated love and fear in his heart so it's automatic it happens okay everything he does it's an act of love hum or or fear even though he doesn't start to say I'm now doing this for the midst of love I'm doing this for the midst of love right here's the flowers right you know I'm coming to D no it's an act of love that's who you are right you've become that that lover personality right now just two little paragraphs left T you see this in Torah of course if you see it in any Mitzvah you're going to see it in the Mitzvah of T Torah of learning Torah and living Torah right listen to the beautiful example a famous gor that when when you're talking to a when we're talking for and you could be talking to him about baseball scores ask him his opinion about sports about this that that right listen carefully to what he says because everything that he says comes from a complete total grounding in color in Torah so the the secular conversation with a Torah scholar is infused with kadus that's the way it is right that's his because he has integrated successfully integrated the world with his Torah right shenar you have all the whatever that beautiful POS the the uh the leaf is not withered has long ago integrated himself with Torah so everything he does is really Torah even if he doesn't mean it to be Torah right some he's talking about whatever he's talking about right I mean isn't that why we go to isn't that why we go to for advice right even though he's not talking about Torah itself right because his integrated personality is a personality of Torah and everything else that works now final paragraph why is it in this so now why is this one time only prayer in this BR of by kishma because there's something unique about this BR I'll say it out loud we don't have to do it inside there's something unique about this this last BR and we'll end with this there's something unique about the second BR of kesma you know what the uniqueness is it has another utility if you didn't say in the morning we're supposed to say right the blessing you can't do anything without without a br you do a mitah you eat an apple you make a br you're going to learn Torah you make a br um incidentally R hutner once said so beautifully so poetically right you know when you say you open up your sitter afterwards there's Pim you have to say right away and Mish you have to say certain Pim so he says so the says the world says you know why that's there because since I made a broa I have to eat the apple so I I made the broa therefore I got to learn Torah no I have to learn those I have to learn Torah so let me make the BR that's the way it works right so let's say a person didn't make V Tor let's say he stayed up all night sh and usually when you stay up all night sh in the base Mish there's one designated uh hitter right who goes to sleep for a half hour but usually it's not not difficult to find somebody who dozed off and he says all the bro is out loud for us because we can't make those bras if you if you were up the whole night you can't make right and he says so what if you didn't have a designated hitter right so what do you do you are y you fulfill the mitzah Tor by saying a is a br for Torah therefore in that unique BR for what is the BR of it's the BR of of of accepting a total embracing of the raon right and it has the MIT Etc but that's that in that da in that braa we have this this one mention because this is this this in ulates the entire spiritual journey of CLA Israel through Torah via love and fear being integrated in your personality and you don't have to say anything else if as long as you say this right you're bot the blessings of Torah we should all be we should all Merit the blessings of Torah okay