Parshat Vayakhel-Pekudei | Rabbi Baruch Taub

So we're going to call this uh parat Vayak Pud. So we did not have a shear last week. So um some of the material will be from Vayak. I think you have those sheets. So first of all today's shar we want to dedicate to a rafuish layma for barl benga and he should be comfortable should heal be strong and you should be strong the uh also the shir is being sponsored by yonatan pronman in memory of his late wife whose yard site is udalof Nissan Basor Alum and in memory of his late parents and Mala Bas alum and in this of uh their the learning the nama should have an aliyah and Barry should have. Okay. What I want to talk about today a theme that I want to bring out is a theme a theme of kaduca. You know that uh we say and I might have mentioned this p we we say we we quote the novi in kadusha and we say kadosh kadosh kadosh right. So what are the three kadushes? The three kadushes are kadushhatam that Israel is kesh with an kushhat which is beta mikdash right or even a a b midrash somewhere in also but essentially we're talking about Israel and the bet mikdash and kadushman would be shabas and yum right so these are the three kadoo. So what we're going to try to to look at is how these three kind of merge together. Okay. So first let's talk about kadushhatam I suppose but we'll see that it's it's kind of merging. This is a puk actually from vayak about bringing the donations of bringing the gold and the silver the jewelry for the building of the Mishkan. Alanim the men came with the women or really because of the women so to speak called the div everyone who was in a div right uh they would bring which the wrist a bracelet nez ring theat a ringum all new So the important thing here is that it was col, right? Why couldn't the Torah just say that they um donated something? They gave something. Everybody has reasons why they donate. Sometimes it's for ulterior motives, right? I donate to your cause, you'll donate to my cause, but this was really niv. So it seems to say that there's something more than the actual act of giving. It was a service of the heart. And it's interesting that that the men followed the the women because for women probably I mean men don't have so much jewelry but for women to give up their jewelry is a a tremendous um tremendous uh act of of kaduca right and pardona hakraa. Yeah. And um in fact, don't don't assume that this is uh something that the Torah um preaches that women shouldn't wear jewelry and they shouldn't wear makeup and so on. This is this is untrue. Uh in fact, we're getting close to PES. So the Rambam Poskins, what's the mitzvah of YT? How do you fulfill the mitzvah of Yam? So you might think well the sim with joy and yont drink a bigger cup of wine for the four cups have a bigger kazay of matzah right no simont the raam puskins is a husband has to buy for his wife clothing a new dress for ytov and for the children to have candies to have toys to play with. Um so in other words we we encourage uh beautifification but very cleverly Kazal put it together with the kaduca of yum that our beautifification is for is for positive reasons right so but this is um kadushadam it was a service of the heart but also again it dovetales it's kaduc they're giving giving for the sanctity of the Mishkan. Okay. Now, so you have two things coming together, makum and now let's see in number two a gamarra which discusses uh very high level of kaduc. Okay. Um rabbi shimatic gammoradic was that was his name. Not many people have such a name the pious who was also a coh and a nazir. Now what's he talking about? When a a person becomes a nazir if he decides to become a nazir a nazer means he's striving for more sanctity more kaduca and he doesn't cut his hair. doesn't drink wine. He doesn't come in contact with dead the dead body and he go the stnazerus is 30 days but you it could be longer also at the end he brings various corban right what if he became tame if he became tame um uh he has to bring an asham he has to bring a guilt offering right so this this kohanim are given to eat from the corban asham from the guilt offering But he makes a statement. I never ate from an asham nazir tame when from any nazir who became tame his asham only one guy only one nazir I ate from his asham. Okay. And he tells the story one time there was a fellow who came from the south who was a nazir to the mikdash. I saw that he had he was very handsome. Maybe he had beautiful blue eyes. But he his hair was all overgrown. He was a nauseier. I said to him, "My son, why did you do this? What do you need this for? Why did you become a said to me? I'll tell you. I was a shepherd for my father in our town and I went to fill up water from the well and I saw the reflection of my face. How handsome how handsome I I am. My Yetser hor was getting the better of me. What I can accomplish with all of these good looks. How I can destroy my soul but I can enjoy life. Right. Wine women and song. Right. And my wanted to remove me from the world of the spirit. I said to the myself in the mirror, Russia, you evil person, why are you what what's going to happen to your beautiful body and face eventually? Right? You're not in charge. Right? What's going to happen to the body afterwards after 120 years? I swear by the mikdashim I will dedicate myself to shayim right my hair and everything I stood up this is the rabbi talking of shimadi I stood up in shakiv al ro and I kissed him on his on his forehead I said to him beneath my son kimoka yarbu or no Israel. There should be more people who take on the Nazir vow like you is concerning you that the Torah says when a person takes on to become a a nazir. So this was the only Nazir whose Corbin asham he was a he became tame right and he had to give the corbin asham that he was the only corbin that's the only corbin to that that I ate so the question is what what is rabishiman is this from is the is the nazerus like extra frum kite to become an azer is it and is the rabbi shiman abstaining from carbonod except for his is that a a kind from kite we're talking about the kaduca Adam right so now skip over the page to uh what are we calling it I don't know you have it uh you have a four and a five there no on page two yeah okay so go the other side other side of the page okay so now we're going to see Rav Hutner is going to discuss this Isa he's going to discuss everything he's going to discuss what's this idea of Nadiv leav giving with the heart just say you're donating he's going to talk about uh what the the what the nazer did and he's talking about rabbi shim did okay so first he quotes our p again voim the men came with the leadership of the women called nadiv le again the people who gave from their heart and they brought all their jewelry okay now let's See what has to say about this. This is um when we when we talk about being aid in the classical we're not talking about contemporary that's that's a sociological grouping of of Jews but in classical literature means to go beyond the letter of the law if a person is aid he is going beyond the letter of the law so I want to discuss the mistake that people make about going beyond the letter of the law Right. generally we conclude it's right I'm I'm poot poot how do you translate preach abstension I'm abstaining I'm not going to do this I'm from I'm firmer than you right I want to be firmer than everybody else right this is a tragic mistake this is not really what is going beyond the letter of the law is much much more there's a subtle difference here and we're going to see it the hint is by the way that Pik says kiv le it wasn't just the act of it was the it was the heart the feeling of the heart okay so that's going to lead us in the right direction let's talk about the ma we just learned the gammorra we just learned about shimati Shar he said I never ate from the asham even though I'm allowed to right I never ate from the corbin of this nazir who became except for this one guy and what did he say his reason was because the gammorra goes on to say that that maybe the nazir had second thoughts Right. He was had second thoughts. So, you know what? It's a terrible thing. If I'm in the mikash, I'm a co and I got this guy's asham and I'm going to eat it. But if he was if he resigned from his nazer, so to speak, this this Corbin is now kulen. It's a regular chicken or it's a regular piece of meat, a regular calf, right? The Corbin is not cottish anymore. That's called You're not allowed to eat in the Azor. That's a That's a a serious Torah infraction, right? It's no longer a Corbin, right? Explains. Wait a minute. Not Not true. There's no doubt. It's wrong. It's wrong. It's not considered. This corbin did not once he he it became it doesn't mean that it's foolbiner the remember the is the guy who became the corbin is still a corbin it's a regular carbon so what what's talking about right even if the had second thoughts I'm not going to be a nazer right doesn't affect the corban So the reason why he abstained is because you're going to be eating in the in the mikdash. He's going to be eating a regular piece of steak or roast in the in the bd which you're not allowed to do, right? It's not true. Simply it wasn't it it's not from kite. In other words, it's not that I'm now going to be from and I'm not going to eat this because it's it's incorrect. You can eat it. So why wasn't he going to eat it? Okay, next paragraph. I want to explain the real reason why he abstained from eating this as if it was like eating nonsacred food in the mikdash greater. It wasn't simply from kite, right? I'm I'm going to be from, right? Because it's incorrect. You you're you can't be from if it's not the right. So, what was he doing, right? From his perspective, right? He's actually going to use the word perspective in a minute on his level. For him, it was considered as because if this nazir slipped, it means there was something missing in his commitment of Nazerus, right? Right. It it was considered by him to be an infraction of it's not it wasn't it really wasn't it was still corbin perspectival but from the elevated perspective of it was as if asham that the nazir had regrets about became if that's the case there's a something else there's another subtle difference between what he did it's not from right it's not it's not from it's not reality it's not real it's not like it's a corbinto it's a corb and therefore I can't eat So something else is at at play here. Lorac ma appreciate. It's not simply that he abstained. It's not that he abstained from the act. There's something more than abstaining from the act. What was it? There's a very fine line here, a very subtle line between abstaining from the act and what did let's see if he brings it out in dal and again the hint is le right I'm going to give you another example this idea has more clarity mak there's another gammor at the end of makot shenes the gammora Darian vavo. The Torah wants us to reach the level aspire to the level of being a do em bil vavo of speaking truth with my heart. Right? Not just with my mouth. Speaking truth with my heart, right? Speaking truth with my mouth is a kind of an action of speech, right? But speaking truth with my heart. That's what we have to that's what we aim for. And who did he who does the Gomorrah say did this rough saf what did this rabbi do? He was in business. He had a store. If he decided on a certain price to sell an item in his store, let's say he was and the guy or saying and the guy came into the store and he saw this item whatever it was and it was for $100 and he didn't answer him. I'm going to buy it and he says I'll give you 200 doesn't 300 400 500 right are again our mistaken conclusion about this activity of right it's a kind of an extreme you know extreme kind of honesty Right? Even though he never said it that this is what he in his heart, but he went with his heart. I I decided in my heart, by the way, this is what I'm going to get. This is what it's going to be worth. And I'm not going to take more if he would have actually articulated it. then it would have been a lie. It would have been dishonest, right? But here he didn't say it. Why couldn't he go out? He could have really he could have taken whatever he wanted, right? Even if it was just in his mind. He in his mind, right? That was enough for him, right? Is this from one of the commentaries in the Goram. That's not what's going on here. Listen to this. A normal person, we say, right? By the way, in stuck, if I say in my mind, you know, I'm going to, you know, there's an appeal going on. Okay, I'm saying I'm going to give a $100. You that's a commitment. One has to give that commitment. You made a commitment in your heart, right? That's really the way it goes, right? So, it's not like I didn't have to he didn't have to do it. He was extra super duper from that he was such a nice guy and an honest guy. That's from kite, right? No, it's because he did say in his heart, right? He's going to say a very important line here in a minute. When he when he was what he said, it was it was an oath. He made he made that which was secular holy for example you know many eat the time of the mikash they eat all their food even though they don't have to eat like holy food they eat they eat their food like it's holy like we're not talking about ems this is not ems I'm more em than you for right there's only one emis. You can't have more em less emo is his heart meaning what? Here's how he explains it in sanctity in kadusha validity [Music] validity on his level where he was holding. Truth be told, he decided in his heart, somebody will put a a price tag on it that said act. This is what the thing is worth by him. I didn't have to put a a price tag on his level. His heart the had the reality of the that what he did with his heart had the reality of an action a physical action that's what his was this is not from kite right it's not from kite this is not more religious than you this is that to me what's in my heart has real the reality what I think in my heart has the reality of of a of an action action done. It's a done deal. So the final paragraph that's a totally different right this is not I'm from right it's not about it's about I'm a person of the heart right this is going beyond the letter of the law not just I'm going to do this extra thing you know extra points right because it's an extra thing no no because my heart wants me to do it now what Does this have to do with PES? The the philosophy of life to do these things. This whole idea that my thought my thoughts actually have reality, right? This is at the source of kadusha. So here we're seeing the right. What do you see at PES? This is the beginning of Kadusha in the world. Right. Right. The beginning of Kadusha in the world. We do many things. There's a thing called there's a thing called the pes in fact the says one of the last hill is pes some people don't eat in anyone else's house right they have you should not have a on somebody because they have a right so again why because it's coming from the heart right it's not you know he's not and in fact we do all kinds of is really how do you get rid of right you you in your heart and then but you burn it you have to make the statement you search for it you look for you burn the right why do you have to do that he says listen it's enough just in your heart to say I'm my I am nullifying my wherever it is you know that if you do that without checking without looking you have fulfilled the mitzvah of being right what's everything else right according to the Torah all you have to do is in your heart if you do it in your heart your your doesn't exist anymore right what happens in your heart takes place in in action It has life and reality in the in the thought process just like in action. So this is how we understand why the Torah says going to go back to the first page and finish the last piece. This is why nadiv the people who gave it nadiv that's what the Torah is saying. This was not that the women gave all their jewelry the amazing amazing women what's shot not that they're trying to be from this is who they were this was their heart they wanted and that was was attached to the kaduc of the of the mishk right the final the final kadusha is kadushman right also from the para right from right you have kesh Right. The whole parish but is busy with the building of the mikdash. Right. Right. And is is also talking about all the how much we raised and again raising the money for the Mishkan. Right. Their al-Shabat what is the utility of at the beginning of the para talking about uh about Shabas right? What is that all about? Veneerly I want to tell you I suggest this is from this is from the Oamra. Say n it's on page one number four on page one it's called. Okay. Got it. Nim laora. Okay. See it. Okay. So um so I want to suggest he says um based on something I said somewhere else. Shabas and Mishkan have one similar purpose. Ladesh at b Israel to sanctify p Israel at liib and to return their hearts. You see all this Torah dovetales, right? Ala kadusha through the the the flow of of kadusha, right? The flow of kadusha kadush of shabas and the kadusha of the mishk the mo of the place right is sanctity and time. That's a time of what we we turn away from the the the frivolity of the world. We spend the day doing more Torah and mitzvah and we sanctify our nish our our persona that we take advantage of the kadooman. There is a tremendous spiritual energy on Chabas. There's sanctity. We're living in a in a bubble of sanctity on Shabas, right? And and on the other side of this coinish, the mikdash is the sanctity in space. A person who sins right and has blemished his soul. What does he do? He comes to the mo of this holy space of the mishkan the mdasha. He gives a corban. He he purifies himself or for us he goes into the into the into the midrash and he ds and he does cha right three times a year talking in idyllic times three times a year the mid of call we are obligated to be seen rightem to see Hashem and to be seen by him right in this holy place. So these three times of the year the kadusha right shenit kadesh bash habria right this whole idea of kadushman was was sanctified in the creation of the world shabas was akureshb who made chabas for and it's an un it's a unusualman issue right b is barinai why is it unusual what's unusual about sharas Right? Why why is Shabas the the sanctity of Shabas so unusual? I'll tell you why. Because in time you have a month 30 days. That's a natural from tea. You have 30 days. The moon cycle of the moon that's 30 days. You have a year right? 365 days. The sun whole business of the sun. So you have a month. You have a day is 24 hours a day in sunlight. What's a week? A week is an invention of the Torah. A week is an invention of it's a unique gift that the has created. It's outside the realm of of na nature. It's unnatural nature natural time seven days of the week. It's a tremendous. The whole world took it on as well. The whole world took it on. Right. Of course they've got it wrong which day it is but Right. But they got they got the idea. But when Messiah comes, they'll they'll get it right. Right. They'll be all of our shabasy. So it's an amazing idea. So this is the kaduc of shabas is on on a on a level of its own. It's in a league of its own, right? The second paragraph. You might think, you know, well, well, I have the so what do I need? I don't need the sanctity of time, right? I can sanctify my soul. I could I could I could go to the Bikes every day. I d I three times a day. Go to every day, right? But in idilic times, I go to the Bikes, right? Therefore, no, no, no, no, no. it is a it's first come Shabas then comes the mikdash in the para the order of the para you have to know that the kadusha of comes from the kadusha ofman of not just okay now I don't need created for us the kadush in fact that's the Torah three times a year of Yam we have to go and derives from Shabas right the original gives a reason is unique right technically speaking Right. It's only with the Amen. Okay. Thank you all. So we'll see you in Hashem after Pes. Everyone should have a beautiful Pesak. Um you know people used to say we say right. So say no by sukus I say but by right emphasize the right anyway.