The Disconnect | Rabbi Ari Kahn | July 9 2026

So the share is still sponsored by Rabbi Michael and Jerry Lax meet the granddaughter of Sora Bacha Aarona. So how many weeks do we have left? >> He said one >> one week left next week. Okay. Very good. On uh on Tishabove I I did agree to speak in Matan again. I I I guess it's not so unique if I've done it for the last uh 30 years or so. So, uh but I wasn't convinced I was going to agree this year. Don't don't ask me why. You can ask me why. Go ahead. Because when I started teaching there was because my mother would come to class. My mother's not coming to class anymore. So, I figured I have to do it. So, uh that was that was like the thought that it would be cancelled. So, um let's begin. Yes, we have two parot mat and m and we have a title on the bottom and I do this every now and again but in very little letters that you can't see it and if you need to get the sources you need to be proactive in that the and and I called it the disconnect and I'm going to spell out exactly what it was that I felt was disconnected and then we're going to probably t spend the rest of the time determining if it should be connected and then if it can be connected or maybe it shouldn't be connected And essentially, yes, with the two parachute, there were two different I'll I'll call it movements. If this were some kind of musical event, you have different music different movements with very different tones to them, which almost come to the conclusion that how do you put them together? And by the way, then you can respond and say, well, why would you put them together? You know, they're they're they're separate. They're they're independent. But nonetheless, the the contrast was something which struck me and therefore at least to give it a little thought. In Parot Mat we have a continuation of something which we saw in Pinas to a certain extent and we saw at the end of Parat Balak to also to a certain extent and and and for that matter maybe all of Parhat Balak and that of course is this combination of Balac Midan Moavote Midan Cosby be bum who we kind of left out and it's this combination of all of these people and now finally coming to this situation whereby we're going to now respond and I don't know why I'm putting it in nicer terms. we're going to be going to war and being contending with what remains of this whole situation. There's a lot of room to expand on how the battle takes place. There's lots of details involved. There's the simplest and most obvious is going to be why the revengeance specifically in terms of Midian. You mind? You're okay with that? That they're blocking you? Good. So, no, no, it's fine. Sometimes people sit in the back because they want to be >> Yeah. Why Midan and not more Moave or So, so I said there there's certainly room to discuss this. known to be the center of >> I have >> I think you need to listen again >> if you want if you want I can I can send you this 17 or so shum that I've given on this and uh I don't think I've ever defended but okay >> context is one thing defense is something very different are you talking about my citing of the isvir. If you don't even know what that means, then it's for the best. >> No, no. Is like the Let me put it this way. Whenever any kind of rabbi, who are you people, by the way? I have to be careful what I say now. I don't know. >> The Landon Bergenfield. Okay. It happens. not to me. But so if somebody says they're going to give a shir, I just saw somebody uh wrote to a bunch of rabbis asking he's in summer camp and he wants to teach the staff and he wants to know what he should choose, which should text he should choose. He wants something uh deep but not complex. I love that deep but not complex. I mean you I'd love a definition of what is deep and what is complex in order to uh to determine that but whenever somebody says they want to teach let's just start off with uh I'll say because I guess that's how he how he would have said it so you understand what you're going maybe you don't understand what you're going to get in terms ofic thought but it's going to be a lot of uh of non-classidics a lot of typical shall we say rabbitic learning involved in it with somewhat of a flavor and I can keep I I can essentially I can go through book after book after book if you want what it's not but when someone says oh I'm going to give a sharpbitch then you just have to watch out because there there there's something fundamentally twisted I'm I'm sorry for saying that that's why I have to check who you are when uh when so this may be my last cheer in the U when when the isure rights and and I I have this in my book echoes of Eden I have a whole chapter on But when he writes that Zimry was right and Pinhas was wrong. So that's not me being sympathetic. That's rather me responding to the most bizarre statement I've ever seen in the most extended version of rebbitic literature. And uh he plays through what I'll call this uh this issue of a little bit a lot of cabalistic and reincarnations and but but but he also speaks about the eight sahara and he says something which again I think is incredibly dangerous. He says that because that sometimes an aer can come from such a place that you realize it's coming from a place of kaduca if you can explain that to me exactly and uh it just be that's why I'm saying it's dangerous because it becomes licensed for all kinds of things. So now, if anything, you're going to go buy yourself one of his farm and you going to start learning it. But that's the only place that I could imagine that somebody could have been confused and to think that I was supportive of that, but I wasn't in the least bit. But you're right, it does give it some context. And essentially there is this rebbitic teaching. You know, 24,000 people died in uh in the whole aftermath of the story here in Bidbar. So they claimed the 24,000 people were killed in Shrem when they killed the city of Shrem. And then there's this further claim that maybe the people were sincere. No, by the way, it's very difficult to say that if you read safe, it's there there is not sincerity there. They say essentially we're going to swallow them up, take their possessions, take their daughters, and take their flock. And uh I don't know how you turn this into sincerity, but there is this uh approach to therefore say, "Oh, that's the first time." And therefore, Cosby and Zimry become this and reincarnation. And by the way, the third step in all of this then is to say that there was then too much strictness and in this case too much openness and therefore Tamid Rebaka understood this and therefore they had too much strictness again and that's why again 24,000 people die. Now all that that did is follow the 24,000. Now if anybody thought that what I just now said was any kind of uh sympathy for Cosby then I'm >> that I'm I'm mystified. But um no but no but what what what we start again the war against Midan is a particularly frightening war in the sense of the number of casualties which is everything kind of makes sense until you get to the aftermath and you start counting up and doing the math involved in all of this and then of course you have this other element of it. Oh by the way why did you keep all these people alive? why didn't you kill more people so therefore I mean we just now won and we did what we needed to do but apparently we didn't need what we needed to do and there is this this um attitude and by the way it could very well be that specifically right now in I don't know I I never know I I mean have to check with people who know this being either in the middle of a war right now I don't know if we are or in the aftermath of a war I mean I I don't I don't know where you get your updates from to yes what are for me. You you you you're you're Okay, that's what I'm asking you. You're you're you're an official political commentator, correct? So, you know, if we're in the war, I I don't I just don't know. Yes, we're in the middle of war. >> See, exactly. So, we're in the middle of a war. So, so it could be that some of this reads differently. And you know what? Also, go go back to the story of Dena. I used to teach it. I had things to say about it. I still have things to say about it. At some point, I stopped. I stopped just because of the audience. And by the way, this is a little bit before the me too culture, whatever. But it just became something which was too much of a trigger for too many people. And uh especially to talk about unfortunate things like I I don't know if you've ever really read the para there, but we never know what Dena thinks. We're never told what Dena thinks. And it's very easy. People talk about rape but there's no description of rape there. There is a word of abuse and now you'll say what's the difference between abuse versus rape and again I I could talk about this but I stopped. I just stopped because I just felt that there's so many other things I can talk about but why get involved in something which is going to have some kind of uh of a push back especially again mostly teaching to college age students. So I just stopped at some point and then I found myself in the aftermath of October 8th wanting to talk about it and suddenly Shimon and Levy you know became heroes and uh of course if somebody is kidnapped and taken away and your sister taken away then you go to war and you do what you need to do to take them back. So yeah being involved in a militaristic society certainly impacts our way of uh of looking at things in different parts of Torah which suddenly become relevant and uh and important to us. So I I think there's a certain element of this in terms of the war against Midyan. But I just want to again point out at this dual element here and then as I said the disconnect is going to be another dual element and this section is going to talk about go to war. Let's just start reading Alfemos. Now that's something which we need to pay attention to because God says take the revenge of Israel right there was an affront to the people of Israel. So pay attention to that and then afterwards you'll then move on pass on and so on. You want you want to get that one? That one's better. So this there is something very uh tender about this whereby God commands Moshe to take revenge of the Jewish people against Midan and Moshe says that there needs to be revenge taken for God against Minyan. So therefore God cares about us and we care about God. So there and and this has been pointed out. If you have noticed this, then you're guilty of some kind of malpractice in your reading abilities. But I mean, this is just staring at you over here. And and it is interesting. And then it talks about the numbers take So, so the inclusion of pinas which I don't think bothers you at all right because you right you we we we get brought up within Rashi and we already know because we already read Rashi why he's there and it's very easy why he's there we're not We're not at all mystified that he's there. By the way, if he weren't there, are you willing to play that game? If Pinas were not there? Yes. Can you can we keep on going then? What would then my question be? Who would be appointed in order to lead them out to battle? >> Great. So now, do you have a question? Now you now you should ask a question. What what should your >> Yeah, that becomes a really good question. Why instead of Yeshua? That that that's a fair question. >> Especially why >> see how the news cycle affects your ability to read. See, see, we would not have asked that question. Why not? Because it doesn't bother us. Why doesn't it bother us? Because we've already been conditioned not to ask. Because this idea that Pinas is here already makes sense. And and what would be your reason why Pinas makes sense. So now you go back to that first Rashi and Rashi gave you two different reasons. Yes, at least. And you just kind of plug this in. Pin is the one who started let him continue. Maybe this whole thing about Yoseph and so on. So therefore, Pinas being here doesn't bother us. Now by the way, if I wanted to anyway answer the question that you didn't want to ask, right? Why not Yeshua? What would your answer be? So first of all, why would I assume Yeshua? answer because Yeshua on a previous occasion led us to war. So maybe on the one hand Yeshua has already been designated to become Mosha's replacement and maybe now Yeshua is no longer the same Yoshua. I'm saying Yeshua is not the same. So therefore that takes away Yeshua. But that's not a good enough answer. Why not? >> You're back to that. you did praiseworthy and what they did is what they were. >> So, as I said, depends on which year you mentioned this to me. I'm sympathetic now. >> Oh, no, no, no. So, so, so excellent. Excellent. So, so you're one step ahead of me then. You're probably two steps behind, but but but you're one but you're one step ahead of me then because I was about to ask one more question which would have led you to that answer. And what would that question have been? It would have been when it says and now it all comes down. It's all hinged on one point and what's that? What are the clay haka kodesh? So if the clay ha kodesh which very much sounds like religiously important things and you know if you want you can start looking at the various mafrim and what they do with the clay hakesh over here. The clay kodesh become things which are connected clearly and absolutely to a cohane whether it again it will just depend on uh on where we look. If you look at source number eight in the second line, so again that that that's really quite clear if you look at rashi in the second paragraph of source sixesh. So again you're talking about clayesh being being things which are connected to the cohen or maybe even cohadul. And therefore my question, well why? Why Pas and not Yoshua now becomes no longer a question because it's not the same role. You're not necessarily talking about the one who is the let's let's just call him the Ramad Kal or the general. You're talking about somebody who has a different kind of role in battle. By the way, one of the changes in the Israeli army over the last number of years is that there used to be that the raanut was somehow attached. By the way, in in lots of areas of the army that you would have the regular unit and then you would put a medic with the unit or you have the regular unit and then you would put again some other special kind of a of a person and they figured out at some point it's better to take one of the kravi guys and teach him to be the medic or one of the guys. I mean my my son who uh very much tried and succeeded. This is my son who was a ramen yeshiva and when he went into the inia he he's no longer there even though they want him back but only on condition that he lives there and he doesn't want to live there so he's not there but he um he purposely even though he was in Hezder him and a couple friends went in with the regular soldiers because they wanted to be with the regular soldiers. They didn't want to be with a bunch of Hezra guys because they said like why bother? We're with Hezra guys all the time. So he was in regular unit and he was the unit, you know, through the hundreds and days and whatever. But at some point someone figured out that he's actually a a competent uh rabbi who's taken all kinds of uh rabbitic tests. There's this uh there's this uh fellow who learns in col who show whose parents live in my neighborhood. So he comes to my every now and again. He's there for Shabas and he says, "I saw your son by the Rabun taking the test." So, by the way, this wasn't the regular test because he already has the regular and then he has Rava and then he has Ra Moshav and this was to become Ravier and he um and I said, "Yeah, you know, he learned all he prepared for the test in Azan and the and the guy was just completely blown away because he's been sitting in Colo and uh and learning. He didn't realize how somebody can be an Azan and prepare themselves and so he took a number of tests from Aza from Lebanon and so on. So at some point they realized that he was actually a rabbi. They made him rabbi. I don't know how of of how large of the group it is, but they did make him the rabbi in uh in San Khanim of this entire uh area, but but but I could have the military person or I could have the religious person. And it seems to me that the roles of Yahushua on the one hand and pinat on the other hand are not the same role. That that that that's the important point. So therefore, my question, you know, reverts and is no longer a question. You say, "Hold it. Maybe he's Mishu." Exactly. Exactly. But I haven't spelled out to you yet what my uh what the disconnect is. And in order to do that, I just want to I want to ask you a question which will seem completely disconnected, which is the title disconnect. So my question will be disconnected as well. And no, we're we're in the three weeks. Yes. Yes. We're in the three weeks. And that's why touch we're we're in the three weeks. And one of the things that caused the destruction of the the beta mikdash first temple we're told is because But by the way, I asked this to my wife. She was driving to work. I'm driving or 10 minutes ago, whatever it was, 15, right before I got here. And she said, "Is this a trick question?" I said, "No." She I can't answer that question. How can I answer that question? So I said, "The Rambom seems to." And therefore, that's the only reason I would ask if the Rambam had not answered it, then I never would have asked it. I would have said, "These are the three worst ones." But by the way, what do the three have in common? Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments. There were all three in the Ten Commandments. And by the way, we don't like to put the Ten Commandments on a pedestal, right? Let's say no, you should don't put on the pedestal. All six 13 are the same. Yeah. Except for those three. I mean, it's not necessarily all the same. So, just just a thought about. So, which one does the Rambom say is the most What's a good word for this? Corrosive. >> You better say that. You better say that. Which the So, so the Rambam the Rambam clarifies this and limits the the what word do we want the scope of the analysis because he he limits it by saying on a societal level he said on a societal level the worst one is murder. murdered. He says murder is the worst one on a societal level. Which by the way leads you to another question. Gileayo. So let's leave Gileayo for a second. A vodara should clearly be a a front between a person and God, right? Murder should be an affront. What about sexual sins? they and let's assume that there's consent. Okay, we're not talking about Democratic candidates right now. So, let's let's assume that there is consent running for Maine. Okay, I I should limit that. I should not say all candidates. That's not nice. Being a Nazi is not a reason to be uh taken out. So, and the New York Times is a really interesting oped today. Unexpected. Yeah. Yeah. And I say that and people say I thought you don't read the paper. I don't want >> that's that's what it sounds like from the Ram as well that it's from the RA. >> The only question the only issue is which phone calls you make on Yam Kipper. That's that's the question. That's the question. So, so why >> how do we eliminate it? I didn't understand. >> Oh. Oh, fine. >> That's a really good question. I've asked it. I've given a whole share on this. If you don't know what he's talking about, he's talking about the Garinoma about the day that they finished building the second beta mikdash and they all started to cry and they say that the Yates is still among us and they identify the Yates of Vodora and that and that they pray to that on the other and then they get to a holder. We got rid of that. Then they start to get rid of they try to pray to get rid of the one for for Gileia Rayote and it says they they are somewhat successful because of all of the unintended consequences. So now you get to the question, hold it, but why didn't they pray for murder? And I think that brings you right back to the point of is that they don't realize that that's meaning the yates of that Yates is that it's not a Yates Sahara. Should I try that again? The Yates of that Yates Sahara is believing that it's not a Yates Sahara. Yes. Yes or no? >> That's why. Okay, one second. Let's try this again. Let's try Let's try this again. Nobody I don't Okay, I'm overstating this. People who are guilty of never think it's What do they think? They think I have a reason. So therefore, when you say the problem is probably should should be translated as disproportionate. It's not that there's no reason, you have a reason, but your response is completely disproportionate. So because you have a reason, that's the So therefore, you think you're justified. If I'm justified, so they're deserving and therefore I need to protect and they deserving of punishment and vengeance and so on and so forth. So therefore, you're not going to pray to get rid of sahara that you think is not a yates. You think that it's something which is justified. So therefore, I think it's really interesting to follow up on what direction that you were going in. I I have thought about this that the second temple specifically destroyed because of because they never prayed to get rid of the sahara. So it morphs into because that's what it is. That's the core of it. And therefore this the prayer not said ends up leading to the destruction that took place. But therefore but but I'm saying that that's the problem. See see the problem of the Sahara is identifying the Sara. Do you know the story about the now you'll feel like you're more in Bergenfield if I tell stories. Right? So so the so there's a there's a story about the that they say first of all there's a major argument how old was when he died. Did you know this? This is one of the reasons that they banned the book or they call the making of audition copy. Not only have the original copy or if Noah Wineberg once borrowed my original copy. He says what's and after he goes what's the big deal? I don't understand it at all. Anyway, one of the things it says in the book is that the Kazunish was wrong about how old the was. Why I need to believe in in das Torah that the saw the the's birth certificate I don't know but there is somewhat of a discussion how old the was when he when he died and there's a range there's a range how old he was and by the way most of us who knew our grandparents we know that our grandparents did not know their birthdays they right they they did not necessarily know what year they were born they they there were so many times that they shared so many different narratives about this. >> And no, no, just half of them lie. They just didn't always know which lie they were telling. >> But you have to but you have to because most people were born in their mother's bed. They didn't they didn't register the birth until much later on. And thank God you >> and you didn't always want to register somebody either. You don't want to register a marriage. You don't want to register a birth. You don't want to look. We go back. Draft dodging goes back in our people very for a very long time. >> Hi. Okay. So the story with the he was old. He was very very old. How old? I don't know. I don't want to say it because I I don't want to be put in but the was very old. And uh one day I think it comes like this. He uh he goes running to the first minion and whatever. And he tells somebody that he almost didn't make it to the shul. He goes, "Why?" He goes, "Well, I was laying in bed and I said to myself, Mayor," that was his name. I said, "You mayor, it's very cold outside. Roden," which by the way, we would never know. We would never would have heard of Roden had it was a little town which like it's it's like it's not even a stop on on on the drain. It's like you you you you never would have heard of uh of Rodin had it not been for the and small little town but cold and the winter and he says and it's cold outside and I'm old and I haven't been feeling well and uh maybe I need to rest a little bit more rather than running off to the first minion and uh and then I jumped out of bed and I ran to Shaw. So somebody who's listening to him says, "But you're right. You you know, you are an old person and if you're not feeling well, maybe you needed to lie in bed." He goes, "What happened?" So he said, "Well, my Yates is just as old as I am, and he was already working, so I figured that I had to get up also." Okay, so that's that's so so so that's the story. But but my response to the would have been, "And how do you know that that's maybe that was Yates to Yates is trying to kill you? Maybe told you to get out of bed and go running off into the thing and catch cold and die. Which means h how do you know which is the sahur and which is the 12? I I find that far more intriguing. But I'm saying that that's exactly the issue. Meaning there's sometimes in life that we know this is the sahara which is talking to me right now. And there's sometimes in life that you convince that yates is yates to and that's when you really get into trouble. So could we go back and ask my question which was not related to anything and that was which is the worst out of these three which is the what was the word I used? Say a good word. >> Corrosive society. Yes. Which is the most corrosive? So the Rambam claims that the worst one is murder because murder completely takes apart. So you live in a society that everybody's killing one another. So therefore there's no longer a society completely gets destroyed on on the other hand. So again I could be extreme and we can use different cases. I mean was hate ashberry so bad? I mean had a sh there right? the house of love and prayer. That sounds good and what they mean by love and what they mean by prayer. Yes. So again on a societal level you could argue yes that that really is bad but it's not as bad as as murder which is taking place. So now let me go and use that as the introduction to my next part is that we get to another section and that is in source number three in perh starting the same way that we had source number one when you cross over and into the land of again this is the conquest by the way I I skipped source two which is perlam which is saying make sure you have the conquest which is really a response to benet and ben ruin who want to stay on the other side it says in here you know instead no right I just went back to source number right you should go and you should and you should inherit this land and settle this land inherit is a great word because what does inherit mean that it's yours that it's yours via go inherit your land. This is your this is your legacy. This is this no must be I mean to capture something deeper than than merely financial this is your legacy via settle in it. By the way respons no capture it and then we're going someplace else. No, no. Capture it and settle there. So, we skipped that in source number two. Well, maybe we didn't skip because you just now read it. Now, it goes now when you cross over. First of all, the word is fascinating in this term because I always would have thought that indicates murder, intentional taking of life. There's difference between against ostensibly between and har I would have thought and I would have claimed that to kill somebody by accident is har to kill to murder somebody is rzak and therefore I'm I'm a little jolted by the terminology here when it says that the roaka so make up your mind if it's shog then it shouldn't But nonetheless, we have a really interesting terminology. He says he should run away and so on and so forth. And then it says and now you'll understand exactly my dual problem and you'll stay there until the death of the so we have then this is the disconnect it's like somebody you know if hill's g came here and said like while I'm standing on one foot can you explain to me para mas so what do we say in terms of uh of Judaism's value of life. What do you talk about the role of the cohane? Do do are you getting my my my question? Which means do we hyperfocus on vengeance? We go off to war and we wipe out everybody or as many people as we can. If we miss a couple people, especially the girls, wipe them out afterwards as well. And and then who leads the way? The cohen leads the way. How does the coin lead the way? He leads the way with the with the things which are normally connected to the beta mikdash things which are kesha. And then we're told on the other hand that if somebody kills even by accident then they should run away to miklat which means they can't stay there. You can't stay with society. Again we go back to our point. You can't stay with society and you stay there until the death of the cohenal. So we still have to work out what the cohen has to do with all of this. But I am noting then that I have two different sections. One is talking about the spilling of blood. Another is talking about the abhorance of spilling of blood. One talks about the how the Cohen Gudle perhaps leads or close to that leads them into battle. And the other one talks about how the death of the Cohen Dud will now cancel this sentence as it were and then the person can return back from uh from his wandering or from his mclut. So now you could tell me right now I'm okay with it. I don't understand your question. Anybody want to say that to me or you understand say I mean no but you understand what's troubling or or this doesn't trouble you at all which means you can >> but but you see you see why I'm troubled by this this we have two different sections and you could say your answer could be that I gave you that as a possibility before I started I talked about disconnect You can say, "Why would you think they're connected? What does one thing have to do with the other? They're completely separate. Are you satisfied with that now? You're not satisfied with that." Okay, good. Good. So, you're not satisfied that that that that's excuse me. >> Well, I'm certainly going to think about it, but I'm saying that that's what troubled me, but but I can say it again because that's the really the perfect analogy. Hillsgar comes in and standing on one foot and says, "Well, tell me what Judaism's attitude over here is to uh to human life or so on. And should I focus my world vision belt on child if you will? I I do have to prove every now and again that I did learn in Gush and I did learn by Raf Salvich. So I can by the way you know the secret why no one understands Robert Salvich's writings. Did I ever tell you this? I'm convinced that he did not write in English. It's English words but he went to school graduate school in uh Berlin. I'm convinced he's writing in German in his head. I I'm I'm convinced that all the sentences are German using English words in German and that's why we can't read it because none of us >> actually it's the but I think that's what it's the syntax of of academic German in English and that's why it doesn't resonate for us. Did I just now solve Rabbi Salvage for you >> because he didn't speak this way. He spoke beautifully. He spoke beautifully but he did he did not speak with that same type of uh highbrow again German 1930s academic uh writing. So but anyway so what's the bel what's the belt and chunk of Judaism? Is it that essentially that take vengeance and then go kill anybody that you can and and have the coin lead the way? Or is it that no, we are so sensitive to human life that even if somebody happens to kill somebody by accident, the world's not the same. You can't stay where you were, you must somehow leave and go to this pla place of uh of protection until the point that the kohhing dies. And that itself again is completely um fascinating. What does one thing have to do with the other? But again in both of these sections I have this role of the cohain which both of them we need to understand and in both of them I have then this almost inversion of value of human life which is this other element involved and that's why I said that when I looked at this just as the the the first response was wow there seems to be a disconnect between these two different sections and that could be the question and that could be the answer. question is there seems to be a disconnect and the answer is well no there's no connection but I'm not I'm not completely satisfied with that as a response in source number five and you didn't need five five just saves us some some trouble and this is he writes he just collects really here the should have been davening that such outrages don't place take place in his lifetime. By the way, the reason why that's interesting is because what exactly is the role of the Cohen sorry of Pinas when he goes out to war? I just want to go back to describe what he did. Take a look at again source one. said by the way we we paused there really talking a little and then I went looking what the claesh what's the rest of the so now you have to figure out well what exactly is the role of the wrote of tru so I I will just save you lots of time if you want to try to figure this out in source number 13 the around four lines down. We're not told initially why specifically these were taken and he goes go back and look at that's a that talks about taking the by the way. Okay that you can only use them where the shame is somehow there. By the way, it's not that people stayed home in Davend. The people who went out to battle had the Cohen leading them into battle and leading them prayer out on the on the battlefield. So again, that this native is interesting. You can follow up and look what the nitivid said in per hood. But the re I just wanted to focus this again now because what do we now see that there's this further parallel that you may not have noted before. Why is the cohen going out to battle with the katotzro in order to lead the the dotting which means the katotro over here of battle are not so different. They have to remember now to use this and uh I won't use it this year will I sh the first day we don't blow the chauffeur it's shabas this year but uh but you know you have to say something before they blow the chauffeur right rabbis are expected to talk then not too long but uh but um this is this is interesting because the blowing of the katzro are fit what's the purpose of the chauffar it is a typo right it leads the whole connection between and chauffar is one which uh is one which really needs to be analyzed, explored and so on. I can assure you that many including Rab Salv pages and pages trying to explain what exactly the connection is between the chauffar and the and the itself. We'll pause here for a second. But now you realize the Cohen Gudles death of the Cohen Gudle till then. Why? Because he's should have prayed. Go back to what Rostein said. He should have prayed that there will be no people that are you know killing by accident. Again that's interesting because now you realize it's really again it's a parallel between the prayer of the Cohen in both of these cases. He continues at the very end of the page again is that his work brings about I will remind you of something now brought about kapara right people were dying pin right do I need do we need to go back and look and it says that pinas then goes and kills and that stops stops the mifa means there's a mifa which is taking place a play which is taking place so then again there there is something here which is interesting is this enough yeah source six see this is why you didn't ask the question about because rashi didn't asked the question Rashi says why Pazar it should be Alazar already I'm not convinced you mentioned Mish muham m is not the co which means if the co right if is the co's no longer alive dead cohim can't serve because they're tummy maze okay >> I know I know I don't understand rashi >> I know I'm exactly I don't understand rash's question. So again, that's why we never process why not Yeshua because Yeshua is not introduced at all. So now let's see how much time we have left and uh what we can still try to accomplish. There is a turn of phrase in the Ramban which is going to be incredibly helpful for us. We only have to do one thing and that's find the Ramban. Source number nine. So, the Ramban is touching on something which is incredibly important and it gets out of control. And I'll explain to you what I'm saying. You have God giving Moshe instructions. Moshe then giving instructions to the people. Pinas leads the way. They come, they do what they do. They come back. And then you have questions. They can hold it. Why did you do this or why did you not do this? So now, where's the break in command? Which means, did God tell Moshe everything? That's, you know, I'm just looking at links in a chain. I'm not making any judgments. Did God tell Moshe everything? Did Moshe say everything that God said? Was anything left out? Was Moshe not told certain things? Right? Is there room for God said, "Okay, take revenge. You figure out how to do." Which means, how is Moshe adding anything that God didn't add? Do the people do exactly what Moshe said? And and again I I can keep on going along the way. Now some what's the whole problem here? The motion comes out. Hold it. What's going on over here? So now some people will blame Moshe. So again I have a bias. What's my bias? I like Moshe. That that's my bias. So so you'll look it'll mostly be postmodern approaches who are going to show how Moshe failed. Moshe didn't anything. We understand morality much more than Moshe did. And this whole thing over here is full of mistakes and so on. And therefore Moshe and again do I have to explain to you why I'm not going to go down that path. If you want to but uh I I don't uh it just does not resonate with me whatsoever. So again the problem is going to be where exactly is this disconnect? So I'm saying that's the space that the Ramban is moving into over here. And he said something really interesting along the way. Which means when we're supposed to go to war against them, what kind of war is this? No, we know there's a thing which is called Muhammed. We know there's a thing which is called Muhammed Mitzvah. There's not necessarily an agreement. We know there's something even in the Mishna called Muhammed. We know that there's a Muhammed. We know there's a Muhammed which means what kind of war kind of battle? What are we what are we facing over here? And then more importantly, so what exactly are the rules of engagement in this uh instance? Now, I wish that I would spend the rest of today trying to explain all those possibilities. I'm not I'm just telling you that there are different possibilities. But now you can read that Ramban again because that Ramban I think now became a little more interesting. Here the Ramban is saying Moshe did not completely say to them what they should do. And by the way, that's exactly reading the words. The Quran's not adding in commentary. He said, "Take revenge for God." And Moshe in his mind thought as a given that this will be the same as going to war against Amalik or against the Shiva Ahmed. So I want I want to stay with that for a second because that that's really interesting. If I'm able to now compare this war with the war of Amalik. So so let me pause again. You know we have different places in our brains that we put different things. So therefore we have questions of morality and then right you want another story it's not it's as a young person he was very troubled with uh the commandment to go out and kill amalik men and children on a moral level it it it bothered him and uh he ended up I mean you can read about this he's wr written about this and uh you can also read about his resolution of this I mean he also came to the conclusion that there are people far more moral than he is and they're found all that trouble. So therefore, is this true morality on his part or is he really just uh you know giving off some kind of a false sense of morality? But but I will say let's put it like this. It's the same God who tells us that we're created in the image of God, right? and to and and to make sure that every single human being has their dignity is telling us no in this case you have to go and you have to go to battle against lake and and for us it's easier sometimes you know the whole move which salvage sometimes quoted from his father in some places and sometimes he quoted from his grandfather and he was essentially labeling Nazi Germany very specific Nazi Germany as amal because if they are dedicated to killing every single Jew men and child so therefor have taken upon themselves the philosophy of Amalik and therefore they're treated as Amalik. So therefore if I were to say that you know you kill the Hitlers of the world because they want to kill every single Jew. So I don't think we have the same problem with this. It's almost fits into this category of that someone's going to attack you then you need sometimes to uh to take decisive action before they're able to uh attack you. So I'm saying we have this place in Arman. It's this other kind of question where there's this uh nice somewhat seemingly innocent member of an Amullik tribe that's a little bit more troubling perhaps. I've I've told this story before. There was a young woman who's probably a grandmother now, but she told me the story when she was single and a young woman who her father's and she ended up marrying somebody who's written and so on. But when she was single, very bright girl and uh she said that she went on a date with somebody and this was the shikh question, you know, on the shikh that he asked her. She said, "If you met this kid, he has a little kid, blonde hair, blue eyes, you know, seven-year-old who has a t-shirt says I'm alike on it, would you kill him?" So therefore, it's basically a trick question because if she says yes, then what kind of woman are you? If she says no, what kind of Jew are you? So essentially, uh it's it's a trap. And her response was twofold. She said according to the safer the mitzvah to kill a malik is only on the men not on the woman. So I would bring him to you. That was her and and I told her she's very sharp and she wouldn't go out with him again. So but I I I wrote a book in uh 2001 which is called einations. It's probably my least favorite book that I wrote. Right. I mean I can get you a copy if you if you want. I have a bunch in New York if anybody need anybody's in Long Island to get you a copy there really easily. So in it I have uh an essay which I've since updated and you can read it for free on my blog and that is the battle against a Mullik a question of race and you know is the only option killing a Malik and the answer is no. There are other options which is the Rambam is pretty clear that people from a malik can accept Mitz Noah and they no longer have a law of a malik they can they can convert to Judaism. They now have a long of of a malik which means a malik is a default until it changes. The default is God says oh these people want to kill you so they want to kill you then you but if they no longer want to kill you then they're no longer a malik. So I I want to go back over here the there is this space and the space is well what is the status over here by the way if you start to think about it during the battle of of Amalik. So what exactly does Moshe do? So you have Moshe and and Aon very specifically and Hor they go up to the mountain and they and Moshe is praying which means the same way that Pintas now goes out to pray so they pray. Now once I frame this into a possibility that this is kind of like an Amullik kind of battle which by the way they were about to they're about to open that door which means we have trouble that so many people are killed and and now you start thinking and they took so much cattle if this was a mullik you don't take any you don't take any of the possessions and then there are people left alive and hold it why are these women left alive now for us that's a moral question if I said no if I just changed the title no this isn't midy This is a malle. So now it just went to a different place in our brain and now we're able to process it a little differently. I I want to add something from the alik and then I'm going to hopefully say something interesting hopefully in the the al-sh is in source 15. It's long and it's worthwhile when you have nothing else to do to read through that alik because he he he does a lot of the midy versus moab question. Which Jews sinned in which elements over here? To what extent was this an affront both in terms of uh of isot and eventually we have this so so there are these various elements but he says something in passing which is around twothirds of the page of the way down the first there's a lot of bold in that paragraph they did two things one was guarding flesh causing the Jews seducing the Jews to sin in terms of the sexual sins. He also led them to be guilty of zar. So therefore again we have two of the three that they're leading us down that path which means we have the of remember as before you have so that they corrupted our bodies that they corrupted our relationship with God so therefore you need the two so it's not just as I labeled it in the beginning oh look how tender this is we're more concerned I mean you can still say it like that but he's pointing out that there's two different sins I'm going to say it again the alsh over here is really interesting which is a great cababalistic term which people always think is aidic term. Some people think that the balotani made it up. You have the alik long before saying it that he wanted to corrupt our souls which are a part of the divine. I'm going to come back to that I think in my limited time and it's the next couple of words which uh got meas had it not been for all of the Jews would have been dead which means that the attack of Midian was therefore an attack which is Amalik wanting to get rid of all the Jews in the world which means once they behaved like a malik now we treat them like a malik and and I I know people like to say this from I just put this together based upon this al and that raan is that rab says hold what kind of war is this is war so now all the rules completely changed and what we see over here is that it's someplace in between which means essentially the women who who were sexualized and what's a better word to use than sexualized, they were weaponized. The ones who were weaponized are part of that war effort. They're part of this destruction of the Jewish people. So those are the ones who were there now are part of that war effort. The others don't have a of minion because they're of a Malik because they're not involved in it. And I'll say it again. So this just now became a little bit more interesting because I think initially we did not know exactly which category to put this into. I want to go back just to finish up and to say something about the taking of life in the end of verse number three in again it's land oriented to get into the land somebody killed even by accident they can't stay there they need to leave they need to go to the mikl but that That doubling of the word. Does that doubling do anything for you? It should. It should remind you of something. The land can't take the spilling of blood. The land is holy. If you look in source number four, it's the same dual use of the spilling of the blood. By the way, this is really interesting. Why can't you commit murder? You can't commit murder. You can say because it's morally wrong. Because man is the image of God. Why am I allowed to do? Because there's a human use for it. Why can't I kill somebody? Because man is the image of God. An animal, I can't torture an animal, but an animal and a person are not the same thing. There's holiness over here. There's holiness involved in that human being. What happens if somebody kills even by accident the land of Israel? The land has holiness and therefore it can't tolerate this. The last move that I want to make is now going to go back to this issue of holiness and and and trying to connect the disconnect. It could be specifically that a society that has to fight to protect itself and has to go to war and has to battle and has to sometimes kill and it's all part of self-defense and self-defense sometimes requires us to be extremely proactive. And I'm saying that's that's the reality. And people who will preach to us are the kind of people who'd rather there be dead Jews to lament rather than live Jews. Okay? It's I hate to say it, but it's as uh it's as simple as that. And to be live Jews, sometimes we need to be proactive and to defend ourselves. But again, I may be guilty once one more one final time today of uh looking at today's world. I mean, what happens when you have a society where lots and lots and lots of people are walking around with guns? What happens at a society where uh you know, there are weapons and so on. So weapons go off, guns can go off, guns could be misused and so on and so forth. Which means I find it interesting that when I look at the two different sides, on the one hand, we need to go to battle and we need to protect ourselves and sometimes we need to be proactive and sometimes it's going to be something which is going to jar us on a moral level and and all that that does for us, it requires of us to find the moral category to put it into. So if I did anything which was elegant today, I said, "Yeah, I just now solved the problem." Why? Because I found the place that we can put it that that doesn't trouble us. Why? Because it's Hamal because they wanted to get rid of all us. They wanted to destroy our bodies and they wanted to destroy our souls. They wanted to destroy our relationship with God. They want to destroy our bodies in terms of Gile Rayote. And and and had it not been for Pinas, they would have killed all. So Pinas was acting as a Cohen. And he continues acting as that Coen. And now he's going to go and he's going to pray. And therefore the similarity between him and what the Cohen Gudle is supposed to be doing to be protecting the people becomes quite similar. And therefore, rather than saying, "No, these are two different sections, it's one which has to do with the other. You live in a society where sometimes we're proactive and sometimes we need a war, we need there to be an army and we need there to make sure that we're protected and we need to take care of ourselves. So therefore, we need to be careful and especially careful and even more careful in terms of that people don't get killed by accident in terms of that human life is not something which we become flippant about." Quite the opposite. If we are going to ever kill because we want to protect people, remember it. Human beings are in the image of God. Killing somebody is sometimes that's something is going to be something which is horrific but sometimes it's justified. Just because sometimes it's justified doesn't mean that we become flippant. No, we need to know that even the accidental death of somebody is something which is taken very seriously because there's this dual holiness. There's this holiness of the human being and there's this holiness of the land of Israel. And therefore we need to make sure that we're living lives of holiness. And we live in in such a complicated world then that therefore we need to sometimes go and protect and to fight in order to protect ourselves and our loved ones and our land which is holy. And on the other hand we need to make sure that values of the of spirituality and values of holiness are never lost along the way. It never can become just this militaristic society. It has to become a society whereby values of holiness but sometimes we need do to do things in order to protect that holiness. So I hope that the complexity of some of this is at least uh somewhat somewhat settled but yes I I I realize uh that the disconnect is real but I think that we're able to connect them.