Rebuilding The Mikdash | Rabbi Joel Kenigsberg | July 23, 2025

All right, good morning everybody. Thank you for coming. It's my honor to present the final share of this term and I was asked to mention this all the learning today is sponsored by Mark and Debra Zar for the Lishat for the odds of Mark's parents Kmani and Esther Mosha both of his yards fall in the uh in the coming week all the learning we'll do this morning topic today topical for this time of year is about rebuilding the mikdash I think that if we think about one of of the most famous statements, one of the most famous words of sentences of Kazal relating to this time of year is what what we find in the we find in the says every generation in which the mikdash has not been rebuilt and uh it's not yet been rebuilt. It is if that generation has destroyed it. It's as if that we are right now destroying it causing it to be destroyed by our actions. And the question of course is what are those actions that have caused that to be destroyed and how can we change them? How can we correct them in order to build it? Now give us explanations behind this. They give us in two two types of reasons. It's very interesting. On the one hand we find and I'm not going to talk about this at length today. We spoke about it in a previous year. But uh we find throughout kazal different broad principles broad explanations. The maida mikdash was destroyed because of AB and C right most famous etc. There are other explanations as well. That's one category. But we find as well that went in a different route to explain to us. They told us stories. They told us stories. They gave us examples of specific occurrences which happened and they said because of this the beta mdash was destroyed. Because of that yushim was destroyed. And it seems very very strange. You have an anecdote. You have a historical anecdote. You know there was a party somewhere. There were two people had a bit of a fight and because of that the entire Jewish people goes into exile for centuries. It seems a little bit far-fetched. So have a look to this handout you've got in front of you. Source number one that he gave for he talks about this. He says what are trying to teach us is the following. I want us to look not look at you know historical causes, geopolitical causes. Those things may be relevant as well and there may be a place for that but there's something far deeper. The question is what is the spiritual cause? What is the spiritual root? What are we doing? What have we been doing? So we look at these stories. The story is giving us a prototype. It's giving us an example. It's teaching us about the behavior that existed the type of society that existed and the type of society that we have to correct. So source number one he says he's relating to a very very famous story which we'll get to in a moment. Before we get into anything, before we get into the story, we see something here that'll teach us. He says, "You tell me they're talking about the destruction. They're talking about the cause of the exile." And again, you could analyze it as a historical story and you could see the battles and the military and so you had the military analysts in those days like you have in these days and they should have conquered this, they should have fought. Yeah. etc. But he says that's not what Kazal tells us. It's not that's not what interests them. We don't find that the Quran talks about how evil the Babylonians were and how evil the Romans were. There are elements of that, but that's not the main focus. So we focus on what did we do wrong? What were the mistakes that we made? What were the right which ultimately brought brought upon us this destruction? We don't just remember the destruction. We don't just remember the fact those who sent us out into exile. There are places and there are times when we have that. By the way, we have a mitzvah. I'm sure you all remember to remember Amalecch. Remember what Amalecch did to you. There we do have to remember. But the reason we have to remember maybe is because we need to remember that evil exists in the world so that we know how to fight against or we know that we have to fight against it. We've seen in our days how easy that is to forget how many people miss that message. But that's one aspect. But yet there's something deeper. This is a time of reflection. It's a time of truva. It's a time we have to find what we have done wrong and how we can and how we can fix that. And that's that that's the root of it. So what I want to do this morning, I want to just learn together with you a story which you all know I'm sure, but it's a story that every time we open it up, you know, there are so many layers to Torah. We look at the story and maybe look at it from perspectives that we haven't seen before. Maybe read through critically, ask the questions, ask what it's doing here. Ask that there are so many unanswered questions in the story. And as we explore, as we can try and understand, gain a deeper understanding for how it relates to all of us practically today. The story is Kaman Baram. We've all heard the story of Kaman and Barakama. Very, very strange names. We'll get to in a moment. But the Giten What I suggest, let's begin. Let's read through the story. Let's read it together again with an open mind, critical thought. I'm going to afterwards open it up to the floor for questions that people have about the story. we won't uh we won't be able to answer all of them but we can pull out some things that can help us understand really what are trying to teach us and how can we can we change our lives and how can we live our lives based on the lessons that we learn here the first thing I'll say just before we start reading inside is that you read a story like this and what's what does everybody want to do what's the first question that you ask yourself is whose fault was it right who is wrong over here and we're very good spoke about this on Shabas but we're very good at pointing ing fingers at other people at finding fault with other people. In fact, one of the themes of the story is that when you read through, you'll notice everyone in the story blames somebody else. Nobody's willing to take responsibility for what they did. And it may be that other people are at fault as well. Other people have responsibility, but there's nothing I can do about somebody else's responsibility. I cannot force them to take responsibility, but I can force myself. I can take responsibility for what I've done wrong. And if the way that we look at if our perspective is I'm perfect but look at what they've done and I'm perfect and look at what he's done and I'm perfect and look at what she's done then we're never going to get anywhere. And I think that's part of the message exactly what Kazal is teaching us in the story. I think you know this comes up because it's also not clear when we read the story we'll say who's at fault. It's not there are many there are many possibilities. There are many characters you could blame. And part of the reason it's ambiguous I think is on purpose. You look at for example the story of Ysef the selling of Ysef in Kamashit. So who's responsible? Whose fault was it? Who sold him? Even the very question the very question of who was the one who picked Ysef up from the boar and sold him off as a slave? We don't know the answer to that. It might have been the brothers. It might have been that according to the Rashbam, they didn't plan to sell him at all. A band of of traveling nomads came past. They picked him up. They came back to the pit. He wasn't there. We don't know why is the text so ambiguous. Maybe it's ambiguous. Part of the reason is whether it was you who did it directly to the final act or not, you all bear some responsibility. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter whose fault it was. It was everybody's fault to a certain degree. It's the same thing in our days. If we all, you know, if we get through Shab and all I can think of in Tishab is how much other people are at fault. I've completely missed the point. Completely missed the point. But let's look through and again there are different elements and as I said in a previous year as well there will be different elements of responsibility and different things which different people have done they may not all relate to me specifically individually but the question is I read through what are the things that I am at fault for where can I take responsibility okay so let's go through let's go let's read the the gamarra source number two and as I say keep an open mind and think about the questions which will pop up there are many questions that pop up so the garin says like this it says I come to over Kamsa and Baramsa was destroyed already in that heading there is a lot there is a lot to to be unpacked remember it's okay and the story goes as follows the ramps there was a certain individual the calls him he had an ally who was called Kamsa and he had an enemy who was called Barama. Okay, first question at this point, first question that jumps out at me is who is Huggafra. He is one of the central character, one of the central characters in the story, this host, we don't know who he is. He doesn't have a name. Very, very strange. Whoever he is, okay, but he has a that that's how we begin. and says the so he had a meal, he had a suda, he had a feast, he had a banquet, maybe he had a dinner, maybe he was fundraising, I don't know what it was, but he had a big a big event. So he said to his servant, zilam, go and invite Kamsa, go and tell Kamsa to come to the party. And the servant went and he brought bars. Okay, so what do we think? It's an innocent mistake. It could have happened to anybody, right? So really at this point I'll challenge I think the the this shame the servant as he get maybe he gets off a little bit easy if he is a close attendant of this person. So the Quran begins by telling us this person he had friends he had enemies presumably he's a wealthy person he's a wellto-do this person manages his affairs or he's at the very least somewhat involved. He knows he know this is a big deal. It's not just that happens to be a bump as we'll see from the rest of the story. It's not just somebody that he doesn't like. There's there's something going on between them. And therefore, the servant should know a little bit better. At the very least, he should know that bump is not at least asked a question. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, so that's very very interesting. The benada says that the benada says that these names Kam and Baram say that Baram was actually the son of the son of Kam. Um >> disconnected. >> Yeah. Yeah. Very much. >> Very much very very much so. >> Right. Okay. So there's All right. So there's Okay. So So there are four pe There are four people so far. There are four people who have been mentioned in the story. In fact, four people have been mentioned, but only only two of them have appeared in the story so far. There are two people called Kamsa and Baramsa. Okay. Then there is a third person. There is the host. He's he's he's nameless. The host of the party is nameless. We don't know his name. The doesn't tell us. The says, which means that man. So there was that man. That man is hosting a party. What we know is that this person who's hosting the party has a friend. He has an ally who is called Kamsa. He has an enemy who is called Baramsa. Barakamsa may be the son of Kamsa. We don't find that. It doesn't say that anywhere explicitly, but it's an interesting point. Again, the names are very, very similar. The word bar in Aramaic is Ben in Hebrew, which means he is the son of like Raishimon, right? So, so it could be, but we'll leave that for the moment. And then there is the servant. There's the attendant, the one who's going out, who's handing out the invitations to the party. So, the host says to his servant, he says, "I want you to go and invite my ally, my friend. Kamsa to come to the party. The servant goes and he invites Barakamsa. Okay, he invites the enemy. He invites the wrong person. We'll see in a moment what happens when the wrong person comes to the dinner. Okay, but I was just making the point that you could read it and you could say, okay, he wasn't listening. He wasn't paying attention. He thought, he thought, he didn't hear what I think that if we if we're honest and we think about it, it makes more sense. It's more reasonable to suggest that he should have known better, that he should have understood that it's it's a very strange thing. He's going to invite his enemy to this party. At the very least, ask the question, "Excuse me, Mr. Howra, are you sure you want to invite him? What's going on?" Yeah. >> Uh, >> you're saying he went to the right person, but but he the door and the person I'm also family whatever I'm >> okay so he hands him the invitation walks away and doesn't know the difference between one >> okay maybe that's interesting it's a novel approach I've never heard that before but it's possible yeah okay No, no, we don't know. We don't know his name. He's called Huggabra, and it's it's it's remarkable because he's one of the most central characters in the story. Okay, we'll come back to the to the names a little bit later on. So, so we're now on the third line. >> As far as we know, no, we aren't we aren't told. >> Um, it's possible they were, it's possible they weren't. We don't know. Again, there's a lot more about the story that we don't know than that we do know. But let's but let's continue. So, we say, "So, he goes, he comes." In other words, the enemy comes to this event and the host sees that he's sitting there, right? He has this is his big day. This is big dinner. There's been months and months of planning that's gone into this. Um, and he sees his enemy sitting there and he says, I'll translate. He walks up to him. The host comes along to Bokam and essentially he says, "What are you doing here?" Right? And not in the most polite way. He says, "You're not my friend. You're my enemy. You shouldn't be here. Get up and go. Get out." Okay. Now, this is where things start to take a downward spiral. Says, "Look, you know, I'm here. I've come." If it was in the first place. Interestingly that he doesn't say to him again the whole why doesn't he just turn to him and say what am I doing here you invited me that's why I'm here but he doesn't say that he says he says since I'm here he says I'm here already just please just just let me stay I'll even I'll pay for my meal I'll pay for everything I've eaten everything I've drank I'll pay for you just let me stay low he says He says, "Okay, this is about money. This is about, you know, this is a financial thing. You know what? I'll pay you for half of the half of the event." He says, "No." So says, "Okay, look." Says, "I will pay you for the entire meal, for the entire banquet, thousands and thousands of shekels, however much it costs, I'll pay. just please don't embarrass me. You can, you know, you can you read these words, you can hear the pleading. You can almost feel the sense of embarrassment. He's turning red in the face. It's in the middle of the of of the event. He's making a big scene. He's saying, "Please, I'm just I'm here. Just let me stay." Amar, you all know the answer. Look, he says, "No, he picks him up and he takes him out." Whether he picked him up, he got the the gods or whatever, but he takes him and he takes him out of the out of the banquet. Okay, that's the first part of the story. Now, >> yeah, >> you said a few minutes ago that he didn't say anything in the beginning like, wait a minute, I have an invitation. You look, you know, or he didn't bring it with him, but he says, >> I have an invitation. Your servant brought it to me >> to invite me here. So, I don't know what you're about why didn't that transaction happen? >> Okay, so that's a very good question. Either either it happened and we aren't told about it or we we're not the fact that we're not told about it suggests that it didn't happen and that that that's already a question, right? You can ask you can the whole >> deal with that question. >> Well, we're dealing with the question now. We're learning, right? The whole the whole interaction that takes place has bizarre. He's like come to he knows he's an enemy of this person. So, you're coming in. What's the first thing you're going to do? You're going to come to the banquet. You're going to come you're going to bring your gift. You're going to go up to so and so and you're gonna say to Mr. Hau Gavra who's hosting the party, right? And he say, "Thank you so much. Thank you for inviting me. This can be the beginning of our reproachment. This can be the beginning of H." But he doesn't do that. He just goes and he sits down and eats. And then the person comes up to him and seemingly this is exactly that opportunity to start to say, "Okay, look, whatever happened between us is water under the bridge. Let's, you know, bygones be bygones, whatever you want to say, you know, find the appropriate cultural expression here and uh let's carry on." But he he doesn't say that none of that happens. So maybe maybe he knows that that he shouldn't actually be there. Maybe he understands Mr. Baram that there is a reason why he is hated and why now it just turns into something about his embarrassment and shame. Okay. A lot there's a there's a lot unanswered here. Yeah. Somebody had a question. >> There is the utmost embarrassment. There isn't very much you could do after that. >> Right? So let's see what happens after that. So now he's been thrown out. So now Mama has been thrown out. He's been thrown out. He's been embarrassed. They've wiped the floor with him and he's gone. So what's he going to do? So listen to what he says. He says we're in the the second paragraph here says the paragraphs by the way don't appear in the I just put it that way to make it easier for us to follow. Says to himself, you know, there were rabbis sitting at this at this event. It's always the rabbi's fault, right? So the rabbis were sitting there, they didn't say anything. They saw what was going on. They saw that Mr. Howra was throwing me out of his out of his event. They saw I was being embarrassed. They did nothing. Why didn't they stand up and said, "Hey, what are you doing to him? Leave him alone." So therefore, he says, "Okay, that is proof. That is proof for me that these rabbis were happy. They were at least they weren't bothered by what he was doing by the fact that he embarrassed me, which you could translate colloally as basically I'll show them. I'm going to go now to the king. I'm going to go to the Roman emperor and I'm going to to snitch on them essentially. And he says like this. So now goes to the quesar. He goes to the Roman emperor and he says the following. He says, "The Jews are rebelling against you, against the empire." The emperor says, "What are you talking about?" Says, "Who?" He says, "I'll prove it to you." Says, "Send him a send him a sacrifice." You know, when we had the beta mikdash, it wasn't just amusel who brought korban. The non-Jews of the world could come along. They could bring they can send offerings to the beta mikdash as well. So he says send them a send them in the name of Rome and you'll see if they are going to offer it up if they'll sacrifice he sends a as a as a as a sacrifice. Now what so what happens the Roman emperor says fine I'll send a korban I'll send an offering you bamsa will be my uh will be my shal you'll be you you'll transport the offering and then what does do he takes the offering and the animal and he inflicts a blemish a so there are those who say e where did he cut the animal where did he make a a blemish either on the lips either on its upper lip or inside its eye in the eye of this animal. Now, what's what's unique about both of these places? Very interesting. According to our laws, we consider this to be a blemish in the animal. But according to the Romans, they would not have considered that to be a blemish. That's why they didn't know. Okay, at this point, the question we can ask is what was Barcamsa thinking? What was he thinking? Okay, you I I understand you were you were offended. You were insulted. You were embarrassed. You know, talk about the ultimate case of cutting off your nose despite your face. Right? You're going to you're going to go and you're going to inflict uh whatever it is going to be on the Jewish people. You're going to be affected as well. What's going on here? Okay, maybe this tells us a hint. Maybe this gives us a little bit of a hint into who this character of Barcamsa was. If we think through the story, it all starts to add up. Okay, so now what happens? By the way, this is, you know, when we learn the story in school and we learn the story in gun in kindergarten, very often this is where they end the story. But this is not the end of the story. There's there's there's a continuation which is very very important. And it says like this. So this has now happened. The party has taken place. Okay. Bara's been thrown out. They've mopped the floor with him. He's now gone to take his revenge. He's gone and he's uh slandered against the the rabbis and the Jewish people, against the Roman emperor. He's brought he's got they've got the Corban. Now the rabbis have to decide what to do. They have this Corban. what are they going to do with it? They know what's what's going on. So now there are many things that we do. We have a concept of we don't want to uh nowadays it's a little bit different but in those days especially when you have a government or you have a you know that is that is in charge of you that has the power of life and death and you know there are certain things that we wouldn't normally do but in order not to offend we're allowed to. there are loopholes we can. So they said maybe we have a that has a blemish we can't bring that up on the misb but for the sake of maybe we're allowed to maybe we're allowed to in order so as not to cause antagonism towards the empire one of the sages we don't hear about him very often about him in a couple of places two or three places I think throughout the entire but says says they're going to say you're going to bring this and people will say ah you can you don't uh you can bring any animal it has a blemish you can bring it as a carbon so they can't do that so they said so they thought okay here's another idea if nobody goes and tells the Romans that we didn't bring the cobban then there's no problem who's going to go and tell them only one person bara so maybe we should kill him okay maybe he has what's called a dinner death okay and he's he is endangering ing the entire Jewish people if we if he's put to death then he won't be able to endanger anyone says you can't do that the same he says because then people are going to think that if you make a blemish on that that's punishable by death we don't want people to think that okay and now the say is the most surprising statement of the whole of the whole uh of the whole story it saysan says Okay, you know what the Musar Huske, you know what the lesson is from the story of Kamsa and Baramsa? You know whose fault it is? Not Kamsa, not Baramsa, not Huggabra, none of them. It's because of the because of the humility of the that is what caused us to be uh caused the mdash to be destroyed caused the to be burnt down and caused us to go into exile. Okay. And then the goes on and tells other stories and tells about the military conquest etc. Okay, that's the story of Kamsaramsa basically as I said many many many questions over here and particularly we think about the question of you know who is responsible where did things go wrong why did things go so wrong how is this a message for for for all of us okay so there's a few different uh few different angles to unpack here at this point again I know we've we've spoken a little bit throughout the story but I'm going to open it up here to the floor at this point just questions questions that have been raised throughout the reading of the story that we haven't addressed Yeah. >> Yes. >> Excellent. >> Excellent. Right. Exactly. That I think in to my mind I'll repeat the question. I'll repeat the question. But to my mind that is maybe the number one the the the striking question of the story. You know I always feel bad. I always say whenever I learn the story I always feel bad for Kamza because what did Kamza do? He's not here. He's not in the story. We don't he wasn't there. He never heard about if you say if we accept the interpretation that comes to father and son. Okay. Maybe maybe it makes sense. >> His responsibility to be the ch between the two people. >> Right. Okay. So so so very much that could be and that is one interpretation. And there are others who say no they're just they're strange names but it happens sometimes people have similar names so if he's a complete stranger so the so the question was and again the gimmar introduces it every word here in the garra is chosen intentionally right if it was up to me I would have said it's because of and that was destroyed right who were the enemies the enemy was the host of the party and barama but we don't even know the host's name so if we forget about him and we say it's because of Kamsa and Barcam that implies because of what these two individuals did that's why your was destroyed but it's not what Kamsa did because Kamza is not in the story he doesn't appear he's nowhere to be found okay that's one question yeah sorry >> yes >> okay okay so so we'll get So we'll get to more offer up, but essentially the story is as follows. We have the party. We have comes bakama runs out. He's very very upset. He's very angry. He decides he's going to go and tell concoct a story and tell the Romans that the Jews are rebelling against them. If the Romans think the Jews are rebelling against them, what's going to be the outcome? We all know what the outcome is going to be and it's not pretty. So at the point where he concocts the story, he take he has the the uh the Qurban and he's and he's put the mum in it. Now we're still okay. Where are things going to where are things going to go downward very very quickly. When Barant goes back to the Romans and he says you sent them a Corbine. Here's the proof. They wouldn't bring it up. So at this point the rabbis are discussing what to do and they say there are two ways to avoid this. either we can bring the corban anyway or we can remove bargam from the equation so that he and both of those suggestions that are made is the one who says no you can't do that and you can't do that so they end up doing nothing and the result is destruction >> they did nothing >> we'll Yeah. >> Why? >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Right. Well, that well well that's that's essentially that's essentially Barca's claim, right? That's what he's saying. Why don't you I'm I'm here. Why can't you just uh let go? He doesn't he doesn't do that. Yeah. >> Because to bring it to the present time used to be religious and he likes matzah. So I bought him matzah and he wants to make matzah bite for me. I don't want to embarrass him. So I say, you know, I already have supper. I'm trying to get out of embarrassing him and little by little he's becoming so you never know you could embarrass somebody you could say something to all the neighbors in your building in which case they try to do something to bring this person closer to what he >> could be could be yeah >> being nice to other people >> yes yes this week and we learned Yes, definitely. That will certainly be one of the lessons that we learn here. Yeah. >> That that's there are versions there are those who say that yes that is referring to it's not explicit in our text but there is there is such an idea. Yeah, that's possible. Okay. So, so there's a lot as I said there's a lot here to unpack. Let me let me suggest one interpretation which we find in in in a number of the farm and then we'll go back and we'll look at some other some other ways of reading the story as well. But something may be very interesting and very very surprising and can help us understand rais but if I was to ask you you know what kind of a based on what we know about him based on the very little the gum has told us but it's given us a bit of an insight into the character what kind of a person do you think that baranta is not greatful >> he's vengeful Oh >> right. In other in other words, >> right? >> Friends with the emperor maybe, right? In other words, the whatever way the does not present as let's put it let's put it that way, right? And in fact, I mean, you look at what goes on. First of all, the whole from the time that he receives his invitation, he comes to this banquet party, whatever it is, you know, it's all about money. He says to the person, you know, why doesn't he go up to him? Why doesn't he try and make amends? Why doesn't he try and make peace? Why doesn't he try and say, "At least, you know, you send me an invitation." He does none of that. Maybe it's because he knows that actually the person has a grievance against them and it's a legitimate grievance. After all, he this is the individual who's willing to throw everything out that a little bit, you know, my honor. I was hurt a little bit. I'm going to go and I'm going to get no less and have the entire Jewish people thrown into exile. Okay, maybe he didn't think it would go that far when he went to to to the emperor, but surely he knew something was coming, right? There was going that that's why he did it. So, he's not he's not he doesn't seem to be somebody great, right? Maybe part of the message over here again and I I I say this first I don't think this is the only message that we that we need to learn but it's uh maybe it's a little bit counterintuitive but maybe this is why when we get to the end we get to right and then the Gar says at the end of the story he said he didn't say it was the indecision of that caused this he says it was the humility what's what's humility got to do with it here why why is that the uh why is that the uh the essence? So have a look at source number five. It's on on your second page again. This is from he suggests like this. He says right you can ask the question really what what what was raiser thinking? I asked before what was banta thinking but what was rabies thinking? Surely he understood what the consequences of this would be. So he says to me says why does it say the raisaria says maybe raisaria was the person who had a good heart he had a good eye he judged everybody very very favorably he couldn't believe that bama would be such a russia that he would go and he would slander against the Jewish people to the Roman emperor how could you go that far that's that's unthinkable vermin So maybe he thought when he says you can't do this because people will think that you can bring on with the you can't do this people think somebody who puts a a mban is going to be is going to be subject to death it couldn't be you tell him the story and he says no you know there's no way that that's actually what happened that this individual is now going to go and he's going to tell the Romans I don't believe that that will Right. He says therefore he was he was insistent you can't kill this shal and you can't go and you can't bring this. What's in other words what's the worst that's going to happen? Not what happened. Obviously, he says sometimes and he he goes on and he he he brings further further support for this. But you know, sometimes if the person that's that we're dealing with is in is in fact the Rash that it sounds like he is, he's an evil person. and he's somebody who's willing to go because he was felt a little bit of a slide to his own honor. He's willing to go and he's willing to incriminate the entire Jewish people and need to even if he doesn't think it maybe that it's going to go that far but he thinks you know he knows surely something's going to happen. So such a person maybe we don't have to uh we we you know maybe it's it's not possible to make shalom with such a person. It's not. Sometimes we have to know that I'm faced in a situation. I'm faced an impossible situation. There's somebody here who really has gone over to the other side, let's say, and there's nothing that we can do. It's a it's it's it's a completely different way of looking at the story. The problem with this interpretation, I'll tell you, I think it's I think it's true. The problem is that most people certainly in our society today are very very quick to judge and very very quick to say, "Ah, that person he's barsa." Right? that this is an extreme example. This is an extreme case. How many most of the people that we have disagreements with? Most of the people that we have arguments with are not to the extent you know of bama. We should get over those arguments. We should find a way to the but what the is telling you at the end was of course sometimes there are people sometimes there are extreme examples and extreme situations where you cannot get over it. But comes he's out of the picture. Okay. I think part of our problem and part of the lesson is we think everybody's like that. We think everybody's out of the picture. There's a famous nativity of who has an introduction to and he writes there this was exactly the problem during he says during beni everybody they thought he says they would sikim they were they were righteous people they were they were pious people they did all the mitzvot they learned to they did everything was wonderful you know what the problem was the says you know he says you know what means it means that you see the person who's wears a different color kipati or wears a different kind of hat to you or wears different things are a little bit different. You say he's an Apicorus and he's a stuki and he's barsa and he's out of the picture. He doesn't say barama but I'm I'm just uh comparing this story to to what he says over there. He says anybody who's a little bit different different than them. They said he is out of the camp. They said he's not uh he's not somebody we have to try and make shalom with. We we're too the problem is the people that we should try and resolve with we don't and the people that we shouldn't we do. Right? That's that that's the problem. So that's number one. That's something that we have to that we have to identify and that's something that we have to get better at. Okay. But that that's in terms of maybe raised the question. So what did Kamsa do wrong? Kam is not here. Kam is not part of the story. And what the Marel says he says something beautiful. He says what the Quran is trying to teach you. And when it says that we have do you know what it means that your was destroyed because oft doesn't mean because there was an anecdote because there was such an event in such a hall on such a date at such a time and this thing happened that's just an example but you know when you have a reality of kamarama and reality of kamaka means that there is such division that there is such strife that everybody that the society is built in such a way that everybody has their camp and everybody has their allies and has their enemies, right? And I have my kamsas in my life and I have the bumps in my life. You can imagine outside this party people were probably standing there holding up signs that said Rakama or Rakama, right? The names are almost identical. Why? Because whether there is father and son or whether they don't know each other, it doesn't The point is there's only two letters here that differentiate between these two individuals where at the end of the day we're so similar. At the end of the day, there's not always that much which is different between us. But you know what? You're my ally and you're my enemy. Why? I don't like you. I You're you're out of the picture. When And that was the reality. Everything was so divided. Everybody had their faction and everybody had their camp and everybody, you know, we see this if it sounds familiar. You know, we see this in sports. We see this in politics. You know, in Israel, the two are the same thing. Sports, politics is the national sport. It's the only one we're good at. And even that one we're not so good at. But but but but that's when it's about issues and when it's about values and when it's about I can have a disagreement with somebody but we can talk and we can be civil. That's okay. But anytime there like the native says somebody who doesn't think exactly the same thing that I think they're my enemy. Well then from there the spiral downwards is very very quick and is very very sharp. And that's what the Quran That's what the moral says says when your society is such that everybody has their allies and everybody has their enemies and anybody who's not exactly the same is my enemy and is and again notwithstanding what I said sometimes there is such an individual sometimes there can be extreme cases but those are extreme and those are few and far between they're not everywhere and everything that is the cause it's not that this individual name comes he may have existed he may not have existed the might be telling us a story but but the reality of come is something that caused that caused destruction. Maybe the key to this whole story is uh appears in the second paragraph appears in a in a detail which sounds very technical but I think we're hinting at us something very very deep and the moral explains this right there's two phrases which I've put in bold for you this m the blemish that puts in the animal where does he put the blemish either in the lips or in the eyes and then the says and it says something else it says this is something which is a blemish for us but it's not a blemish for them. So, by the way, I think there's a very deep message there as well. You know, we're used to this double standard. You know, the world looks at us. The world judges Israel in one way, judges the rest of the world another way. Okay? The way they judge us is unfair and it's based on lies and deception and propaganda and hatred. Granted, but there should be a double standard. Meaning there are we that which is required of us that which is sometimes is things that right is very we have a phrase in the Quran says the greater the more righteous a person is the harsher the judgment is there there is a certain standard sometimes we are required we are we have a job to do and we're required to uphold a higher standard to ourselves but why the lips and why the eyes because that is the message so much of the story so much of the strife and the conflict between us comes from these these two from these two faculties. The lips, what do you say? What do you speak about? How do you talk? How do you talk about other people? The eyes, how do you and there's two ways that you can talk about the eyes. You can talk about how we see each other, what we look for. Do we look at the positive or do we always look to see the negative or sometimes as we see in the story as well, sometimes we close our eyes when there are things that we should open our eyes, we should look at, we should take a stand, and we should stand up and we should speak out for injustice, which maybe we don't. So those two things that that's the message you know is a beautiful uh idea that we're now in Benim these three weeks what's known we have three special what's called the puranut so the three special haarot each have a name each have a word that begins last week we read beginning with dra means words the next one the second starts with shimu which means to hear and the third one is kazon is a vision that is the key says That is the key. That is the road map for the time of year that we're in and the way of getting out of it. It's based on how we speak. How how do we listen? So much in our society would be so different if we could correct this. And finally, how do we see what do we see? How do we see? Do we have a vision of who we are and where we are going and what we are what we are we are trying to do. Have a look here on on the page. Let me just say one one other thing about this about this idea of kamsan baramsa the society. You know we see which we always read before and uh one of the reasons there's a near the beginning that says which appears of course appears as well but here is giving his parting message and he's giving rebuke to the people over the mistakes that they've made and he says says how can I how could I stand by myself I couldn't bear you or your bother or your burden, right? Or your conflicts. And he talks, he's repeating, he's giving them rebuke over the time when comes to Rabenu. He says, "You can't do this by yourself. You're going to stand all day. You're going to judge the people. You need help. You need to delegate people. You need to delegate a system under you." And he does. So, so, so that's what he said. And here says to the people he says he says you all said that's a good idea also said it's a good idea the god said it's a good idea the fact is that it was it was implemented so why is that part of the rebuke so there are different answers but if you look at the next so he says right so we have these people who are appointed Ed over a thousand people appointed over 100 people over 50 people over 10 people says you understand here what the rebuke is that you need a system of judges why do you need judges because people are coming they have conflicts they have arguments they're having fights with one another so you need a person you need a judge for every 10 people and every 10 people you're having conflicts what's going on that's called that's called the situation of kamsa kama so all these fights all this mak over what I mean they were in the desert what were they fighting about okay but that that's one of the things that that's the idea so so maybe to wrap up and to end off we see many many things the truth is there's a lot more and and there's much more that we could talk about over the story but uh our time is limited but these are some of the things that we see here we see a picture of kamsa we see a picture of a society that is divided for the sake of division of conflict for the sake of conflict we see where people are fighting against each other not over ideas not over values but against individuals and I view people and I view the other as somebody different as somebody who is not part of my society not part of my world that is something very very dangerous how do we look at each other and how do we look at the things that we see around us do we notice do we take do we do we take care we see something something that doesn't quite look right something that's going on do we stand up do we speak about it do we have something to say do we look at the negative or do we are we able to look at the positive in one another are we able able to how do we speak about one another? Okay, do we have that false humility? And of course, at the end of the day, you're in a situation in an extreme situation. Granted, but sometimes in extreme situation, that's where you have to step up. That's where we have to step forward. Particularly for leaders, do we just let things go on as they are and do nothing that is something which can have disastrous consequences as well. I want to just end off with with one other thing maybe for this for the for this time of year. maybe something something for us to think about as we go away over the summer break which is this you know at the end of the day all that we're talking about is the the the essence of at the end of the day the morning for the mikdash of morning for is the desire to want to see it rebuilt and the question is how central is that in our lives do we care how much do we care how much do we notice how much do we think about it how much do we is this number one on our priority list is this important in our values And there's a story that I've heard from a number of soldiers who've come back from Gaza and have said, you know, they went inside, they were fighting in Aza and one thing which they noticed, many things to notice there, but one thing they noticed, they said, every single house every single house that we went into had a they said every single house that we went into in Gaza had a picture had a picture of what they call alaka, what they call what we call harabay of the temple mount. of Jerusalem, right? What did they call what did they call the war? They called it to a they called it Jerusalem. They named it after Jerusalem. They attacked us in they attacked us in the attacked us in the south, but the war was called the war over Jerusalem. They didn't forget. They didn't forget what the central what the central thing is ultimately. What's the vision? And the question is, do we remember? Do we know that? Are we able to fight back? Are we able to have that central place for Jerusalem in our lives for the rebuilding for all the things that that that that involves andm if we can each one of us can take to heart one it's impossible to change everything at once but if each one of us can take to heart one thing one lesson that we learn one thing that one area where I am going to improve one flaw that I can correct for the sake of your we will merit very very soon and speedily in our days that it should be rebuilt.