Standing before the King | Rabbi Jeremy Perlow | Sep 1 2026

Okay, good morning everyone. Welcome back. It's wonderful to see everyone. I know everyone had a hopefully a wonderful, productive, enjoyable summer. For myself, we were in America. It was nice to see some family there and it was wonderful having a wonderful trip and it's even better to be back now. It's even better to be back in Israel. I think sometimes we go away and we appreciate our trip and then we come home and we appreciate just how lucky we are to be right here. I think there's something very special about being in Israel and it's a bigoot that all of us have to come here through literally within walking distance of the old city. It's incredible and we have to appreciate what we have right under our noses. Something very special. >> Sure. Okay. I want to talk today. There's sore sheets in the back if anyone didn't get. Okay. The sore sheets. This is the source sheet for today. It's called standing before the king. And uh we're going to talk a little bit today about the final Shabbat of the year, which is the Shabbat. This Shabbat we know is uh a very important Shabbat being the final Shabbat of the year. It's very odd that we read para uh paraim. Why is it we've chosen to read paraim for the final Shabbat of the year? You could just say it's the way the calendar falls out. That's just how it happened to be. We know every time kazal institute a calendar they did it with very every little tiny detail is to the tea. Everything is intentional. Everything is meant to be the way it's meant to be. And in fact the gumar discusses this. The gar gives us we're going to see today six different answers to the question of why it is that we've chosen to read navim is the final para of the year. And I think each one of these answers will tell us a little bit about the nature of this time that we're in right now. a little bit of time, a little bit of about the nature of the month of leading up to rash. Uh so now you might say again, you might just say, well, they wanted to give us a little bit of a break for Rashashana. We know Rashashana the Ding is very long and paraim is very short. In fact, between together, even when they're read together as a double para, it's still only about give or take 70im. So that's when it's a double partial certainly needs a needs to be itself is even shorter. So I think it's something you could say that's the reason they want to give us a little of a break. I don't think that's the reason. Okay. So we're going to go through again six reasons today on the books why kazal instituted this para particularly is the final Shabbat of the year. So let's get started. Everyone go ahead and look at source number one. This is the most famous reason. This is the one quoted explicitly in the garra. It's the gamarilla. It was taught in a brighter that Ezra instituted that we should go ahead and read the curses in Torah kohanim. Okay. Which book of the Torah is to kohanim. >> Vikra. Very good. We should read the curses in vikra. Which which para is the curses in vikra? What? Right. Is the curses that we have in vikra? We should read part. Which holiday is that? It's a trick question. >> What? Very good. Okay. We know it's confusing because usually when we use the term in the Torah, it's referring to in when we read the gar, it's usually referring to the Gar, it's usually referring to Shabus. So here you should read he Ezra instituted. We know Ezra made 10. One of his taken was that we should read uh the para with the curses before sh. Very important to read before sh um another institution he made. Which book of the Torah is Mishna Torah? >> Dvarim. We should read the curses in Dvarim. Which para is that? Very good. We should read the curses in Dvarim. Rashashana. before Rashashana. Why is it that before both rash and before they wanted us to read about the curses? What is the reason explained and some say and this is a famous expression in order that the year and all of its curses should come to an end. Meaning any of the tragedies, any of the terrible things that happened the previous year, we want it to come to an end before we go into the yadim. So just as we have before rashash shana, we have we read last week actually we read paratavo which contains the curses and then we go into rashash shana. So too before shabus we had the curses of para and only afterwards do we do we begin uh shabus. Now what's interesting about both of these is they don't seem to be true. Right? Which para do we read as the final parha before rashashana this week's para right there's an additional para you have the curses then you haveim this week's para and only afterwards do you go into rash sh and similarly you'll find by shabu this is actually the exact same we read para and then there's a oneweek break we have bar and only afterwards do we go into Shu. So the obvious question is what's the deal with this oneweek break? Why do we have some type of buffer between the end of the year and its curses so to speak and the beginning of the year? Why do we need a oneweek break? Why do we need and why do we need para? So on a simple level if you look here in the next source toast votes. Oh, and just to explain, shabu. What's shabu? Why is it we have to end the year in its curses? I understand rashash shana. Rashashana is a yad. It's a day of judgment. It's the new year. It's the beginning of something new. But what about shabu? Shabu is just a holiday like any other holiday seemingly. Why do we have to end the curses before shabu? >> So maybe we got the Torah. Maybe that's I would have said perhaps. >> Okay. Okay. You're very spiritual. are more spiritual than I am. The Gvara says a very interesting reason. The Gar says that the reason why we go ahead and we should go ahead and finish the curses before Shabuis is because on Shabuis it's a day where we know that the we're judged for the fruits of the tree. The Gomorrah says so just as we have rashan as a day of judgment shu we don't think of these terms usually usually think about shabu you think about matan tora receiving the Torah standing at hari but here the gmor focus on a different point of shabu which is it was a day on which we're judged for the perotan for the fruits of the tree so for this reason we want to end the year of all of its curses and start fresh both for the tree which we know the tree is representative also of mankind we're also likened to a tree according to many and correspondingly we have by rash that we have to end the year in all of its curses fine so what's with a buffer why do we need to have a oneweek break in between the end of the curses and the beginning of the new year so we'll get here to this is to on the spot who who's discussing this kamar we just read source number two they asked this question in the midrash of and they responded We want to go ahead and have a heapsake. What's a heapsake? >> Interruption. A break and to read on one discuss and read from a para that has nothing to do with any of the curses. Why? Sh the crowd shouldn't even come anywhere near rash. We need to have a break. The curses should stay far away from rash. Don't bring them anywhere close. Why? He says here we read before we have this find the same thing that we have that we have a oneweek break before we go into. So if you look at the next source, the next to foot here I put on the source sheet for you to foot in and babatra explain the reason why why is it we need this one we break. So again we don't want the curses to have anything to do to be anywhere close toash but says the bab a little bit more he says we always every single year without fail read so that we can end the curses of to the next year they shouldn't be juaposed why he explains a little bit more and now this This is actually you'll notice in the source sheet um I put an ellipses. This is actually a mistake. I apologize. This is actually this last part in the bold actually belongs to the lavouch. The lavouch we know is one of he's a commentator on the and he actually wrote this last line. I apologize I combined them together and he says as follows that we should not read the curses near the day of judgment. And this would so to speak be my uh my wife's grandmother always says she's always very into this literally means don't open your mouth to the satan don't open your mouth don't say something which is going to cause the satan to have a reason to come at you reason to be m you to accuse you to cause you pain and suffering so usually that can be for one of two reasons it could be either because you're flaunting the good things you have in your life, right? Which usually 99% of the time we're not really deserving of. But Hashem does this and he gives us the good things that we have in our life. Could be that's the reason why. So we shouldn't flaunt. We shouldn't say, "Oh, look at me. I'm so great. I have 20 children. I have a beautiful family. I have whatever it is. I have a giant house, a giant mansion." We shouldn't flaunt the things we have. That's one that's one explanation of And then we have another explanation, another reason. What what's the issue with if a person goes ahead and mentions a reason that he should be judged? So here if a person says we read the co in the Torah we read about all the curses that happened and we say oh look this is what happened if you if you do wrong this is all the things that ah thank you I found one in the end this is all the things that go wrong these are all the troubles that uh that can that can that can happen if we do wrong and we sin so we know we're not really deserving of most of the time we do things that are wrong and we are deserving of and hashem again in his infinite kindness does to us nonetheless so we don't want to give the Sultan a reason to have a kit against us to accuse us and to have a a reason to punish us. So for this reason we keep the curses very far away and we have even a oneweek buffer beyond the basic requirements of the Gumar and for this reason we always read before Rashan. [clears throat] Now the question becomes very nice. So we need a oneweek buffer. But why did we choose specifically this para? What is so unique about paraim which merits that it should be the para which we always read before rash. Now you could just say on a bas well it's the para after so you need a oneweek break. It's very simple. That's it. Okay. But I think we could do better. I think we could do better. And uh I'm going to share with you today many other explanations we have in many of the and some of the rishonim. So we're going to explain and address this question. Okay. So let's look at source number four. This is the opening par. Okay. The opening. Right away right off the bat you hit on the head with so many reasons why this is important for us to read going into. Okay. Who could translate that word for me properly? >> Yes. Ah, very good. So, we're already getting somewhere. Okay, good. So, you noticed already that one of the opening words we have in the puk is means all of you. Okay. What's though? Start with the word the name of the para standing. Right. So, there's an obvious question which is what's the difference between which means standing as you said and the word we're more familiar with which means standing >> should say what's okay we have to think about that yet. >> Strong. >> You're strong right? Standing strong. Exactly right. We know the word mata related word which means like a tombstone we put up usually after shiva or some have of the custom at the end of the year of morning. Right. We put up a mata tombstone. Okay. Means standing strong. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we have okay means today you are all standing today. We're going to come back to that word by the way. We're going to see every word in this. We have to unpack it. Significance. You are standing strong today. All of you before Hashem your God. Who are these people? The I want you to look carefully the list of people here. We have the leaders of theatim. We have the zik the elders your officers call is and it lifts off more your children your wives of the convert who is in your midst in your camps from your wood chopper until your water carrier. Okay. The water jar. Does that mean sort of like I forgot the name? >> Yes. So there were a group of people I think Rashi on the I think. Yeah. So there were a group of people who went ahead and they uh had this idea. We know that there were people who wanted to convert to Judaism and there's a big issue that they wanted for a time they wanted to really be part of uh the rest of the rest of AmIstrael. And the issue was that they weren't really exactly the most pious of people to say the least. In fact they tried to hurt us. They tried to attack us. It's a whole issue. And Yeshua go ahead with permission. They went ahead and they made them into water carriers, water jars and wood shoppers, which is what we're referring to here. Very good. Okay. But the all the Jewish people, they're all standing there, right? To be what's a covenant, right? to bring you into the covenant of Hashem your God of Allah and which is a two-sided covenant right there's the positive components of the covenant if you do good Hashem will bless you Hashem will protect you and then there's also the is a curse right the flip side that which Hashem is the covenant which Hashem is making with you today now you'll notice one word is actually repeated in this puk maybe even more than one word uh which is right you have it twice you have it the third word in the puk and it's also the last word in the puk there's some emphasis about today what is the significance of the word today in this puk okay so we have a few questions we have on this puk what is the significance that the Torah is emphasizing so much everyone right it's emphasizing every single person and even wis all the people >> okay we're going to come back okay okay everyone yeah Very good. Very good. Okay. >> Very good. Okay. >> You're spoiling it. No, I'm just kidding. Very good. Okay. I'm going to come back to that. Excellent. Okay. So, the idea of everyone. Why is the Torah emphasizing everyone? It says it it's first it says and then actually lists off all the different categories of people. If you say everyone, you shouldn't have to list them, right? Why? What's this emphasis on every single type of Jew? Number one, why does it say nitim strong word for standing standing strong and also why is it we have the word hayom repeated twice okay and finally what's this emphasis about the covenant we mentioned twice also the idea of a covenant he says it's a two-sided covenant in the word you'll notice here again it's emphasized both and then it emphasizes twice that idea that Hashem is making this covenant with you what is so significant about covenant. So on a simple level, right, the Torah is telling us about the covenant which was made at this time. We know we had half the tribe, six of the standing in Harrisim. Half the tribes, six of the tribes standing in Harbal and their curses and their blessings and Mosha is reminding them, you guys, you're putting you're going into you're entering the covenant today and this is before Mosha's passing before they go into Israel. They're renewing the covenant. That's not a simple law. But we know the Torah does not speak just to it's not a history lesson. The Torah is not just telling us what happened thousands of years ago when the Jewish people what their experience was like before they entered Israel. The Torah is talking to each and every one of us. If we don't look at every single puk in the Torah with these lenses, if we're not able to understand how it is that the Torah is talking to each and every one of us as we read every single word, we're not doing our job. That's what we're here to do today. We're trying to understand what is Hashem telling me in in 2026. So let's go ahead. We have here the vitri. We're moving over to part two. The significance of specifically it's the partial that we read. Source number five. This is from the vitri. The makur vitri we know was a very important work. This was actually written by a student of rashi. A student of rashi. He lived in France as you can imagine just like rashi. and he lived around Rashi's time which is the late 11th century early 12th century and his name is Suma Benmu and Vitri is actually the town within France that he lived so the Maksor we know the word Maksur Makur we know because we think about Rashiper those Makur right so he actually wor most primarily he work wrote a book about Minhagim and he wrote specifically about the liturgy and the s and he did write many of the dealing with the liturgy as well And but this is one of the most famous works. It's actually a very early work again one the time of the rishim the time of so it's a very early work and therefore we treat it with great uh importance. He says like this. This is from he writes every single year we always have to read before. And the trick to remember get up and blow. What's going on here? He's giving us a trick to remember why it is that always has to fall before. The trick to remember is get up and blow. Get up is reference to means to stand. You're standing. So get up and blow. So it's a cute trick. It's very nice, but come on. Do we really need a trick for this? We can't remember before. What's so important? So he's emphasizing to us clearly he's emphasizing to us that there's something significant about having this juosition to specifically so much to the extent he has to create a sim for it and if you look further in the text he also cites I didn't put on the source sheet because I don't want to overwhelm everyone but he puts also another that before shàuis we read para and you'll see it will come up actually later in the source sheet but this it's two words also I'll just tell you right now he says manu count manu means to count and from the word which is the word for sh. So counting is reference to paratar the final part that we read before and we have sorry and we have right get up is the reference to the final partial we have before. So here we have two for these important parts. So that had to arrange the entire calendar to make sure that can be filed directly before. So let's see why. So turn the page source number six also emphasizes. We have to always do this. You can't miss it. Every single year you have to read before. Why? Source number seven. Let's keep moving. This is from the bat. This is rev. He lived in he was one of the early leaders who came to Israel and he brought many of his teachings with him to Israel. I think it's important when we talk about here we live in Israel. So we have to talk about the early leaders of Israel who helped found the state of Israel as we know it with the Torah is and he writes as follows. He says, he emphasizes this emp the single time you find the word it's a reference to who hash. Okay, the word which we saw two times in our he says is always a reference to shay. How do we know this? It's the known day. We have a trick in kazal. We have trick whenever you're learning Tanakh whenever you have an unidentified uh subject we call this a closed canon approach okay those who know Tanakh study Tanakh is Rash takes this approach many of the take this approach it's called a closed canon approach which means if you have an unidentified subject you don't know who it's referring to you don't know what it's referring to we always have to go back to the first instance that we have a similar subject and assume that the unidentified subject is referring to that one okay so in this case. Well, let's just do a more famous example first. Okay, so we know um the Torah tells us that there was a man in the desert who was okay. What's all the returning were scratching their heads? He was violating Shabbat. Either he was gathering the wood or he's cutting the wood, whatever you want to say, he was violating Shabbat publicly in the midbar. And they brought him to Mosher Rabenu. They brought him to Mosher Rabenu and they said, "What should we do with such a person?" And hashem he knew that you're supposed to give him the death penalty but he didn't know what to do. So he asked Hashem and Hashem said okay you have to give him this specific death penalty of and they went ahead and performed ski on him. Now the Torah does not tell us though who this person was. So who was that person? Who is that person? Huh? >> Ah very good. It was Rashi says that that unidentified individual was as we know later in the Torah the Torah says daughters come to Moshenu and they say our father died in the desert says Rashi we have to connect the two who is the father who's unidentified person who is this the other person who we know who died explains that maybe he really had good intentions he was trying to teach Israel what the proper thing and the proper the punishment if someone violates Shabbat. He's trying to is serving as example perhaps. Okay. But the idea is that we take the unidentified subject and we assume that it's referring back to the the previous subject which we do have identified and that is we have to connect the two. Okay, this is a famous example of a closed canon approach. Rashi does this many many times throughout as well as many of the other. So it says the we have to do the same thing here. The word hayom the day the it doesn't say a day the day it's referring to a specific day which day is that the first day that we know of the first day in which the world was created day the world is created today the world stands in judgment is a reference to the day that we're familiar with the first day that we have in as a ref the m the day which is identified as hay and that is and he derives it also from the says inashem that it was the day and the came to stand that word again to stand okay before and that day was rash so he points out an example in where clearly refers to rash we know that that's on the books and therefore he says also in part it's a reference to rash. So when did this happen? Roshana. Okay. And you look in source number eight. That's the PU that he cited. I just put it on here in the source sheet for you so you could see it the full PU. Okay. Source N we have the Arve explains that is a reference to Zash. Same idea. So he we have many of the bring down this idea that is a reference specifically to Roshash. Now if you look at source number 10, this is a piece from the Torah. This is from the okay I'm not such a myself but I think it's important to learn from all Jews. It's important right we have to always be learning from everyone and he has a beautiful beautiful piece I love this he's really incredible but he has a lot of beautiful for those that have time to read beautiful he goes through the parot and a beautiful compo uh work and here we have he says as follows every year what are the Jews doing here the first comp they're renewing the covenant What do we have to do as we go into rashash? We also need to renew that covenant. Renew our connection with Hashem. Remind ourselves of the terms. Remind ourselves of our agreement. We're the we have a responsibility. We have to have that covenant strong with Hashem. It has to be a new covenant, not just an old covenant. Oh, our forefathers are avot. They already accepted it for us. No, it's not enough. We need to renew that covenant to Torah. Which which covenant specifically? the fact that we accepted the Torah. So our miss here we have our mission statement for the coming year. Our mission statement is I'm accepting upon myself the Torah. I'm accepting upon myself this kadash. So this is again the first reason that we're told by that we need to have to emphasize a Torah as we go into and he says a little bit later in the piece he says below right we don't call the name of the year the beginning of the year we refer to it as Roash the head of the year why what's this emphasis of the head why do we have to refer as the head of the year. It's very funny. You try and translate these terms to someone who doesn't know anything about Judaism. You say, "What's Rash?" So, we usually just say it's the beginning of the year because you don't want to sound funny. But if you want to translate literally, it actually means the head of the year. What's the emphasis about ahead? And the and the answer is if you a little bit further, I put an ellipses here to save you a lot of reading. It's a very long piece, but he says it goes together with the next point. The standing we have emphasized here that we're all standing together. Now this is the concept that we mentioned before correctly, right? Okay. Of arvoot. Arvoot. The concept that the entire Jewish people are treated as one. We're one entity. And the word arv actually it's not just means that we're one. Actually has two translations. Two different meanings of the word arv. Okay. an ar right for those who know business an arv is a guarantor a guarantor if you're going to go ahead and sign a contract right there right the there's someone's concerned that maybe you don't have enough money they're not going to be able to pay the rent or whatever it is right you'll get a guarantor the guarantor's job is to cover you if you fail now who is the guarantor for who so I would have said in Judaism should work is the people who are better off the people who are let's say perform more mess vote so to speak right the more righteous amongst us the more pious those are the people who should be our guarantors right for the Jews are less pious like myself right those the people who should be our guarantors that's what I would have said no every single Jew is an for the other which means every single Jew has something that another Jew does not I am incomplete without my fellow Jew I am missing something and that's why the word the other meaning of the word ar right is ar means Very good to mix. Right? You have a mixture of different entities. The arbave means to mix because we're all intermingled. We're all in this together. There's no one person who is higher than the other. There's no person who is the guarantor. We're all guarantors for each other. We all have a responsibility for each other. >> Also means sweet. >> Ah, okay. A third meaning. Yeah. Very good. Right. A third meaning. Yeah. Sweet. Beautiful idea. Yeah. Sweet. Right. Sweet. It's all right. But it also means sweet. Very good. So I can add a third dimension I guess right it's a sweet thing I guess that we're all gearing tourists for each other that we're all intermingled we all need each other very nice so this is the idea of going throughash I'll just tell you this is awaken ahead let's say I uh already blew chauffar for someone and then I go and I want to blow chauffar again I want to chauffeur for someone who didn't get to hear it and for whatever reason this person who's listening to the chauffear he doesn't know Hebrew he can't read he can't see to the can I repeat the is yes right is yes because so long as there's another Jew in the world who has not yet fulfilled his mitzvah my mitzvah is not complete that's the concept of our it's concept if someone heard kdish already and I already made sorry someone didn't hear kdish yet and I already made kdish can I say kdish for them yes right better they should make it themselves in both of these cases but if they can't say the braha that I sure I can say the for them why not that's the concept of ours as opposed to let's say I have a a bite of cake right I have a piece of cake I'm about to take a bite I say my name is yum I'll take a bite now my friend walks over and he says oh that looks so good can I have a bite I say sure and he says but I don't know the braha can you say the braha for me >> so you could teach him is the concept of you could teach him you could help him but let's say he doesn't want to do that he just wants to listen to your braha. Can you say the braha for him? No, you're not allowed to say the braha for him here. It's not a mitzvah for blessings over enjoyment. You cannot repeat the braha over someone else. For a blessing, which is the mitzvah, right? That is the mitzvah, the blessing, then you can repeat it. That's the concept of ark. You cannot you can't repeat a. It's not a mitzvah for you to eat a piece of cake, right? We might to think of this, but it's not a mitzvah for for your fellow Jew to eat a piece of cake. Okay? So, we're not allowed to repeat the braha in that case. Now what you could do if you cancel the bra is when you're taking your bite of cake you could do it at the same time as him you'll say my name is he'll answer and you'll both take a bite simultaneously that's less preferred because again we try not to be the others but if you're stuck then you could do it as opposed to right after he's done eating right that is a mitzvah right so I could be just that we don't we don't form it's a little more complicated we'll leave that one out for now but in theory There is a concept that you can be fulfill someone else's obligation to zone. It's on the books. I can say benching for you but uh we don't do it and I think it's because it's tied to or maybe because we're we're uh we're we know that it's very long. So we're worried people won't have kavana. Okay. But certainly if I'm benching I could say for you. Uh if you don't if you're not sure if you're benched or if you don't know how to bench then I could say the benching for you. Okay. So you'll notice here again this emphasis about right. What's the significance of being united as we go into Russ? Why is that so important? It's important all the year all all year long. We have to be united. What's the significance specifically about connecting rashab to being united? So I think it's based on the following. We know the the one thing we emphasize in rash shah is mal right hashem's kingship of the whole world. Now we know that there's a difference. There's a contrast we have in between and okay versus what's the difference between a mal a king and a mosh a dictator? A dictator rules by force. A mel is accepted by the people. Meaning without the people a king is not a king. The king is only so much as a king as he's accepted by the nation. So the nation has to be to get come together to accept him as their meal. So the first step is they have to come together. If they're all separate, they're all just individuals. That's not a that's not a kingship. So the first step is we have to come together, you united front to accept Hashem as their mak. But I think more than this, the idea of I think is the most important thing we going through. You'll notice the entire people always want to think about the things that they want to dab for for the coming year. You read the there's nothing about that in the makur, right? We're not saying Hashem give me a parnosa. We're not saying Hashem give me health. We're not making a wanderous request from Hashem. Read the entire max. It's not there. Why? The answer is because it's not about us on Rashashana. Rashana is about making Hashem our king. It's about first getting the first thing first. Making our priorities straight, clarifying for us what's number one. Number one is Hashem. Before we can think about ourselves and our personal needs, number one is Hashem. And the way that we do that is by coming together by accepting Hashem as our malik by accepting Hashem as our king. So we've talked about to summarize so far the idea of hayom the significance of hay being the day of rash the day the day of judgment the day we stand before hashem kul the way that we stand hashem together as one the united front that we need to come to hashem to be together the idea of standing strong again this emphasis on standing what's the emphasis on standing so much you have to stand strong so this is emphasized I I didn't I I neglected to mention but that going back to the idea of the emphasis on Ro the idea that the head of the year why wouldn't we just say the head of the year emphasizes that even though we have many of the different throughout the year and every day is important in the year but really it all comes back to rash because without rash the whole year we're we're missing we know the gar tells us that everything that's going to happen to us during the coming year is determined on rash you want to know how much money you're going to make you You want to know if you're going to have a salary raised, you want to know if you're going to be uh happy, healthy, it's determined on rash. Rash is that day. It's a very important day. Which is why most people feel bereft. I'm not going to make any personal requests of hashem. How can I not? It's such an important day. But that's not the focus. But again, rush everything is determined. It's the ro all the emerge from rash. It's for this reason that the bimto explains we know this one month a year. This shabas is something very odd that happens. Because every other Shabbat, the final Shabbat before a new month, we bust the new month. We call it Shabbatim. We bust the new month. The one exception of all 12 months of the year is this Shabas. We just go ahead skip that page. We move on. Why don't we bless the new month? We should bless the new month. So on a simple on a simple level, the reason is is based on the Puk. The Puk says, right? blow the chauffear. What'saud is clothing, but it really comes from kasa means a covering, right? Clothing also covers you. Kesa means covering. It's hidden. Rash is meant to be a hidden holiday. And that's true in a level and it's true on a nar level. It's true on an ego level and it's true on anar level. Meaning when we come to Rash, it's the only holiday that it just jumps at you, right? It's the only holiday that we have on the first the first day of the month, right? Right away. Obviously, Roesh is connected. That's a we're going to see in a second. It's connected is a is a follow follow up to follows on the heels of Shash is the only holiday that just jumps out at you. You're not ready for it. P you have 15 days to prepare. Suk, you have 15 days to prepare. Yipper, you have 10 days to prepare. All the in the Torah, we have a little bit of time. jumps at you. So it's hidden in the sense that you have to be prepared and that's why even init by the way we have everyone gives two days of unlike all the other because they used to be that that they used to have people would go and they'd have to inform you when they the witnesses saw the new month they look and they see the moon and they have to go and report to all the Jews throughout all of Israel when the new month was shah no one has time for that even if you Israel even if you saw they declared the new month right now they institution is everyone's keeping two days because it jumps out at you and you have to be ready. So you have two days of y even for Jews and it's the only like this. So says the baltov, why do we not bless the new moon when it comes why do we not bless the new month when it comes to the month of t because hashem himself blesses the month of t and from hashem's braha we can go ahead and bless the other remaining 11 months but hashem himself so to speak is blessing the month of t and from that braha we can go ahead and take it and run with it. So all the other we have throughout the year all the other 11 months they derive their bra from the braha that hem himself gave at the onset of the year. So that's why it's called Rosh Hash and I think this is why we go before Hashem and Rosh we're standing strong before Hashem because Hashem is the source of all the standing strong before Hashem. We're emphasizing that the braha that we have comes from Hashem and that will carry with us throughout the rest of the year. What I want to do now and I want to give you one last reason why we read before we go into sh. It's part three. It's called as close as you can get. Now you'll notice here we have this is called para chuva. This is actually this section of the the sukim. Here we have the first puk at the very least is para part of par para chuva. Para chuva many Jews read actually every single day. It appears in the sitter after the doning. Okay. Okay, it's not expected for it's not expected everyone reads it's not a requirement by any sort standard but many people read this every day it's a beautiful passage it appears in the sidor and uh this section of the Torah is discussing the importance of chuva and what's going to happen when we perform chuva and this puk the first puk I put on the source sheet you'll notice it says source 11 when it will be when you listen to your god to guard his commandments in his laws that are written this Torah. It will be when you when you return with all of your heart and all of your soul. And then we have a break. So you'll notice already what's going on. What do the Torah say here? Does it say if you return? It says when you return, you're going to return to Hashem. You're going to do Chuva. It's on the books. It's a promise. I'm telling you right now, Hashem says, and when that happens, this is what's going to happen. And Hashem goes on to tell us all the but you'll notice one thing here. There's a looks like a okay, in parenthesis, like a squiggly bracket, right? What's that? Tells you it's the end of the para, which means in the Torah, there's a little bit of a space there. Okay? We call different types of bricks we have in the Torah. There's a little bit of space and then we start a new paragraph. And the Torah says, and now this is no longer parva. Then the last the first P I gave you here is the is certainly about and now we move on. The Torah says, this mitzvah, okay, which I'm commanding you today, I want you to answer for me in a second. What is this mitzvah? Okay, this mitzvah which I'm commanding you today, it's not far away from you. It's not distant. It's not in the heavens. more. It's not in the heavens that you'd have to say, "Who's going to go up to the heavens for us and take it for us?" And listen to it and perform it for us. It's not across the sea. Who's going to go over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and teach it to us that we can perform it? No. The matter is very close to you. in your mouth and in your heart to perform it. Let me go back to my question now. Which mitzvah are we talking about here? The Torah says this mitzvah which I'm commanding you today is not far from you. It's close to you. It's not across the sea. It's not far. It's not distant. Which mitzvah are we talking about? >> Ah, okay. So, you're already looking ahead. Good. Good. Good. No cheating. No, you can cheat. I'm just kidding. Look ahead. What What do we have here? show him tell us we're going to see three different answers to what is this mitzvah three different explanations for what is this mitzvah we have first rashi okay rashi it's all based on the context you have to look at the context we just finished saying the previous puk right when you listen to hashem's and you keep his says rashi so what are we talking about here we'll get the the second rashi first the oral Torah the written Torah the Torah is very close to you and it's not in the heavens says by the way parenthetical point go to the first Rashi I just love this I put it on for you it's not in the heavens says if it was in the heavens what would you have to do you'd have to go up you'd have to chase up somehow make your way to the heavens to go and get the Torah to bring it back down to earn it says the Torah is not in the heavens it's close to you it's right here it's close to you it's in your mouth it's in your heart to perform it you can do it. So that's Rash's explanation and it's based on the context because the previous was discussing the idea of listening to Hashem's mitzvot says the Ramban I disagree source 13 you might say that this is referring like Rashi said to the entire Torah you might say such a thing he says but it's not true what's proper is if it was referring to the whole Torah it would Okay, that's what it would say. But what do we have in the Torah here? Look at what it says. When it says, you know, it's referring to and he brings examples of this. He says, he emphasizes that this phrase, if we're referring to the entire Torah, we would say since it says, it's referring to a specific mitzvah, and that is the mitzvah of Chuva. And the Ramban says, "Listen, look at the context. You're looking at the last phrase that we had rashi. You're looking at the last phrase that we had right before we go into parat this section. We're talking about this mitzvah." But you have to look at the whole paragraph. We're talking about para chuva. The whole section is discussing chuva. And look what he says here. Emphasizes this will happen. You will do chuva. It's not just that it's a mitzvah. It's a it's a guarantee Hashem says you're going to do chuva. It's a promise Hashem is giving us. It's going to happen. It's beautiful. I'll tell you. We know that there's 13 beliefs of faith that every Jew has to have. The Rambam must 13. There's 13 critical beliefs every Jew has to believe is the Rambam. And these are core fundamental values. Number 12 on the list, one I think that's most famous. We have to believe in the coming of Mashiach. What does it mean to believe in the coming of Mashiach? So people think so that means that okay, so you have to do we have to go ahead and be good and we hope that one day Mashiach will come. No, that's not what it means. We know the Gar tells us in order for Mashiach to come to come, the entire Jewish nation nation has to do chuva, which means an unbelievable thing. Every single Jew has to do chuva. You can't say, "Well, that Jew, he's never going to be shabas. That Jew, he's never going to keep kosher. I don't think it's ever going to happen. I don't come on him." If you believe in the coming of Mashia, what you're essentially saying is, I believe in the ability of each and every Jew that he will do chuva. That's what we're believing. That's what we're saying. And it's a Hashem is guaranteeing it right here in our PU. Don't think it's impossible. Don't think it's distant from you. Don't think it's across the sea in the heavens. It's not in the heavens. Even even if you're distant, you're scattered across the world. You're in git of extreme assimilation. You're in a situation of extreme uh physicality where the whole world seems to be going you read out the whole world seems to be going down down the drain. No, the Ramban says no matter where you are, you can return to Hashem and do what I'm commanding you today. It's not distant. It's not far from you. It's very close to you to perform it in all times in all places. Sometimes people think ah if I was in an inspiring sh if I was in a in a musical of dawa if I was in a kumitz then I would feel a little closer to Hashem. But where I am right now in my point in life I'm busy with work. I'm busy with this. I'm busy with that. It's hard for me to do chouva. It's hard for me to to go ahead and single out time that I'm going to be able to think about hashem to think about my life to think about becoming better. It's hard for me to devote time for more time for learning. It's hard for me to devote time more more time for it's hard says wherever you are in any place in any time in your life you can do chuva and it's a guarantee from mashem and that's why the Torah ends off here in your mouth and your hearts to perform it that we're going to go ahead and do vidi with our mouth. What's vidi? Very good. Right. We acknowledge verbally our sins with our mouth. we have to do with our mouth and that has an effect on our hearts to perform it right and he says we're going to emphasize that we have to go ahead and mention the generations. And he says here, he ends off, you and your children with all of your heart. So you see what he's doing here. He's emphasizing that you have the ability to keep the Torah, you and all of your children. It's a ripple effect. If you do chuva, it's a guarantee also your children will be able to do chuva. It'll have a ripple effect. Sometimes people think, "Ah, my children, they're not from I don't know what to do. They're not observants. They don't keep the what can I do? What's the best recipe? It's not having a million conversations with them. It's not telling them that they're doing wrong. It starts really being the being the personal role model, being the best person I can be. And that has a ripple effect on on others. My rabbi refers, he likes to say, we say in the Torah, you shall teach them to your sons, to your children. What is the way that you're going to teach the Torah to your children? How do we do it? So people think, "Oh, so I have to teach my children, right? That's what it means." No, you shall speak. You shall speak words of Torah. If it's something important to you, your children see that. Your children see that you value it. And it has a ripple effect. The things that we value most have an effect on our children. The things we spend the most time on have an effect on our children. So it's a guarantee here from the Ramban. So to wrap up, we have here one last approach to Ezra. He says, What's it reference to? Not to the Torah, not to he says all of the mitzvot. It's a reference to all the mitzvot. They all require the of all the is in our heart and many of the mitzvot some of them have a have a reminder that we have with our mouths. Meaning we can go ahead and use our mouth as a reminder for us about the importance of what it is that we're doing. So for instance, he says here, right, vidi we do before, right? Something we have to verbalize. We have to verbalize I did this wrong, I did that wrong. But what's the goal of the vidi? When you verbalize, it's not just to pay lip service. They say I did this wrong, I did that wrong. It's that it has to have an effect on us. That through my words, it has an effect on my heart. It affects who I am. It affects my essence. That's the goal of the vi to have an effect on our heart. And that's why he says and then there's actions which have ripple effect on our mouth. So it goes from action to mouth to heart. The goal is he says the of all the is in our heart. And that's what the Torah is emphasizing. It's not far from you. It's not distant. It's close in your mouth and in your heart to perform it. These three things go together. But the says the is in our heart. So again we have three different interpretations here. I think all of them are important. We go into rash. What's the thing we want to take with us? We want to take an acceptance of the Torah as we saw in the ket the renewal of the covenants. We're accepting upon ourselves the Torah. We're accepting the the other idea of accept doing during chuva. How could we go into not to chuva? That's the whole goal of right. That's why we want to emphasize this para we know is the final para we have the ha also is emphasizing the idea that we go into chuva. We have a close covenant with hem. We're close to hem. That's the idea of chuva to return returning to hashem. returning to our essence, returning to ourselves to be close to Hashem. And then finally, the D of accepting all the mitzvot we accept upon ourselves all the mitzvot. And that also is important as we go into I'll just end with the last source here on the source sheet. I'll just summarize for you. He goes ahead and he emphasizes here a few pneummonics that we have to remind ourselves of the fact that we have before and he says it falls like this every single year. And there's an important question which is we know some years we have we read para by itself and some years we read together with so I would have said come on why not combine them every single year make it simpler they're both so short instead we have partial like m you know how long that is it's the longest double s we have in the entire Torah it takes forever and then sometimes it happens we actually take out a third Torah that same week right it's crazy. We're reading Torah for for an hour or more than an hour sometimes, right? We should always combine them. He says, "No, there's something very important that needs to be the final para before we go into Russ and say, why is this?" And he emphasized this idea that put for you on the si before we don't want the satan to have any tas against us. No arguments, no complaints, no the are very far from us. And we go into rash with all these ideas that we had of uh all the importance all the important emphasized of the importance of so to wrap up let's summarize the the reasons we read before yeah we have the idea of ending the I put it for you on the bottom a little cheat our journey okay in bold okay we have the idea of ending the year and all of its curses the idea of standing strong before Hashem as we go into we before Hashem to recognize we're always before Hashem The idea of to always recognize Hashem is in front of us wherever we do in life. The idea of the emphasis of the day. It's the day of judgment. We go into the day of judgment. We want to be queen. We want to clean ourselves up. We're standing before Hashem. We're confident. We're proud. We're going before Hashem. It's not about us. It's about Hashem. The idea of unity. We go into the idea of unity. The importance of unity. Not just that we have the unity of all year long, but the idea is not even a me. And so we're unified as one. We emphasized. And finally the idea of chuva emphasized we have to go into chuva as we go into the final the final days this is the these are the moments if we haven't done chuva yet when if not now if not if not uh now then when we should be praise God to a month of chva and to a beautiful year ahead and we should end the previous year with all of its curses and begin the new year with all of its blessings.