The Number 42 and Lechem | Rabbi Baruch Taub | May 7 2026

two parot two pieces. So, uh we're going to start with the second page number three. Okay, we'll do this uh this first. This is from um I I I think I did some of this in a previous year from a different perspective, but it's could go through it again. It's very important, very basic. Um this is actually from my safer my Hebrew safer on the para confona but um is are there any science fiction uh people here? No. So you you uh have you heard of the um Douglas Adams wrote a book which became a movie which he then wrote five books right >> what hitchhiker's guide to the universe right and the whole per the book was what was that book about that the number is the the meaning of life the true meaning of life is the number 42 that's that's what it beca in the first three months the publication 1979 sold 250,000 copies, right? I don't know if I sold 250 copies of this safer in the first three years, but um [clears throat] they asked him, he was interviewed and they asked him, "How'd you get the number 42?" It was basically he said he pulled it out of a hat. He pulled it out of a hat. But what I want to do with you today is to show you that you know the Gomorra migillus says uh if if there's wisdom but believe that there's wisdom by by non-Jews, right? Somehow he had more than wisdom when he picked up number 42 out of a hat because is um a very special number for us. Um [cough] and I should [clears throat] say that in the 1990s Rabman Mandal Mishkll who was a Talmud of the V Negon uh they discovered a manuscript of a cafer that he wrote uh the thesis of which was that mathematics is is the underpinning of all the sodot of the Torah mathematics is is crucial to understanding how the raon's universe works and the Best example is that today is the 34th day of counting the omare numerology t makes it is is very basic very important very deep so there are two numbers that go together 42 and six okay this is not if you're bad at mathematics doesn't matter this is not really about the mathematics but I just want to show you how how this um how this comes about from this week's para so the First is if you walk in my my laws, one of these rashes is really talking about learning Torah, which is what we're doing. If you do the all these things, if you do all of these things, um you will be successful and God will shower. There'll be a shea of braha on the Jewish people. But this is all of course an introduction to the major portion of bhugai which is the anti- brahas right I hate to use the other word but the antibras which [clears throat] are said very softly right the balori reads them very softly um and was against that he says you know it's like uh you don't want to see somebody so you go like that right you're not really helping there's actually a story I don't know if I told you this story in past years Pardon me. >> No, no, no, no. That's another story. No, they um there was a a little village in they couldn't get someone to take the to have the aliyah to for the toa. You know the story? So uh anybody else know the story? I won't tell. They couldn't find anybody to take the nobody wanted to take the toa. In fact, there's a minute not to call up the person by name, right? And there's usually what happens is the balor takes the aliyah himself. So there was a guy they paid a guy like $5 to take the toa right and they didn't he doesn't show up in shu in the morning they're getting nervous zimmer they slow down chakras they slow down know what to [clears throat] do they try to get and he comes running in so they said what and he's said what what what took you so long so first I tell you what he said in Yiddish he said can can I make a living from one to he goes to different shs right. So um okay but in that on that para the oresh the orimakesh there are very few people who are called right he died I think he was 48 years old he was a great spartic god in north Africa uh his purish kish is >> [snorts] >> uh very very special in fact if you have a mikros it's always in the it's one of the essential par of the Torah. So on this puk he has 42 explanations of this one puk 42 explanations right so there there has to be a reason for it but I'll tell you a story about this very quickly about this 42 explanations in in the time of the orayim they used to Jews used to go into gullis you know what that mean it doesn't mean moving to America or right or London right but they used to go into gul go disappear here and and go from town to town like poppers to work on their character and they would sleep in the shul and they take invitations and these were great. Vil Neon went into Gollas. Now, you couldn't this couldn't happen today because just like they have baseball cards, they have gdole cards where they get a little piece of gum and you see pictures of you know, but in today's social media, everybody knows what everybody looks like, right? So, you can't do that anymore, right? But the orim did it and he went into golas and he gets to a town and he somebody invites him Friday night and they're eating supper and then uh the balab says okay we're going to the shul to the base medish the rabbi gives a shir and at night by the way in many many communities they learn orim Friday night and there are shim Friday night and orim right anyway so he says and the rabbis is going to be doing the fir it's part and he's going to be doing the first 14 answers to the uh question here. Um so they get to sh and the rabbi says I'm going to do the first 14 answer explanations of the of on the so there's a voice from the back yells out it's not it's vital this is this is him right so there's a little bit of stir there but okay they ignored it they did it next day shu goes for lunch the guy says okay we're going back to shul now rabbi continued rabbi says we're going to learn the next answers of the no it's okay they come back same thing they pick him up they say take him and lock him in my oat put him in the the oats the library and we'll figure out what to do with him after shabas this is this is ridiculous we might have to call a best here we don't know who is this guy finished the shir they make thunderstorm thunderstorm the sh was shaking shaking. The whole town was shaking and they said, "So the rabbi goes into his uh into his study and goes into his bodus and he has some kind of a vision and he's told that this thunderstorm will will stop as soon as the orayamish is released from your ozer." Right? So he came out and the thunderstorm stop. Now I don't know if the story is true, but they don't say these stories about you and I. So that's the story of the okay now. But why 42? What's the significance of 42? So let's go right to the source. There's a name of Boru called the shame mem base the name of the 42let name of God. It's the holiest name of God. It's the name that they used in the beta mikdash. And therefore uh when they said they didn't say amen afterward in the Ben mikdash they would say because of that that powerful name they had to say a powerful amen. Okay. So, let's look at the Gomorrah that talks about it's the Gomorrah talks about this name, right? Um, here's [clears throat] the Gomorrah. Um, Amar Yehudra, uh, Shame Ben Arbimot, the name of 32 letters. A 42 letters. See, I'm very bad at math. I can't even read. 42 letters. A mosimoto. That's only given to the people who have the following six traits. He's got to be modest, reticent, and and humble. Yamov, he's halfway through his life, you know, little bit of youth, a little bit of age. Doesn't get angry. He doesn't drink, doesn't have artificial highs. Almid do he doesn't stand on his own coveret if somebody insults him he doesn't say anything right anyone who knows this name and is careful with all of these qualities he is beloved above beloved below his fear and awe is people recogn recognize him and have tremendous offer him. He inherits both worlds. He has a good life in this world. He has a good life in the next world. Now, if you look up the Gomorrah, you'll see that Rashi says, "We don't know the name, right? We didn't we didn't learn it." Now, right? There are many places in shas where rashi will say um any maz I don't know what this is teaching us now uh you you have to realize that rashi we know who rashi was and if rashi says he doesn't understand there's a minefield there in that rashi a minefield in rashi remember until rashi rashi the gammora talmid was one long uh sentence of about I don't know 1925 pages. One long sentence. What do they call that in English? Not a >> what? >> A run-on sentence. Right. Rashi put periods and question marks and explanations. That's what Rashi's purish in Kumish and in in Shas in Talmas. So when Rashi says something like this, there's a minefield there. Okay. But that's that's the Gomorrah now. So you got 42 the name 42 and the person who can acquire it has six qualities. So the six qualities and the 42 come together, right? Shesh. Okay. So now we're talking about and and you see that he journeys. He's someone who is in he can live in this world and the next world. He's between the youth and between right. It's a it's a a it's a number. There's a number set of movement, right? Not just in a physical way, but in a spiritual way. Now we say kadosh kadosh kadosh. We said it this morning, right? We said it twice this morning in Shu, right? So there's three holinesses, right? So you have holiness in space, place, you have holiness in time, and you have holiness in man, right? Jewish people relationship to God, right? So Israel. So let's start with the journeys of Ben Israelbar in the desert. are you know the mas para's mas that's not this week's para but para's mas there are 42 places that the Jews went to in the desert not by accident right it's a complete journey right going through galos and coming to the Torah this obviously relates to the 42 name of God who shal Israel who was taking us, right? He was taking us when we were going from one place to the next. This name is used many times when we're going from one place to another spiritually, not just physically, right? Like we're going through the desert. That's physical, right? Now the way to understand this again is to develop those six qualities that the Gmorra mentioned. You can go from one world to the next. What are those? We'll see. We're getting we get it'll become very practical after the 42 journeys shisha ar miklot vod me alim the Jewish people were commanded right when they got into Israel even before they got into Israel to make six cities of refuge right somebody who accidentally killed somebody he saved right and 42 cities of the Levian. Now there were also ariklat. So you have six and 42 okay holy places to for life right. In fact when Moshe was commanded even before they went in there was an institution of the ar mikl. He was commanded to make three. Yoshua did the other three. Right. But but he was command and he rushed to do it. So why did he rush to do it mitzvah? You know, because Rashi says a mitzvah that comes to you, you got don't delay the mitzvah. You have to do it right away. But what was the mitzvah? The mitzvah didn't come into being until they came into it is so you can say that there's there's the two dimensions to the mitzvah of mikl. One is saving this fellow. The other is it represents kadusha, the sanctity of life, how much we value life. That's part of the mitzvah to see it to understand that there is such a concept even though it hasn't been it hasn't started yet. But that's what Mosha Rabbena was was busy with. Okay. Okay. Next paragraph. Now let's give some examples here with the three holiness three kadoshimal. This two number set 42 and six. You'll see that we travel, we travel, we Jews travel with these two numbers. How when we leave the world of materialism, the world of the weekday, we go into Shabasa. Shabas is six of then we say that paragraph anak which is a cabalistic a cabalistic prayer which is 42 words. It is really the shame 42 words. And that's why, by the way, if you count, you'll count them Friday night. When you're in shul, if you're in shul, you'll count them at home, you can count them also. Um, but you'll see the last line is right because you're saying amen to it, right? I think we mentioned that here. This is the reason the second column right? Okay, next paragraph. Okay, that's one journey, right? From into kadusha, right? Continuing our journey into Shabases. [snorts] Before kesh, we say six words. Very six words, right? There's your number six and it highlights six day as they say kdish. Kdesh is 42 words. Now you might find in some of you when you count there'll be more than but in a in a good sitter if they add those extra words they're in parenthesis because they're really not supposed to be there right they were added in by you know they say we say the in Yiddish the bakets the kid the the worker the guy who's doing the type setting so sometimes he say well this this is not the whole puzzle let me put the rest of the puzzle in right so but there's 42 words in the in so you got six and and 42. Okay. Uh where are we holding here? Um [groaning] okay. Oh, so now Okay. Next, next line. Now let's exit shabas. You exit shabas. So you know we sayd but the real is in in the we have a paragraph in the mar that we add into the braha for knowledge. Why is havdal in knowledge? Because the basis the essence of knowledge is to be able to distinguish to make differences right to understand right so in that there's a which is which is the official right so it's 42 words and with that with that we exit shabas and continue our journey into and take that shabas that kaduca into the weekday. Okay. So that's holiness in time shabas right now let's go the next one when we say every day we say it in the morning right we say it from from from night to day and we say it from from day to night and we say it day to day and we say it for the break of the day chakras and we also say it between to go into but it's also our relationship with so six words right and the first paragraph of is 42 words okay at Hamasar so You've got in space coming towards Israel going through the desert. You've got this and um and you've got it in time uh and you've got it in in the development of the human being spiritually having a relationship with Israel accepting upon ourselves the whole Torah. So here you have it right. This is what what was what was the thinking when he made 42 here, right? Because he he wanted to the Torah begins by telling us we have to go in the Torah, right? The way of in other words, you can't escape to it's everywhere, every place. every time, every situation. So you got the and the antias and you see how the world could change on us whether we do the right thing or we do the wrong thing. Right? So here you can learn a tremendous basic uh truth in serving God. in the most optimal situations, right? Even when things are bad, we got to do Torah, right? Even when we're excited to do, right? To meet it, we have to be constant and consistent in our relationship with every time, right? Life is a journey a long journey right and we have to worry that the name of God takes us in this journey and every stop that you take and every start that you take this is what the wanted to teach us. Okay, next piece. There will be a little bit of an overlap on ideas here, but this is from uh this now we're going from left to right here in this piece, right? The first column is on the left. We're going to start with a puk um from the toa. Okay. Uh this is important. It's basic to what we're going to see. This is a piece of Torah from uh the safer called noenda. No dea uh is a safer written by actually by the students of ravionis and David. Ravionus and David is the rashiva of yeshiva pakitzkak in harnov. Um he is the one and only son-in-law of ravutner and ravutner at the age of 70 when most people have already retired. Rafner came to Isro and started and built to have a yeshiva initro and became the rashiva. He is not well he needs a raffle. He's an extraordinary talum today and um you might have heard of his rabbitson. I've mentioned it in the past. Rebbitson David. Does that name mean anything to you? Rabbitson Bura David. She was the um the dean of BJJ which is the Harvard of Basyakov seminaries in uh in Eritis. Um she also uh has a doctorate from had a doctorate all show she had a doctorate from Colombia from Hunter College. This was Rafner's one and only child and uh she was some she was very special person in any case. So Ronison uh you'll see he's very deep. He's very we we're going to learn something from him something unusual. So it's gonna it's going to wrap around itself around this which is part of the to okay we're in the deep into the the to the anti right um so when I break for you the staff of bread in other words you're going to have bread like like a crippled person with a stick right you have to have bread right nashim The 10 women. So is mentioned once already. Now it's mentioned again. 10 women are going to break their bread in one oven. The third time again. And it'll be portioned out in little little bits. You'll eat and you won't be sad. You won't be satisfied. You won't you won't be full. Right? This is part one of the curses. Okay? So, we're going to come back to that in a minute. Why is it why is this important? We'll see. The Gomorrah talks about the mitzvah of kala. We know [clears throat] the mitzvah of is a very holy mitzvah. And um we we we take um for our in order to be eaten first we have to take a portion out and which we give to the kohanim. It's a portion for the but given to the kohanim to make the bread holy right the staple of life. Right. So the Gabbor discusses this Mishna discusses certain things that you don't do with because they're not really bread. So tan bonan okay this this ganim sponge bread sponge cakeim honey bread what things they made varin that's wafers uh hamas which is a kind of pan loaf baked in a panuma or wheat that is mixture of truma and tuma tame it's not 100% truma peturum mean you don't have to make you can't you don't have to make from this this you don't have to take it's cake it's not it's not bread right my what's this R Yeshua Rab Yeshua Ben Ley says it's made by people it's not by made by a professional baker it's made by private bakers and it's like scalded bread scalded bread kalot kalot No, it's made in a frying pan. Said that you if it's made in a frying pan, it's bread. But the ones that you can't use, the others, they're they're sunbaked. They're sunbaked, right? You know, that's what people used to do. I mean, I remember as a kid, we used to go outside with a magnifying glass and boil an egg on the sidewalk. I don't know if I ate it or not, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you. But that's what when maybe in your time you didn't do that maybe you did rashi rashi explains it's not love who is only something baked in an oven right so now he takes a from the Torah to prove that what's the takes our in the curses your bread will be baked in one oven. Now how many pukim there are in the Torah about lemim and I would suspect that there is even a pik that relates to a tanor although I can't tell you for sure but here you have a p with three four times le is mentioned in this part of the and the source of kala the source of the of how you make kala which that crucial mitzvah of kala of life right making bread edible is is from the and that's what's that's what's bothering him. Okay, it's a great question. We have to understand, right? I'm going to have to skip this. We got it right. You got this paragraph. The last line, what's the connected? What's the connection? What's the nexus between and right? Okay. So, let's go. He says, let me give you a little bit introduction as we get into this. Why is the mo main staple of our life that we we live on called? What's the origin of why? Okay. according to right the whole purpose of life our whole life we go through life whether we whether we whether we deal with it or we don't deal with it it's a fight it's a it's a battle think of somebody on a diet right their diet or stopping to smoke or or whatever the person, right? It's a battle. Do I do the right thing? Do I do the wrong thing? Right? Am I going to do an a am I going to do a mitzvah? All of life is a mil. The word leim is the source of the word mil. Life is a battle, right? And and that life and the the the leim gives us the strength to fight that battle, right? It is it is what uh ch it It energizes the body and gives us the strength to connect with our soul. Therefore, the source of our biggest that's our weapon. That is our what is it? F25, whatever the plane is, right? That's what we have. That's our big that's our weapon, right? Okay. Next. Um now don't go to V go over to the column to Gimmel go to the right hand column now we can understand the argument of the angels going to a Gmoran shabas a famous Gmoran shabas the Gmorrah says God's giving the Torah to B Israel and the angels are upset why are you giving the Torah to Yalam give it to us we're mal give it to us. So turns to Moshe. He says, you answer them. You answer them. Right? So Moshe says to them, you know, you're not human. Angels are not human. Right? Do you have a Yates? You never do anything wrong. You're never challenged. We aren't. You're right. We are you lead is we are human beings with all with all the negativity that a human being has. Right? So that's why the Torah is given to us, right? So he quotes here a little bit from the Gmorrah that's what the angel is saying you etc. What are you giving it to me? The the world of the temporal world, the physical material world is a world of of forgetfulness. They don't take things seriously. It's forgotten. That's why a person is after life is he's gone. It's by the way a very um powerful I don't want to it's a little depressing but there's a very powerful poem of Rab Yehuda Halevi about that a person is forgotten after death right it's you know get get busy with your life in this world so you won't be forgotten okay on the other side where we live the angels say who initi it's a very it's a spiritual it's a it's eternal which everything is remembered. It's a world of eternality. Don't give the Torah to um to human beings, right? Um, by the way, this superiority that they were putting forth and the inferiority that Mosha Rabenu argued with, Moshe won the battle because we say that Malim are they can't do anything wrong, right? There there there's a robotic robotic commitment to the Rabon. Our purpose in this world is to to get to the maybe close to that point, but to work for it, right? We are we are not we're Jewish laws called because it's the journey. It's we eat the so we can walk right and do the properly and get where we're supposed to go right. So um that's why you know I pointed out in the past that the you it's a gmorra but he brings it in the you have to have for is because he quotes a that they're compared to malim they're male so the rabbis are malashem now do you ever meet a rabbi that's an angel right probably not Right. But so what does it mean that that are angels? What's an angel? An angel's omade. He he doesn't he takes what the tells him to do and he gives it over. He has a misor from Mosher Rabeno to Yeshua to Zakanim to Nim etc to this rabbi to that rabbi you know my rash of rudimental he used to be pride himself that he was fifth generation from the vagona. His smika was fifth generation of the vagona. So what what we when a a rabbi proper rov says is asked a question he doesn't deviate right he can't he can't he can't make something up he can't reform right if you reform it you're not a malik anymore that's what it means he's a malik he's a malik he's a faithful servant of a and he gives over the Torah okay so here let's go um we got to get to our point here so oh my gosh okay So that okay next take this now let's take this a little further now let's look at the curse that we were got we got the first Adam was cursed right what was it after he sinned you will have to eat your bread with the sweat of your brow. Now, we now have a little bit of a sophisticated understanding of what the Rabon told him, right? Life is going to is going to be complicated for you. It's going to be complicated because you have opened up the the the the world of the hor. And now the hat and the hor is it's mixed up within you now that you ate from the that's essentially explains what happened here that there were two separate things. There was the answer but now it became mixed up and we have to figure out how to untangle it right etc etc etc and then you are dust and you're going to return after 120 years you're going to return so how are you going to fight that battle that with in this world right What what the God is saying to Adam is the the battle the whole lifetime battle we have of defining who am I who am I that's the we're in who am I that the gives us that strength to fight that battle right That's why the mentions this that's the whole thing is about you know what did he answer him uh the Gmorrah says that he answered him no you mean me and my donkey are going to eat from the same trough right but that's what he has to do and but he has to become a human being and and rise from that when you return until you the last until the end. It's a battle until the end because then the is separated from the goof. If a person merited and he established the fact that his his spirituality was in charge of his physicality and for the body became holy it's now combined. There's a synthesis now between the body and the soul. and death are called living. It's God forbid the other way around right in their lifetime are called dead people. You know we say in tim in hal you say right you remember we the normal translation of that don't let me die but let me live but the word ki has four meanings it has another meaning this by the way in the first that was published one of the of the balmto So first the series of say republic he says this word and um it's also key can mean when so what is what is milk saying don't let me die while I'm living dead man walking don't make me into a let me not be a dead man walking Incredible. But that's that's right. So now final we'll do hey now we can talk about the bread. So when we have to question why did the Mishna in discussing the law of kala the the the holiness of bread of le which we say is from the word mil it's the the the the battle of the of life who are we right uh why is the tens and hundreds of why is the taken for kala from the he says because this idea of is not studi it's not a ps it's not an addendum them. It's not just one of 90s something curses. It is the essence of the curse and the blessing. It's that the it's at the it's at the the the it's the fulcrum of whether you go with the bra or you go with the anti but now what we asked before how can you learn from this from this but this is bread as we said it's the revelation of This a person can go to the highest heights a life of goodness all the in the para. Therefore, we understand why the law of the essence of kala is learned from this of of which is mentioned three or four times in that one in the is the essence of the if you don't fight the battle properly then all of the calls will come to