Pirkei Avot 1:3 - Yirat Hashem and Ahavat Hashem by Rabbi Moshe Snow

Okay, I think I'm ready to start. Uh, the uh the the sheet the sheer room on pick your office are being sponsored uh, by for the entire academic year uh, by Scott and Linda Hanaford. Former uh, by the bottom of the young Israel Bethel of Borough Park where I served as the rub for or a sham over 30 years. And we like to thank them for their sponsorship. Anyone who like to make a sponsorship to the OU, of course, you know who to contact. We we are finishing up uh, the mission that that began with on Tignos is so cool. Mission of Gimel. We we have just a smidgen left in that particular uh, mission to deal with, but it's such a broad topic that we need an actual whole sheer in order to be able to flesh it out. I did promise at the end of last week's sheer that I was going to mention a specific story with Reb Dovid Feinstein and I will bring it up towards the end of the sheer today. We we we begin our pick your office sheer each week with the opening statement from the Gamoran Sanhedrin I got a scale it call Israel yes to kill it all of my ball. All of Israel has a share in the world to come to name our as the passage says I make cool on Saturday came your entire nation is righteous all of your show arts they shall forever inherit the land. Nate Samata either a pinch of my planting my say your diet list player the work of my hands that I may be glorified says Hashem. So, we mentioned very often and we repeat again that this is a very positive statement client shall ask to consider the unbelievable privilege that he said Hashem himself tells us that each and every one of us individually and collectively have a share in the world to come all of my ball is part of our all of my say it's predicted that it's going to take place and as long as we do the best we can to walk in the ways of Hashem, we're going to be able to inherit that share in the world to come. Makes you feel good, doesn't it? Isn't it isn't it a good feeling, you know, at the end of the day that we try the best we can and we we improve ourselves maybe very slowly and incrementally, but nevertheless we we know that Hashem has promised us it's it's a guarantee that yes I am feeling we all of my ball. We are in mission of Gimel at the beginning of pick your office which we uh, began a few weeks ago and today we're going to wrap it up with the very last line. The mission has said on Tignos is so cool keep your mission in the attic. On Tignos from the place of so cool received the tradition from Shimon at Saturday and we mentioned of course the unusual name on Tignos if you remember connected with unusual name Alexander which came about because of Shimon at Saturday who preceded on Tignos is so cool. Here was another example of a foreign name given to someone as part of the Jewish people's heritage. Who are you home and he used to say the following I'll take you cover the moment I shall see I'm going to have a couple of press. Don't be like the servants who serve the master in order to get a partial reward. We had a whole session on the concept of press. A press is only a piece. Don't sell yourself short, we said. Go for the whole thing. And and and we do that by not taking small change in this world, but planning for the ultimate gift of all of my ball. Ella have a cover the moment I shall see I'm going I'm going to have a couple of cover press. And now we up to the last line. The last line I think those is so cool says the he more Russia my am I liking. And the fear of God should be upon you. We gave one shot last week of a he more Russia my am I liking means that Hashem himself should see that we are God fearing. The he more Russia my am the more Russia my am should be on you. It should appear to Hashem that you are God fearing people and he will bless client shall fear us shall my am. Only question is of course and this is a very difficult issue. What is your Russia my am? What what what is your Russia my am mean? What It means fear of the heavens. Fear of Hashem. What is constituted in your Russia my am? Do we walk around thinking to ourselves leave me any second now Hashem is going to zap me. You know, I got to be careful. I better be good. Because he's got a whole army even better than the IDF, you know. Watching over me and if I make one false move I'm going to be really in big trouble. Is that what it means? Does it mean that a person is supposed to walk around trembling in fear at all times? What does your Russia my am mean? That's that's the real question. How do we achieve your Russia my am? And where is the mix for of having your Russia my am constituted? Where does it come from? And bottom line I think those is so cool is saying that you have to have your Russia my am one of the first of Shabbat Shalom that's brought down here by Reb Shmuel Alter says that when we speak about your Russia my am we have to be careful and separate between I'm afraid to do an avaira and I'm afraid of the punishment that comes with the avaira. Which is the real your Russia my am? Is it the punishment that's going to come from your Russia my am? From from transgressing or is it the fear to do the wrong thing? And why is that a fear? Isn't it so that it says we have to say Hashem okay cool. You should love Hashem your God. What's this business with walking around in trepidation and being afraid? So, this is something that really needs to be discussed. I'd like to throw out the question and see if anybody here would like to chime in and give us what they might consider to be the appropriate way to have or to exact or to show or to think what in your definition is your Russia my am? How do you view this because we know we we know it's part of our lives. How how do you how do you how do you how do you process this into your life when we think we talk about your Russia my am. Just go right ahead. I think part of it is is also something that maybe has been more stressed in the past couple of generations is is a lot of our sham. When you have a lot of our sham with your Russia my am then it's not just your Russia my am. It's a lot of and particularly in Israel particularly in Jerusalem the a lot of is almost natural. Look at the sky and talk to our sham for a couple of minutes. That's a lot of our sham. But you have to have it any culture. You have to have rules. You have to have something that's wrong. You have to have something that you can't just the a lot of a lot of growth. You come and they know how to which was given out. So, if you're just having fear I think in the past too a lot of people just dropped out of it particularly because the the western world now is keeps you know, just stressing that do what you want to do. Okay, so so you you of part of a lot of our sham, but then then that's why you can then with everything you said, you can accept it and understand it because you also have a lot of our sham. Okay, okay, but I I I accept what you're saying and you're echoing something that many of our sham speak about. A lot of our sham are two parts of the same idea, but what's the year of We still need a definition and and and and we can use we can use different opinions. This what you're saying is perfectly acceptable. Our sham shall feel hurt seems to echo that. I'll read you what he said in a minute. Yeah. Yeah. I have a problem with it because it was a good good party. It was punishment. If you don't keep the mix up. So, your Russia my am would be beware of the punishment. Somewhere yes. Somewhere. Whatever that punishment is. Well, the day is not easy. Well, for instance, let's say somebody transgresses uh, one of the love him one of the 365 no nos that are in the Torah. So, if you're if it's a if it's a love, you're not supposed to eat uh, gra- you know, certain non-kosher grasshoppers. Okay. There are kosher grasshoppers. I don't know which ones they are. And how you check them is another story, but that's a definite definite story. But but let's say you eat a non-kosher animal or anything. So, there there definitely there are definitely punishments attached to performance of certain no-nos, lashes. Malkus is one of the issues that a person gets. So, you know, malkus is also overrated because it really turns out to be 40 lashes with a wet noodle for the very simple reason that who gives who administers the lashes, the malkus? Who administers the the elder of Beis Din? All right. So, you have a 96-year-old rabbi, right? Who is, you know, a very aged person and and and and and he has a hard time lifting up the the the the the lash the lash the and then he's got Yeah. You know, and then the guy can't take more than the amount that the doctor says he can handle. So, it's like it's like a joke, you know? So, if we think of lashes, is that what we think about or do we think about being strung up in public and then a guy you you get the biggest football spieler type guy that would to really zap you? Is that what we're worried about? And that's why I mentioned that some people say that what Yiras Shamayim should be not so much afraid of the punishment, but afraid of the sin because if you're if you're afraid of the punishment, sometimes the punishment is you know, slap on the wrist. I got to tell you a story. It's very funny. I I I have a son-in-law who's very smart, very smart. I have two sons-in-law. They're both very smart. But but I don't want to insult anyone. My my other son-in-law, Rabbi Sherer Yablonsky, I remember his his daughter, my my my granddaughter, Freidel, she's a very interesting lady. By the way, she had seven girls in a row now had a boy. So, that's something that's also something. So, so anyway, she's a little kid. She did something wrong. It wasn't terrible. She did something wrong. And and and her father wanted to punish her. She said to her, "Freidel, what you did was very wrong. And I'm angry now, so I can't hit you. I want you to go to your room and come back in 10 minutes when I calm down and then I'm going to give you a patch." Yeah. So, she went to the room she's crying ahead of nothing happened, you know? She comes out she's she's crying ahead of she says, "Okay, put out your hand." And she's crying and he goes like this. You understand? Goes like this. What what's the point? It's not not the pain. It's that you did something wrong. You should be afraid of the doing something wrong. So, it's not so much that we're afraid of the punishment. We're afraid of the thing that brought the punishment. I shouldn't do that thing wrong. That's the biggest fear. So, that's that's what you have to keep in mind. So, that's a question. How how do we develop that? How do we go about doing that? Any other ideas? Anybody else? Any Yeah. Well, Yirah can also be translated as awe, which is to mean like to be, you know, awe-inspired. I sometimes like how people are sort of sometimes like in awe of another person or they look up to somebody or have a relationship with someone that's very very important to them. It's not that they're upset that that person will get, you know, let's say take, I don't know, away let's say it's a boss, right? But it's someone who really admire, respect, and care for. It's not that you don't want to make a mistake cuz they're going to take away your paycheck. You don't want to make a mistake because you don't want to upset the relationship. Okay. Okay, excellent. So, that's that's called Yiras Horomemus. Right? The the the the fear of the exalted position. Yiras Horomemus. I don't want to hurt that person. A man was sent shopping for for some goods by his wife. And he realized he bought the wrong thing. So, he tells his friend, "I got I got to go back and I got to change it." And the friend said, "What are you worried about? What's she going to take the she going to take the battering ram and hit you over the head with it?" Well, he said, "No, I don't want to disappoint her." All right? Hashem is disappointed if, Has v'Shalom, we do something wrong. That's what the Hashem should have Yiras Shamayim that he should see that we don't want to disappoint him. So, that that's connected to the concept of awe. And it's a it's a different approach than I'm afraid to get zapped. Yeah. I was going to say before exactly the same thing, but the other way around. Go ahead. In practical terms, when you fail to live up to your own standards, you know what you're supposed to do, you're disappointed. Ah, excellent. Excellent. Excellent. And that and that creates a very bad feeling on the part of a person. I I sold myself short. I I didn't live up to what I what I know I can be. And that and that causes a person to have agita, really to be upset about Yiras Shamayim. So, we have a number of definitions, all of them excellent, but we we we're going to try to flesh it out even more when we find out what's the source of this and where does it come from. So, it's very interesting. It's it's of course it's a pasuk in the Torah that talks about Yiras Shamayim. And I I actually put out this Chumashim around on the table, Chumash Devarim. If you'll take a look in Perek Yud in Chumash Devarim, Perek Yud, Pasuk Yud Beis. So, there are some Chumashim around. If you have one to follow, you'll find. If not, you can you can listen along. Uh but in Perek Yud in Pasuk Yud Beis in Parshas Eikev is the source for Yiras Shamayim. And let's read what's going on over here because this will really help us understand something, especially when we take a look at some of the Meforshim on this pasuk. And Hashem is talking to Moshe Rabbeinu and Klal Yisrael and he says the following. V'ata Yisrael And now, Israel, Mah Hashem Elokecha sho'el me'imach? What is Hashem your God asking of you? Ki im l'Yirah es Hashem Elokecha. The only thing he's asking is for you to have fear of Hashem your God. Laleches b'chol derachav to walk in all his ways, ul'ahav oso and to love him, ul'ahavod es Hashem Elokecha and to serve Hashem your God b'chol levavcha uv'chol nafshecha. To to serve God with all your heart with all your soul. Lishmor es mitzvos Hashem es chukosav to guard the mitzvos and the statutes, asher anochi metzavcha hayom, which I command you today l'tov lach for your good. Now, so the first thing we have to notice in the beginning of the pasuk, it says, "And now, Israel, what does Hashem ask of you? One thing. Ki im l'Yirah es Hashem Elokecha. The only thing is to fear Hashem your God. But it doesn't stop there. It's it's attached to what's coming at the end. Laleches b'chol derachav. Wait a minute. This is not so simple. You have to walk in all his ways, ul'ahav oso and to love him, ul'ahavod es Hashem Elokecha and to serve Hashem your God b'chol levavcha uv'chol nafshecha with all your heart. By the way, notice the word b'chol levavcha really lev means heart. Your heart is libcha, libecha, not levavcha. What's what's the extra beis? And this of course is what's coming from Shema Yisrael also, b'chol levavcha uv'chol nafshecha. Why is there an extra beis? So, Rashi over there and in other places explains because you bishnei yetzeracha. With your yetzer tov and with your yetzer ra. Wait a minute. I can understand fearing Hashem and walking in his way with the yetzer tov. What do you mean fearing Hashem and walking in his way with the yetzer ra? Yes. Even more so when you realize that what's motivating the desire to go and do the wrong thing is the yetzer ra and you thank Hashem, "Thank you for giving me a choice because otherwise I'm a robot. If I only have a yetzer tov and nothing more, I don't deserve any credit at all. Nothing is accruing in my benefit. It's it's a sham. There is no such thing as choice. Not only that, but according to many of the Meforshim, the Torah Temimah brings it down here. What really is happening here is that there's one thing that's being asked here and the rest of it is just a continuation of what will happen when you have that. So, let's go and read it again. What does Hashem ask of you? Ki im l'Yirah es Hashem Elokecha. Except the fear Hashem your God. Now, how do you do that? Laleches b'chol derachav, ul'ahav oso, ul'ahavod es Hashem Elokecha b'chol levavcha uv'chol nafshecha, lishmor es mitzvos Hashem es chukosav, asher anochi metzavcha hayom l'tov lach. And the Chofetz Chaim bears it out. Those of you who know how to learn with Chofetz Chaim, you'll take a look because it says "Mah Hashem Elokecha sho'el me'imach? Ki im l'Yirah es Hashem Elokecha." Stop. That's the end of a major trope sequence. And now comes the question also as if it's explaining what came the what comes after by virtue of having that particular the era also. So So the person begins with that. Now, Rashi and all the portions over here bring up the very important statements to come out in brackets on this person says all of them is asking you keep in the era as I shall the only thing because it says what is asking of you only one thing, right? So Rashi quotes the brackets I'm going to say we can I call be they shall my am hoods be your shamayan. Everything's in hands. You don't have to worry about anything. It's all in hands. But one thing is not in hands. One free choice. Only one. I call be they shall my am hoods be your shamayan. With the accepted with the acceptance of shamayan. Your shamayan is the one thing that is not in hands. You and we all individually collectively have that unique decision-making process as our own. Our free will is constituted in your shamayan. Now that's not the only thing that's mentioned here in terms of this person. I want you to take a look and this is one of the reasons why I said take a look at the book. The moral The moral over here when it speaks about in the of show you the moral in brackets very interesting the moral in brackets says the following when it says more in brackets show you the moral says the moral Tanya higher than you may or may or may or may or used to say higher or the moral may or brackets the whole year A person is required to say 100 brackets every single day. Now it really is not that hard on a weekday. Okay, presents a little bit of a problem, right? Why isn't it that hard on a weekday? Well, when I say you have 19 19 brackets. It's not 18 but 19. There are 19 brackets in in essay and you have three times 19 57 right off the bat before you say anything you got more than half of it done. Then you have the morning brackets 14 more over there that's 71 before you turn around you're more than halfway there when you include the brackets and brackets of Torah and the brackets of before reading and the brackets after reading. I mean you you you're set. There's no question that you're going to have 100 brackets a day. If you include the concept that if you answer more and to a bracket then it's counted as if it's your bracket also then it goes even further. Very interesting just a side light to this. You know that you ever notice that that when we make kiddush when you make kiddush So what what what what do we say what do we say on the wine brackets of the world tree of the vine, right? If you don't say what do you say? Of the vine, yeah. How come? Anybody ever hear anything about this? I want to tell you I heard from someone told me that he heard from the Yosef said the Torah who explained this particular idea I don't know if you ever heard this before but he said because kiddush is normally one person's making the kiddush and he's making it for everybody else. The motion has an interesting in the last volume that someone asked him what do you say or the right? So the motion said you say motion the why? Because it's a self it's the end of a and when it's the end of a instead of a it's got to be a comment. So we say the motion. Now when you are making kiddush for somebody and you want to be mostly them if they are have to be mostly technically speaking they should have to answer a man in order for them to be so the explain what happens is that because you want to be mostly them and they have to answer a man it turns out that the a man is the last part of the bracket. So therefore you say the bracket and everybody answers a man and that's the end and therefore you don't say this was his explanation which is a fascinating interesting yesterday. That's interesting. That's that's interesting. There were questions posed about this but it's cute but it's very interesting what what what the difference is. So so here so here we have a man to the brackets so it adds on those brackets and you definitely have 100 brackets. So now where do you get that from? Because maybe may I said in the in the brackets it says more than it says you what do you have 100 brackets but I tell you more than show you the what is asking of you? Right? So more is mayor. How do you get mayor out of more? More is what? So they're reading it the moral is reading it that the moral is reading the mayor more than show you the moral. is asking of you 100 instead of more they're making it mayor. Where do you get that from? More is more not mayor. How do you do that? All right so the fascinating there are a number of different chapter in this has a very interesting discussion on this but you have a in front of you. Right? Take a look at this person, okay? How many letters do you have in this person? Yeah, how many letters do you have in the whole person? We'll see who gets there first. This is why I put out the motion. How many letters in the entire person? You could take a wild guess. I'm just going to say 100 because I I got halfway through and I We'll see if anybody else has a different number. It's fascinating it really is. I got to 93. You got 93? Don't sell yourself short. Anybody else? It's tedious you know so it takes time. What? 99? 99 right. There are 99 letters exactly right. So it's one short. 99 letters. So he's basing it on the fact that 99 is the same as 100 because he rounded it out to the nearest number, right? Give me another example where you do that. We're in the middle of it right now. Give me an example where where it's rounded out even though it's not that number. How many do you do? Wait a minute. You only count 49, right? You only count 49, right? How many people went down to with Jacob? How many went down? 69, right? Rounded off. Okay. So we have another we have another we have another examples. Interestingly enough the brings down if you take a look at the word show L the word show L is spelled without a it's right. You add that it gives you 100. Okay? So there are a number so there are a number of different explanations of where we get the concept that you have to say 100 brackets but it comes from this person of fearing him. It comes from the person of shamayan. Now when now when you talk about when we spoke at the beginning of this year that is not just but as was brought up it's of which leads to shamayan as he said I I I I wrote down a quote from my first which is fascinating because a verse when he when he explains it he says it in the following way. To fear in such a manner that it leads to our going in all paths of him which in turn leads to the love of him. So the the year leads to the love of him and when you go to brackets of the month if you take a look at the we just finished the last month if you take a look at the brackets of the month there's an interesting there's an interesting redundancy that everybody talks about. It says you also the king of the world should give us the Torah should give us the king of the world should give us the Torah the king of the world should give us the Torah the king of the world should give us the Torah that says the king of the world should give us the king of the world should give us the Torah the king of the world should give us the Torah right? Then it says the king of the world should give us the right? I am a loser robot. I know it's a lot of people when it comes to that line that I really found it, you know. I saw the robot, right? Then it says hi am said they have a new story of the year of Shamayim. Wait a minute, we already asked for year of Shamayim. We already asked for it. Why are we asking again for year of Shamayim? You know why? There's a tremendous difference when it's year of Shamayim without a vast Torah. And when you have a vast Torah, it's a new brand new year of Shamayim. It's a brand new concept of year of Shamayim. It's not simple. We said in in till him in till him the whole volume Shamayim Lee. Oh, yes I shall allow me to come, right? Me and Shamayim all of you only rest over and so on and so forth. I'll show you what year of Shamayim is. Year of Shamayim allow me to come. I will teach you about year of Shamayim. So so we see that there is a concept that I was a Sham and year of Shamayim are inextricably intertwined. And when when Antigonus of Socho at the end of the third Mishnah says the more of Shamayim aleichem that the fear of Shamayim should be upon you, it doesn't mean you're supposed to walk around trembling in your boots all day long. It doesn't mean that you're supposed to be concerned about being zapped by Shamayim. On the contrary, closer to the original concept of year of Shamayim and the year of Ahavah. As we said, when you love someone, you're afraid to hurt them. The truth of the matter is if you don't have year of Shamayim, you don't have anything. You don't have any right or any wrong. If there is no such thing as a faith in Shamayim that includes a concept of year of Shamayim, which is the flip side of Ahavas Shamayim, if it if you don't have that, if there's no such thing as year of Shamayim, and you say I'm the one who is the arbiter of that which is right and that which is wrong, called over also becomes permissible. There's no right and there's no wrong because it's just a matter of what one decides on one's own self to make decisions about right and wrong. So it's really It's if I can say, if you're living in this secular world, okay? The The America okay was was founded by the religious but you see after the 60s like anything you could do. If you like it, if it's fun, if it's what you want to do. It It It leads to to anarchy. Yeah. Yeah. Well And then these people end up getting, you know, addicted and you know, all kinds of And we end up with what we've got today. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. There's a There's very interesting that in the preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, I mean you brought it up, there's a statement that's really unbelievable when you think about it because you know, people say, you know, prove there's this. Prove there's a God. Prove there's this. The founding fathers, who like you said were religious people, said we hold these truths to be self-evident. It's interesting. I'M NOT I DON'T DON'T PUT ME ON THIS STAND I HAVE TO GIVE you the right of Shamayim and explain each and everything. It's so obvious and so self-evident that we don't have to bring any proof whatsoever. Problem in the United States of America is that when you when you when you started digging into some of the issues of equal rights for Okay, we we No question all human beings should do deserve equal rights. But when you start using that as a basis for transferring principles and and and making making them shoddy and non-operable because of the of the term equal rights so that a dog has the same rights as a human, so to speak, right? And a criminal has the same rights as a law-abiding citizen, and perversion has the same rights as people who are living normally, but what we end up is a society that's going to self-destruct because they don't hold these truths to be self-evident. So I'll cut this part who's giving us a very clear path here when it says, "What am I asking of you? Keep the year of Shamayim." Okay, now this The name is just two letters if you think about it. Yeah. Yeah. Now now there's a when we when we come when we come close when we come close to to the end of the year we come close to yellow so we start saying Mizmor of Zion, right? The year of Shamayim So there's a famous explanation of of some of the It says similar to this in the year of Shamayim. So he says I shall give Shamayim. I'm asking one thing from Shamayim, right? I shall give Shamayim. Also I ask. That's what I'm seeking. What is it? Sitting in the house of Shamayim. To sit in the house of Shamayim. Laugh so no Shamayim will care but they call them and to visit into his palace. Wait a minute. I thought you said there's only one thing you're asking. You said I shall give Shamayim, right? I shall give Shamayim. Uh Also I ask. Sitting in the house of Shamayim. Right? Sitting in the house of Shamayim. We will care. Sitting in the house of Shamayim. Laugh so Laugh so Shamayim will care but they call them. Yes, a couple of things. It's not one. And here also with the It wasn't more of Shamayim. Shamayim will make you in the year of Shamayim. Also love one and so on and so forth. It's not one thing. You're asking many many things. What's the answer? So I heard once a beautiful shot who explained this following. He said He He said when it comes to when it comes to that you have to you have to look at the end of the Let's go through it again, right? I shall give Shamayim. I'm asking only one thing. What's that, right? Sitting in the house of Shamayim all the days of my life. Sitting in the house of Shamayim all the days of my life. Laugh so no Shamayim to behold to envision the pleasantness of Shamayim will care but they call them and to visit in his palace. Because means to pay a visit. It's much different when someone is visiting than when someone is taking up dwelling place. If you live in a place, everything's familiar. Everything's great. I can walk in. I hang my coat on the chair. Instead of keeping the house neat, I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll take the paper, throw it in the wastebasket. If it misses, okay, I'll pick it up later, right? It's my house. I can do what I want, you know? I don't have to be so concerned about it. But when you're saying I'm asking one thing, and the one thing is the year of Shamayim. I want to constantly be a visitor in his palace. I want to be like it's brand new to me. That when I see the palace, when I see the when I see the when I start studying and learning the Torah, when I come in contact with the Torah, it's the year of Shamayim. They call them. I'm coming as a guest in the house. Because when someone's a guest, it's fresh, it's brand new, and it's not a matter of taking something for granted. And that's the same thing with this It's It's all these other things that are explanations of what more of Shamayim show you What is it that Shamayim is asking of you? Now there are there are a number of It's that that speak about this a little more. And it and it says the following. The The over here in this continuing further says the following. He says that first of all, you know, keep in the year of All I'm asking is that you fear him. All to year of Shamayim. What is it you say? What you say? What? You think you think it's a small little nothing to have year of Shamayim? So he says yes. In terms of it was small or because he has a muscle. If someone asks you for a for a a big vessel, a big clay, a fancy clay, and you have it, and you can give it to him, it's a small favor he's asking. It's not a big deal. But if he's asking you for a little thing, but you don't have it, then it's a big thing. So if someone has the ability to have year of Shamayim, then if you have it because it's in your hands and you can make the decision, therefore it's no question that it's an easy thing to fulfill. If you don't have it, it becomes a real hassle. It becomes a problem. How do you fulfill it? There are a number of other Gamoras speak about this also. We can spend time on that also, but I want to get towards the end of this at the end of this particular section. Now, there's a There's a There's a Gamora in Eiruvin. There's a Gamora in Eiruvin at DAF CHAF CHES. The Gamora in Eiruvin at DAF CHAF CHES AMUD BEIS brings down the following following event. Rebbi Zeira KI AVA CHOLESH MIGIRSA. When Rebbi Zeira was weak from learning. Learning takes a tremendous effort. You You put in a a good effort into clutching out SHOT trying to get all the nuances clarified. It It takes effort. And so, when he got weak from the GIRSA, HAVEI YOSHEV APISCHA D'REBBI YEHUDAH BAR AMI. He used to go sit by the doorway of this Rebbi Yehudah Bar Ami. Why did he sit by the doorway? By the way, I should mention that I I I don't know if you noticed this maybe when you got on a almost almost any of the buses here in Yerushalayim. So, in the front of the bus usually by the right window, there's a PASUK that is on the the window of the front seat. Do you ever notice which one it was? It may save a TOKUM. Watch this. So, it says when when when Rebbi Zeira got weak and tired of learning, he used to go to the door of Rebbi Yehudah Bar Ami. OMAR, he said KI NAFKI ILEI RABBONON, when the Rabbis come in and go out from the SHIUR, EIKAM MEIKAMAIHU, I will get up in front of them VA'AKABEL AGRA. And I'm going to get reward. I'm going to get reward for standing up. So, the question is, wait a minute. Didn't we just learn in our Mishna AL TIYU K'AVADIM AL MINAS You're not supposed to do it in order to get reward. Here you're telling me that Rebbi Zeira himself would sit by the door in order that he should get reward. Wait, you're You're going against what Antignos taught at the beginning of Pirkei Avos. You're not supposed to do it to get reward. How do you answer this question? So, the the famous the Dinover, the Bnei Yissachar, brings this question up and he answers in the following way. He says, Look, what does the PASUK say? What does the PASUK say in Vayikra? It says, MIPNEI SEIVA TAKUM. You should get up before a satisfied old person V'HADARTA PNEI ZAKEN and you should give glory to the face of the elder, right? V'YAREISA ME'ELOKECHA and you should fear HASHEM ANI HASHEM. You should be afraid of HASHEM. V'YAREISA. And the way he interpreted the PASUK is like this. MIPNEI SEIVA TAKUM. Stand up before someone who is of an older age. V'HADARTA PNEI ZAKEN and give HIDUR to the face of an elder. V'YAREISA ME'ELOKECHA is the reward. The reward for standing up for the GADOL. The reward for MIPNEI SEIVA TAKUM is that you're going to have YIRAS SHAMAYIM. And to get as a reward YIRAS SHAMAYIM, that's permissible. If the reward you're seeking is the reward of YIRAS SHAMAYIM that you get YIRAS SHAMAYIM, that is the kind of S'CHAR that you're allowed to do. So, even though Antignos is SOCHO said, you shouldn't serve in order to get reward. He wasn't talking about the reward of YIRAS SHAMAYIM ALEICHEM. You If anything you are doing as part of a MITZVAH is so that you get the S'CHAR and the S'CHAR that you're seeking to get is the S'CHAR of YIRAS SHAMAYIM, of having fear of HASHEM in the way we've explained it so far, that's permissible. And that's why Rebbi Zeira was taking the liberty of sit sitting at the doorway. I don't have the KOACH to go learn in depth, but at least I could do MIPNEI SEIVA TAKUM. HALAVAI that every person who gets on a bus here in Jerusalem should have the same reward. That we should have a whole whole Yerushalayim filled with with YIRAS SHAMAYIM because they fulfill MIPNEI SEIVA TAKUM. And it's interesting, you'll find religious and non-religious people getting up because MIPNEI SEIVA TAKUM. It's It's a beautiful beautiful thing. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu should bless us that we should be able to do that. Now, I I want to end the SHIUR like I I said last week I was going to I was going to focus on it and I want to tell you a fascinating event that happened with Reb Dovid Feinstein, Zechrono Livracha. I was a student in the Yeshiva and I I I must tell you that my personal my personal HADRAS PANIM of Reb Moshe that I saw on a regular basis and I was even told when I was a youngster, "You don't know what a gift you have that you see Reb Moshe every day. Don't take it for granted that you can look at him and go over and talk to him and so on and so forth." But I was closer at the time with Reb Dovid. He was my Rebbi in the in the Yeshiva. And we were walking home from SHIUR. I don't remember if it was a Shabbos or a Yom Tov. We We We both lived on the Lower East Side and we from the Yeshiva was on East Broadway and I lived on Grand Street and he lived further down on Grand Street. So, all the boys we would all the Bochurim we would walk home with Reb Dovid uh on Shabbos after DAVENING. And uh And one time this issue came up of YIRAS SHAMAYIM. And the fact that you have to be careful about what you do because, you know, maybe HASHEM will zap you like we said at the beginning of the SHIUR. If you're worried about more about the punishment than the doing of the AVEIRA. So, we asked Reb Dovid. I don't know if it was I who asked it or one of my CHAVEIRIM, but the question was asked. The question was, "Listen, Rebbi, we're only human beings. We're We're only We're 19, 20 years old. We're young guys, you know. So, we asked him, "Listen, we're only young and you know, we we have normal YETZER HARA like everybody else and we're we're not perfect. We make mistakes. People make mistakes in throughout their lives. Sometimes, you know, the the YETZER HARA gets ahold of you and then and says it's okay to do whatever you do, whatever it is. And and and we make mistakes. So, what's And and you know, we're we're also Yeshiva guys so we come up with a a good idea. Yeah. And right, EIN TZADIK BA'ARETZ ASHER YASAH TOV V'LO YACHTA. There's no such thing as a person who doesn't do an AVEIRA. So, we're definitely going to sin. So, we're definitely going to sin. Oh, we're finished. I I I mean I We're never going to get out of this. What do we do? What do we do? Now, Reb Reb Dovid is the most logical and simple explainer of anything and everything because he has all of Kol Hatorah Kulo in front of his face at all times. And he answered us like this. He says, "Let me give you a MOSHOL." All right. If anybody remembers his voice, you'd know exactly what he was saying. "Let me give you a MOSHOL. Here's a guy who stole a car. He stole a car. It's against the law. He stole a car and he's driving around with the car for a week. He's going shopping. He's taking his friends on a joyride. He's got the car for a whole week. No one stops him. No one says a word. He's got the car and he's stole He's having a He's having a grand time. A grand time. And then, one day he's in a rush. Say he's speeding down the highway. And before long, the siren is blaring. The cop pulls him over. He says, "License and registration, bud." And he has no license. He has no registration. It's a stolen car. So, he says, "Well, I just speed. You had Till now you had the car for a week." He told him. "You had the car." He said, "You know, you know, you Now you got caught. We're going to throw the book at you now. And and and we're going to We're going to get you for everything." So, Reb Dovid said, "If you make a mistake and you steal a car, don't speed." If you do Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. But don't compound them. Don't go digging into them. YIRAS SHAMAYIM means All right. You're right. We make a mistake. Correct it. Do TESHUVA. Straighten it out because otherwise you're going to get caught for driving without a license and speeding down the highway and they're going to throw the book at you. That was his most normal beautiful way of explaining that This is what we are. We're human beings. It's true. We're not perfect. We're going to make mistakes. But, it's not the end of the world if we can correct it and go back and look at it and think about it and have a little bit YIRAS SHAMAYIM YIRAS SHAMAYIM ALEICHEM, that's what Antignos is SOCHO was leaving us with at the end of that Mishna. Because he's telling us it could be that you're going to make a mistake, but don't speed when you steal a car.