Parsha Perspectives for Today (Behar/Bechukosai)

Okay, good morning Boca Tova. Thank you for joining us. Sorry for the delay. Still trying to figure out the technology. I want to thank our sponsors for the series partial series of the entire year. Our dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father David Grossman a very special man. We learn David Manash our learning of partials two and this morning should be in his memory. Should serve to elevate his beautiful soul. We have the privilege as I said of learning two partials today Bahar and Bechukotai. We'll see how far we get. A lot of thoughts, a lot of ideas we want to get through in both. And with it we'll end the book of Vayikra. Torah Kohanim, the story of the laws of the Kohanim. And it's hard to believe that this is the second chazak that we're saying in quarantine. The second book that we're finishing without hearing kriat hatorah together. It's hard to believe. Unfortunately it's painful to believe and yet is the reality that we are confronted with. Parshat Bahar is in the Artscroll Stone Chumash on page 696. And the parsha begins by Hashem to God by Hashem to Moshe. Hashem to God spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai. God spoke to Moshe at Har Sinai. And so on. And then it proceeds to tell us the laws of shmita. When you enter the land six years you work, the seventh year is a sabbatical. The seventh year you rest and so on and so forth. And of course the question is begged. Why shmita at Har Sinai? As Rashi quotes what in the world does shmita, the opening law of this week's parsha, what does it have to do with Har Sinai? All Torah and mitzvot were given at Sinai. In fact all of Torah and mitzvot were given at Sinai. So why is shmita singled out here? Why is shmita isolated that this was given at Har Sinai as opposed to as opposed to the other mitzvot? As Rashi concludes as just as shmita its general laws, general theme, its general essence and idea as well as its particulars and details were all given at Sinai. So just as shmita what we're going to learn all the big picture of shmita as well as the details of shmita it was all given at Har Sinai. So just as shmita what we're going to learn all the big picture of shmita as well as the details of shmita it was all given at Har Sinai. So too all law is given at is given at Har Sinai. The um The Vilna Gaon says there's something more going on here. And it's telling us the following. He doesn't say this at the beginning of Parshat Bahar. He says it at the very end of Parshat Bechukotai where the Torah ends the book of Vayikra by invoking again the image of Har Sinai. These are the mitzvot that God commanded Moshe to communicate and transmit to the Jewish people where at Har Sinai. So Parshat Bahar opens with Har Sinai. Parshat Bechukotai ends with Har Sinai. It's as if it's two bookends that capture our two partials. So why why the emphasis on Har Sinai here when the truth is all Torah was given at Har Sinai. So the Vilna Gaon says the following. The Vilna Gaon says Har Sinai reflects the notion of modesty of humility. And that is a prerequisite to receiving the Torah. The arrogant egotistical person who thinks they have all the answers and thinks that they have all the explanations and thinks that they can struggle with the Almighty can't receive Torah. To truly receive Torah and have Torah be impressed upon our hearts we have to be a tabula rasa blank slate. And Torah has to shape and mold our perspective, our hashkafa, our impressions. But a person who's arrogant and egotistical who thinks the Torah should conform to what they believe cannot authentically and genuinely receive Torah. And therefore the prerequisite to receiving Torah and to observing mitzvot for that matter is the capacity to practice humility. To understand makir es makomo, to see our place in our place in the world. So Har Sinai is a hint to anava. As it says mitzvot should say Hashem. It says it's connection. The purpose of mitzvot and Torah is mitzvot to be mitzvot it means a connection, a bond. It means the Jewish people and Hashem are connected how? Through his mitzvot. The truth is in every area and every arena of our lives and all of our relationships, husband wife, parents and children, friends, colleagues, in every area of our lives when we ask something of the other and they're willing to meet and fill and fill that need of ours that creates connection. When a spouse asks of another spouse, do you mind, would you, can you please? And each is compromising and giving to one another that is exactly what creates a sense of connection, a bond between the two. So mitzvot not in the form of a command. I demand you. I I coerce you or I force you. But mitzvot means here's my need, here's my request, here's what I'm asking of you. And your willingness to fulfill it is what creates the sense of a connection. When are you willing to fulfill it? When you're willing to suppress or when you're willing to minimize or when you're willing to compromise, concede your need or your control or your power. So implicit within mitzvot and connection the notion of a command of responding that yields a sense of connection implicit in there is the humility, the anava that's represented by Har Sinai. All of Har Sinai is anava. Just like water flows to the lowest common denominator, Torah is likened to water. We couldn't go three days in the desert without water. We can't go three days without we can't listen to Torah but without learning Torah. And just as water flows down so too Torah flows down. If we think we are above, superior to Torah, it doesn't flow up towards us. But the Vilna Gaon goes a little bit further. And he says in fact that is all included in the word Har. Har Sinai or rather the word Sinai. Har Sinai actually communicates this tension, this balance between two separate things. And listen to this other section. Har reflects haughtiness, feeling elevated, superior. You climb the mountain. You ascend the mountain. The mountain is high. The mountain has a peak. The mountain is is above. Sinai is the lowest of all the mountains. We all know we were taught as children that Har Sinai why did Har Sinai merit that the Torah was transmitted on it? Because Har Sinai is the lowest of all the mountains. Every other mountain said give it on me. I'm tall and I'm broad and I'm large and I'm impressive. And Har Sinai said I'm just a modest little mountain. And therefore God said that modesty, that humility of Sinai therefore earned it. The Vilna Gaon says it's a hint to anava. The mitzvot should be with anava and sometimes we have to know when it comes to mitzvot sometimes we have to act with humility. Sometimes we have to carry ourselves with modesty. And other times a person has to have a certain sense of arrogance. So the Vilna Gaon says we have to realize that it's beneath us to speak a certain way or act a certain way or dress a certain way. That's not arrogance, it's confidence. So the Jewish people our mission and mandate is to find that balance between confidence, not arrogance, but to know that we are the children of royalty. We're princes and princesses. Certain behavior is beneath us. It's beneath us. We have to have a certain sense of pride on the one hand and you have to have humility on the other. And therefore the Torah was given on Har Sinai just like shmita was given on Har Sinai. So too the whole Torah was given on Har Sinai. What does it mean the Torah was given on Har Sinai? It means the Torah was given in that space in the balance between sometimes feeling with a Har, sometimes feeling that we have to know who we are and what is beneath us. And sometimes feeling like a Sinai, realizing we're the lowest of all the mountains. And therefore we have to carry and practice ourselves with a little humility. The Vilna Gaon says this is the meaning of the opening of Pirkei Avot. The Torah that says Moshe received the Torah at Har Sinai. He gave it to Yehoshua. Yehoshua to the elders and so on and so forth. Shouldn't the Mishnah say Moshe received the Torah at Har Sinai? it say Moshe received the Torah from Sinai? He received the Torah from Sinai. Because what it means is Moshe understood that just like Har Sinai merited to accurately and authentically receive Torah because of its humility, Moshe understood and Moshe was the most humble of all men. Moshe understood that the prerequisite to accurately and authentically receiving Torah is practicing humility and modesty. He didn't just receive the Torah at Har Sinai, a geographical location. The Mishnah is not just telling us the coordinates of where the Torah was given. But Moshe received the Torah from Sinai. He received the Torah of Sinai, namely the lesson of practicing humility and modesty. He didn't just receive the Torah at Har Sinai, a geographical location. The Mishnah is not just telling us the coordinates of where the Torah was given. But Moshe received the Torah of Sinai, namely the lesson of practicing humility. Sinai, he received the Torah of Sinai, namely the lesson of practicing humility. So the very opening possuk, "Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe b'Har Sinai leimor", and Rashi asks me, "Mah shmitah etzel Har Sinai? What does one thing have to do with the other?" The justice was all given at Har Sinai. With shmitah, so too the details of all Torah and mitzvot come from Har Sinai is a reminder to us as the vision of the Rebbe of this balance between har and Sinai. We should see ourselves as great, as worthy, as capable, as confident as the children of Hashem, that it's passul to not observe Torah and mitzvot as beneath us on the one hand where we're a har, and on the other hand, we're a Sinai. We have to learn that lesson and practice that sense of humility. What is this mitzvah of What is this mitzvah of shmitah? What is this mitzvah given to us? "Daber el Bnei Yisrael v'amarta aleihem, ki tavo'u el ha'aretz asher ani nosein lachem, v'shavsa ha'aretz shabbat laHashem." When you come to that land and you conquer that acquire that land that I'm giving you, "V'shavta ha'aretz", the land needs to observe shabbat. We keep shabbat. We count six days, "Sheshet yamim ta'avod u'masita Six days we work. Work is not a concession. In Judaism, work is a value. It is an ideal. We'll get to that at the beginning of the "Chukosai", "she'tiyu ameilim baTorah". The notion of "ameilus", of toil, of work, of effort, that process is not just a concession. It's not really I want the result. I wish I could be born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I wish I won the lottery. I wish others would support and provide me. Really, I want the result. I have to do the work. If nobody wrote me the check, if nobody supports me, if I don't have the silver spoon in my mouth, what can I do? I have to get up and work. No. Even if you have privilege in your life, nevertheless, "Sheshet yamim ta'avod u'masita malacha." Work is not a concession. In Judaism, work is a value. Work is an ideal, and I dare say, work is a mitzvah. It is a noble, righteous, and religious activity. "She'tiyu ameilim", that a person has to exert and express and the "Kivshuha", go conquer the world, understand it, learn it, manipulate it, maneuver it, and conquer that world. However, as much as we are uh mandated, and as much as our mission is to mold and shape Hashem's world, to repair it, to improve it, to interact, to engage it, nevertheless, we also have to know when we are when we're done, when we need to rest, when the land needs to rest, and when we need to rest. And that is the essence of shmitah. We'll get to it in a moment. But the possuk introduces it by saying "Ki savou", when you enter the land, and which land? "Asher ani nosein lachem." It is the land that I am giving you. And the Rav Nachman of Breslov, the Heiliger Breslover, wonders, why does it say, "Asher ani nosein lachem"? Why does it say the land I'm giving you? What should it say? "Asher nasati lachem." This is the land that I have given you. Hashem made a promise to Avram, the "Bris Bein HaBetarim". He told him, "I'm giving you this land." In "Seder Snippets", we're up to "Vayivarech David", the second half of "Atah Hu Hashem", and we're learning "Becharosi mo bris". Hashem made a bris with Avram, and he gave him the land of the of the all the nations that were living, the Canaanite nations living on that land. Hashem expelled them, "Vayakimosee osam". He fulfilled his promise to Avram. He fulfilled that bris. Ah, isn't it stealing it from those other nations who had been dwelling there? The answer is the opening Rashi on all of Chumash. Hashem created the whole world, it's his, and he allocated that land for us from the very beginning of time. They were living there temporarily. They were essentially squatters, and it was time for us to take that land back. "Becharosi mo bris". Hashem made a covenant with Avram. So if he made the covenant with Avram, shouldn't the possuk say, "Asher nasati lachem"? When you enter the land I've given you. Why does it say, "Asher ani nosein lachem"? We're reading this in 2020, in "Tav Shin Pei". Why are we still reading "Asher nosein lachem"? And the Heiliger Breslover, Rav Nachman, says the following most beautiful idea. He says, "Bechol yom", when a Jew walks in Israel, when a Jew merits to live in Israel, visit Israel, please God, soon in our time, "Bechol yom hu margish b'ta'amim chadashim u'ne'imim va'arevim". Va'arevim. A person needs to feel the sweetness, taste the beauty, receive the bracha. "Kol yom matok v'na'im mikodmo." Each day it's sweeter. Each day it's more pleasant than the day before. And therefore, a person never ever takes Eretz Yisrael for granted. Ever. It's not the land "Asher nasati". Ah, he gave it to us. 1948, the Six Day War, Yom Kippur War. Ah, we fought our wars, it's ours, it's ours forever. And therefore, it's "nasati", it's given to us, and we can take it for granted. Says Rav Nachman that this parsha is introducing us to the notion that when you enter that land, the mentality, the perspective that you have to maintain is "Asher nosein lachem". That every day it's as if he's giving it again. Never take it for granted. Never assume it will continue to be there. Always live at the miracle that it is and realize "Asher nosein lachem". He continues to give it to us and to provide us that enormous, incredible bracha each and every day. We recently recognized that when we celebrated Yom Ha'atzmaut. Soon we'll be celebrating Yom Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh is not not not "nasati", I gave it. It's "Asher ani nosein", to continue to feel it's being given with love, with affection, with sweetness and pleasantness each and every day, and more and more each and every each and every day. We continue. "Sheshet yamim tizra sodecha v'sheshet yamim tizmor karmacha v'asafta es t'vu'asa." Six years you plant, six years you plant your vineyard, and then you gather your produce. "U'vashana hashvi'is shabbat shabbason yihiyeh la'aretz, shabbat laHashem." It of course is a sabbatical year. And your field you can't plant, and your vineyard you have to uh lay fallow. It's very interesting to note, very important to note, that the Torah here is employing the very same language for shmitah that it does for shabbat. Sabbatical is the sabbatical of the yearly cycle. The shabbats of the weekly cycle of days, and of course shmitah is of the yearly cycle, and its goal is to accomplish the very same thing. To be able to step back and to realize what is ours, what's not ours, what are we in control of, and what are we not in control of. The Torah here calls shmitah "shabbat shabbason". And here Rabbi Soloveitchik in the "Ohr HaChumash" writes the following. "The idea behind shmitah and yovel is that man does not truly own anything. The use of the term shabbat for both the seventh day and for the seventh year is not coincidental. What is the common motif? To keep shabbat is to bear witness that Hashem is the creator. Man professes faith he is the not he is the creator, not in the homiletical sense, but in the halachic sense. A shabbat violator is considered a "mumcheh l'chol haTorah". One has violated the entire Torah because he denies the authority of Hashem over creation. The same motif applies to shmitah. It is a restoration of the authority of Hashem and the proclamation of God as the creator and the maker. The prohibition of 39 forbidden categories of work involve an extension of one's authority through productive work. Shabbat violation includes only "malachos machsheves", intentional actions that result in constructive work. "Mekalkel", "mekalkel", destructive acts are permitted. They don't demonstrate authority. Shmitah is referred to as a shabbat because like shabbat, it's a day of surrender. Shabbat, shmitah, and yovel all involve the surrender of authority to the true owner. So six days, go, study, learn, conquer, manipulate, invent, innovate, entrepreneurship, control the world. And then lest you think you're really in control, lest you think that you really invented and created it all, it is so incredibly important to every now and then rest, to refrain, to abstain. We're act act act, and then be passive. Be at peace with nature. Stop trying to control and manipulate it. Realize that it and we all serve the same master, namely Hashem. It is all his, and he is the one in control. So essentially, what Rabbi Soloveitchik here is saying, and what all the meforshim elaborate on, is that shmitah is an exercise in emunah. The whole essence of shmitah is an exercise in emunah. It's what it's really all about. It's what we're trying to achieve. An exercise in emunah. The ability to be submissive, the ability to be passive. And perhaps this is another explanation of the connection between shmitah and Har Sinai. The "Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh" here asks, how did Rashi answer his question? Rashi asked, "Mah shmitah etzel Har Sinai?" What is the connection between shmitah and Har Sinai? And then Rashi answers, it's the model or the archetype of all mitzvot. Just like our parsha continues by giving a broad principle specific details of the mitzvah, the principles and details of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai. Asked the "Ohr HaChaim", how did he answer the question? Shmitah is the model of the mitzvot, principles and details are given, but the question was, why is shmitah chosen as the model, as the example, as the archetype or prototype? And he didn't answer that. He didn't answer that. So the "Ohr HaChaim" gives an answer to why Rashi did answer, but I want to suggest to you a different answer to you this morning. By a show of hands, and you can't really I don't see everyone simultaneously, how many people here have been to the the Kotel, the Kosel, to the base of Har HaBayit, on Har HaBayit, whatever you call it? How many have been there? Probably almost all of us, if not all of us. How many have been to Har Sinai? I'm going to guess none of you. We're not even exactly sure where Har Sinai is. Josephus and other Jewish sources identify it with some location in northwestern Arabia, east of the Red Sea. Others say it's in the Sinai Peninsula. We're not even sure exactly where Har Sinai is, let alone is it a major tourist location of the Jewish people or of any people. So here you have Har HaBayit, you have the Kotel we all go to. You can't go on a trip to Israel. You can't make it through your first day there without making it to the Kotel. And Har Sinai, where the Torah was given, and we're not even sure exactly where it is. Why is that? So there's a fundamental difference between the two. Rabbi Soloveitchik explained that one of these mountains retained its sacred status permanently, and the other was only temporary. Why? We celebrate to explain that Kedusha Kedusha sanctity is not a function of a geographic location. Rather, Kedusha is the result of human input, of human service, of human endeavor, of human commitment, of human effort. Kedusha doesn't come upon us. Kedusha we have to begin with acts of Kedusha, which we'll explain in a moment with Shabbos. Har Sinai was only sanctified with temporary sanctity only as long as Hashem was there because Har Sinai was top-down. And Har Habayis is bottom-up. Har Habayis is a place of avodah. We go there for service. We go there for worship. We go there to act. We go there to do. We give. We do. Har Sinai is top-down. Hashem bestowed. He gave. He gifted the Torah to us. We were passive spectators, essentially. And therefore, Har Sinai reflects the notion of being able to be submissive and passive. And maybe that's the connection between Shmita and Har Sinai. For 6 years, we go to Har Habayis. We work. We make effort. We toil. We do. We're of service. But the seventh year, we return to Har Sinai, passive and submissive. And we recognize that it's top-down with emunah. It all comes from Hashem. Maybe that is the connection of the theme of Shmita and Har Sinai. This duality. Sometimes top-down, sometimes bottom-up. Shmita and Har Sinai have this beautiful connection together. So, Shmita is an exercise in humility. It's an exercise in emunah. In that seventh year, you can't work. In that seventh year, you're not patting your pocket. In that seventh year, you're literally relying exclusively on the Ribono Shel Olam, on Hashem. I've been I've been quoting to you a beautiful sefer Eish Tamid, which is Rabbi Zalman Auerbach, a great Rosh Yeshiva in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. He gave me beautifully inscribed this beautiful set of sefarim, which really has magnificent insights into Divrei Torah. And here he talks about the following. Again, why is Shmita the one that's chosen? He is bothered by the same question as the Or Hachaim. Rashi asked, "What does Shmita have to do with Har Sinai?" And when he said, "Just like its details and principles are all from Har Sinai, so too all mitzvos." So, but why was Shmita the one chosen to teach us that lesson? Why not any of the other 612 mitzvos in the Torah to say, "Just like its details and principles, so too all Torah and mitzvos." So, listen to what he says. "Amisah kibluha Torah b'Har Sinai v'omru chazal b'Nachulta." Chazal, our rabbis, teach us in the Medrash, "Lo nitna Torah ela l'ochlei hamon." The Torah was only given to those who eat manna. "Im kein, yesh na kesher yeshivah bein anashim u'veheimah bein ish u'veheimah bein adam u'veheimah man b'midbar kol hayavim shanah bein zeh shezocheh l'kabel es haTorah." "Tzarich lomar mah inyan zeh eitzel zeh." What is it about the fact that they lived off the manna, the manna descended from heaven, that made them positioned best or most eligible to receive the Torah? "Tzarich lomar." So, he says it answers the following. "Dor hamidbar chayu b'emunah p'shutah. Shikol ha'aretz l'Kodesh Baruch Hu lo ya'avduhu lo omer lo omer lo omer lo omer lo omer lo omer lo The most authentic way to learn Torah is to realize the whole world is Hashem. Whatever I have comes from him. He provides. He gives. He sustains. He gives what we need, no more and no less. And then you're ready to receive the Torah. When you're competing with Hashem, when there's a power struggle with Hashem, then there's not enough room for you both. You can't accurately or authentically receive or learn or live his Torah. So, what does it mean the Torah was given to the ochlei hamon? It means those who lived off the manna in the midbar, they knew. They knew that it wasn't their parnassah. They knew it wasn't their genius, their innovation, their entrepreneurship. They knew it was all from Hashem. So, only the ochlei hamon, only those who have a mentality that whatever I have comes from above, he is in charge, he is in control, I'm utterly and entirely reliant and dependent on him. Only those with the mentality and attitude of ochlei hamon can truly receive the Torah. And that's what he says is the connection between Shmita and Har Sinai. Because what happens in that year of Shmita? What do you live off of? You're back to having the status of the ochlei hamon. In that year of Shmita, when you can't work your field and you can't draw in your income and parnassah, but you're utterly and entirely relying and dependent on Hashem, you're back to the status. It's a throwback to the midbar. To having the status of the ochlei hamon. So, just like chazal said to begin with, "Lo nitna Torah ela l'ochlei hamon." So too with Shmita. You're back to having the status of being ochlei hamon. You can't draw income. You don't know where your next paycheck's coming from. You're relying on and you're turning to and you're depending on Hashem. And now you're ready to receive the Torah. And that's why Shmita was chosen as this paradigm from which to derive this lesson and this law. And then he goes on and he explains, I think so beautifully, this is the connection to the continuation of the of the parsha, he says. What happens in the continuation of the parsha? After Shmita, we have the laws of ribbis. After Shmita, we have the laws of how we lend. Of how we lend. So, "U'shnas hayovel hazos tashuvu ish el achuzaso." In the Jubilee 50th year, land returns to its rightful owner, its ancestral owner. "V'chi simcha mimcha u'mimcha kanumya u'mimcha o'tonu ish el ish achiv." And then we're introduced to this law that you're not allowed to extort your fellow. When you're selling, uh you're not allowed to overcharge. "V'mispar hashalam acharei hayovel tichmenu es amitaso." And it's it's interspersed there all of a sudden in the middle of this law. So, what in the world is that doing here? And then we get into the law of ribbis, of charging with interest. What are these financial, business, interpersonal, commerce laws doing right with Shmita and with yovel? What does one thing have to do with the other? So, listen to what Rav Druck says. He says if the whole essence of Shmita is an exercise in emunah, to realize that what we have comes from Hashem, that it takes us back to when we were included and characterized as the ochlei hamon, it takes us back to a time when we realized that it all comes from Hashem. If you realize it all comes from Hashem, then you'll earn your income ethically and morally and honestly and with integrity. You're not going to extort and you're not going to overcharge and you're not going to pressure and charge interest to another. But rather, you'll do all your business dealings with honesty. If you live with emunah, and you know that what you have you're meant to receive, and you know that you can't, no matter what you do, get more, and you're not going to have less, that what you have is what's been determined is best for you from above, then you're not going to cross the line uh morally, ethically when it comes to business matters. And that's the connection between the laws. That's why they appear here in succession and even interspersed. "Lo l'chinam." He says, "Ashrei yelud ishah she'nishal lo adam k'shemagi'a l'olam ha'emes v'omrim lo, 'Din u'vecheshbon shel ha'borei olam.'" It's not a coincidence. The first question we're asked when we come upstairs, "Nasata u'matata b'emunah." "U'var Shabbos lamadeti alav." Did we do our business dealings b'emunah? With faith, with integrity, with honesty. "B'yosher v'lo b'sheker." "Azai muchrach l'zakeh emunaso b'kiyum shel borei olam v'hashgachaso kol tzorech shel b'ri'ah chazakah b'yad nehei." He says, "Why is that the first question we're asked when we come upstairs?" Well, maybe I'll turn to Hashem and I'll say, "Look, I had an enormous yetzer hara to report inaccurately on my income taxes. I took things as business expenses that weren't. But Hakadosh Baruch Hu, when it came to the other 612, psh, I gave tzedakah. I davened b'kavanah. I had a longer Shmoneh Esrei. I was the most scrupulous when it came to the laws of kashrus. I was so vigilant in every other area. Hashem, what are you harping on the business and the taxes and the interpersonal and the and how I marketed and that I promised and over-delivered, under-delivered? That's just one area of halacha. Why is that the first question?" Says Rav Druck, "Because that question says everything about your emunah in Hashem. If you're dishonest in business, if you have a taavas mamon, if your drive for money is so great that it clouds your judgment, that you act dishonestly in business, not only have you harmed and injured your fellow man, but you've actually compromised and corrupted your very self, your character. You've revealed your lack of faith in Hashem. The one who has faith in Hashem, it's not separate, religion and interpersonal relationships. You can't be righteous in shul and then cutthroat and ruthless at work. It's all connected. It's all a reflection of your righteousness. It's all part of your religious character and identity. Not only because a religious personality is ethical and honest, but it means you have no emunah in Hashem if you're willing to cross lines. And if you're willing to uh push boundaries, uh you have no faith that Hashem gives exactly what we need and that Hashem gives exactly what we exactly what we deserve. Okay, continuing. Back to perek ches, pasuk yud tes. So, the total worries. The total worries. What's going to happen? What's going to happen? Hashem here just said, "Forced sabbatical." Forced sabbatical. To a degree, those of us quarantining, whose lives are turned upside down, we're still working. But for me, these uh Shabboses have been Shabboses like yom tov of sabbatical. I've tasted what it's like to be a regular Jew, to experience a Shabbos. You need a you need a sabbatical. You need to return to your roots and restore and re-energize and rejuvenate, not just the land, but our souls with a sense of emunah and a sense of spirituality and a sense of ruchniyus. But there's a lot of fear. There's a lot of people with this forced sabbatical who are furloughed, who've been laid off. Look at the unemployment numbers. And therefore, what's going to happen? The pasuk tells us, perek ches, pasuk yud tes, top of page 700. What's going to happen? "V'chi tomru, 'Mah nochal bashanah hashvi'is?'" You're going to say, "What am I going to eat in the seventh year?" It's a lovely idea. Exercise in humility. Exercise in faith and emunah. A lovely idea. Who's covering my sabbatical? Is it a paid sabbatical or an unpaid sabbatical? How am I going to pay the mortgage? What am I going to have to eat? I'm not working the land. It's not going to produce for me. So, the Torah says, "Don't worry because the sixth year is going to provide enough for the sixth, seventh, and eighth years. So, you're worried what you'll eat in the eighth seventh year? Know that if you observe shmita properly, if you have an attitude of shmita that's proper, you'll grow enough in the sixth year to provide the sixth, seventh, and eighth year." By the way, Aish HaTorah Discovery Program that always points out This is one of the pieces of evidence. You can decide whether it's compelling or not, that the Torah is written by God, not man. Why? Because if a man or a group of people, group of men, were to sit down and author a religious document, would they make such a promise that they couldn't deliver on? Who would make such a promise? Only one who could deliver, only one who can make it come true. Otherwise, your religion would last one year and or six years, and the first sabbatical, the first sixth year you encounter where it didn't produce enough for the sixth, seventh, and eighth years, that would be the end of your religion. Perhaps this is evidence for the divine authorship of the of the Torah. But, what is Who is exactly saying this? Who's saying this? The And if you'll say, "What will we eat in the seventh year?" Who's the if you'll say the when you'll say if you'll say Who's the one who's saying this? So, the Sforno, you got to look here at the Sforno again, I hope you're looking here inside with me. Those who pushed me to come back to the and to look inside. So, the Sforno says, "Says the Sforno, you know who we're talking about? You'll have enough. But, are you the more?" Is what you have enough? The you're going to say, "I'm used to lavish smorgasbords. I'm used to endless buffets. I'm used to unlimited options. And the seventh year, all I have is a little bit. I'm sustaining and surviving in very modest." So, the Sforno says, "The group who are asking this, it's because they're challenged in the area of being the more. Can they be satisfied with what they have, or are they going to always crave more?" If you look at Rashi, skip to Rashi again. Rashi again. The Torah there promises. In the beginning of before we get to the The Torah in the promises. The you're going to eat bread to satisfaction, so you're sated. The And you're going to live with with with security in your in your land. Rashi says, "You ate them You're going to eat very little, but it's going to take little to satisfy you." Why is Rashi interpreting the that way? It says You're going to eat as much bread as you want. May not be good for you, all those carbs, but you're going to eat as much bread as you want. You know, the Israeli breakfast at the hotel, you have 17 kinds of breads, and you cut them, and they're piping hot, they're delicious. That's my image. That's what I picture. When you have every type of bread and and all the kinds of What do you mean why is Rashi interpreting? It means that you're going to eat a little bit, but it's going to fill your belly. You're going to feel like you're satisfied from that little bit. And some of the explain because Rashi's telling us that the greatest is not the ability to indulge. The greatest is not the ability to stuff your face. The greatest is that even the small amount will satisfy you. The greatest is that even you'll be the more. So, that is the criticism here, and that is the later. That our aspiration is not to have an endless amount, but it's to be satisfied even with a smaller or more modest amount. That is how the Sforno interprets this interprets this The understands it a little bit differently. The says, It means not the if you'll ask, but rather the says means when you'll ask. The when you'll ask. And why is the interpreting it that way? For lack of time, I'll just tell it to you outside. Why is the interpreting it that way? Not if you'll ask, but when you'll ask. Because the wants to make it clear that those who ask, unlike the Sforno, that those who ask, it's not a reflection of a deficiency in them, but rather it doesn't come out of rebelliousness. You'll ask, you'll challenge Hashem, "What will I eat? Where will you be, Hashem?" Rather, it's coming out of a legitimate fear. It's not come out of rebelliousness, it's coming out of fear. It's come out of a legitimate anxiety and a legitimate fear, and you're going to have to overcome that with a sense of faith. The here is very validating. If you're going through what we're going through right now, it's very easy to say, "Have faith. Hashem will provide. This will end, and the economy will come roaring back, and you'll have your job, and you'll make up what you're missing." It's so easy to say that, but for the person who's been furloughed, who's been laid off, who doesn't know how they're paying their bills next month, there's a natural and an understandable fear that comes, says the And therefore, it was not if you'll say, but says the it is when you'll say. The understands a little bit differently. The understands it as not a physical fear, but a religious fear. If you'll say, says the "Who are we to merit that miracle?" God's making a promise, the sixth year will produce enough for the sixth, seventh, and eighth year. So, what if you have such a lack of religious confidence? You're religiously underachieving, and you have religious lack of self-confidence, and you'll say Hashem's not going to do miracles for us. The Hashem will never do. We're unworthy of his doing miracles for us. Says the "That's where it's coming from, and that's a mistake. Because what is telling us is that even what looks like nature is in fact a miracle. Don't think that there are two separate worlds, the natural and the supernatural. The natural itself comes from Hashem. The natural itself is supernatural, and therefore it is a a religious mistake to say, says the that if you'll say, "I'm unworthy, I'm undeserving of Hashem doing a miracle." Know that even nature is a miracle, and he can provide through what seems to be a natural means a natural means as well. Okay, continuing. Making our way now through the laws of shmita. The Torah tells us The land is not sold. Now, we've moved over to We don't have time to talk about at length. The 50th year, the Jubilee year, its laws, slaves go free, land returns to its ancestral ownership. Why? Because land is not sold in perpetuity. God says, "Lest you think it's yours, it's mine. It's mine. You gave it to because you are and together together with me." So, and residents together with me. The says here in this means together with me. Whether you're or When Jews are in Hashem is with them. And when we are when we are in exile, together with me, Hashem is with us. That part of our mission is to know wherever we are and whatever state we're in, is with me always. Again, this continues with this theme of that permeates our that wherever we are and however we feel and whatever we're going through, he wants us to know he's right next to us, he's with us. We are always together. Right after the laws of shmita, we go directly into What happens? Your brother Your brother finds a hard time, becomes impoverished, and sells part of that ancestral land. The redeemer should come redeem it for him. And if he doesn't have a redeemer, then tells us the law. And then it tells us going right from here into these other laws. If they are impoverished, Rashi again. The you again. If your brother becomes impoverished, and he falls in your proximity, the You have to strengthen him. Make sure that he can and you enable him to live with you. What do you mean the you again? If he falls, if he becomes poor. The points out that you know, it's even harder to have your status changed, to become poor, to find yourself impoverished than it was to be born that way. A person who was raised that way and lived that way, a person who never knew what it meant to be independent and to be of means, it's painful, it's difficult, but not as much as the person who finds themselves the They have fallen into a difficult situation. And that is supposed to invoke our greatest sympathy and empathy. It's not only for the person who's always known that state, but the person who now falls and finds themselves in that state. And again, I think that is very significant for the time we find ourselves in and looking around and seeing such people, that obligation and responsibility that we have. The The vision says here on this again. The So, this is talking about physically, financially. They've fallen, hardship. They don't know how they will provide. Step up and step in, the it's our responsibility to step in and stand in to make sure that they can live with us. But both the Vision of and the explain this in a very spiritual way. Listen to the when your brother is distorted in his judgment, when your brother is far away from his heritage and hasn't lived a richly Jewish life. And now they're hopeless and helpless. They need faith. They're reaching out to you. We have a responsibility not only to provide physically, but to provide and meet the needs and inspiration religiously as well. Listen to it in the words of the or on possible possible possible They've fallen on hard times. The says parsha that the inside him or her has been extinguished. It's trying to hold on for dear life. It's on a It's on a respirator. The The worst type of poverty is to be impoverished from Torah and mitzvahs. It's our obligation to restore his soul or her soul, to give them back their spiritual life, to to strengthen them. And why? Why should we do this? The ends. You can't charge interest and so on and so forth. So the says you may We have to give back a a liveliness, a joy, a hope, a faith, an aspiration. Why? Because we are If we realize that there's a in every person, then we want to restore their soul because we're restoring in their soul. When you live with When you live with an awareness of the divine and a commitment and a devotion, a loyalty to the divine, then you'll want to restore the divine within the soul of the within the soul of the other. What does it mean? They They fell into poverty with you. And you have to strengthen them with you. What is this emphasis on? They fell into poverty with you and you have to strengthen them with you. So I want to share with you an insight of the of Bernard Weinberger. I shared it with you before, but I find it so beautiful I cannot but share it again. Why is it used twice, this word that he encountered, she encountered that hard time in proximity to you? Okay, so they were near me. I saw it. What's the big deal? So he says based on an insight of the The Mishna in says know what is above you. Know what is above you. Know what is above you. I and the I see, those and the whole and all of your actions are recorded. So the Mishna is usually translated to mean that there's accountability. You know, we're living this perhaps more than any other generation that came before because there's surveillance everywhere. Google Earth satellites are taking video everywhere we go. Our computers, our phones are listening in on everything we do. And therefore, I and the I see, those and I don't know about you. How often are you having a conversation with someone about something you're thinking about buying and then you go on your phone or your computer and you find all of a sudden you're seeing ads for exactly what you were talking about. That's not a coincidence. It's because it's all listening. I and those and everything and your browser history and your computer and your phone are recording all that you're doing, what you're looking at, the that you're speaking. This Mishna is more relatable to us perhaps than ever before. That's the simple understanding. It's about accountability. But the The great founder of explains it differently. And he says the Mishna in means the following. Know Know who and what is above you. There is a master. There is a creator of the universe. There's an omnipotent being who is divinely running the world. An omnipotent being. And therefore, therefore this is his Therefore, I and you What you see, you were meant to see. It's not a coincidence and it's not by accident. And you What you happen to overhear, you were meant to hear. The whole and how you react and what you do with that, that will be recorded for posterity. That will reflect on who you are. So takes this insight of the who says that I and because know that there's a God above. So if you happen to see or you happen to hear, it's not a coincidence and you can't choose to ignore or walk away. It was by design. And the whole How you react and how you respond and what you do will be recorded and will reflect on you. So applies this insight of the to our parsha. And he says listen so beautifully. If a man becomes poor or and they're struggling in proximity to you, strengthen them. Why? So that he or she can live with you. Says says the you have to look at a person struggling socially or economically or religiously and you have to say this wasn't a coincidence. The fact that it happened near you, you learned about it, you became aware of it. It happened near you. You saw it, you heard it. It wasn't a coincidence. It's not by chance. It's by design because it happened by design. And therefore, so that you have an obligation to step up, to stand in, and to be of influence, of support, to help. The is the one who diagrammed the intersection of our lives to empower and enrich us both, the person who needs our help and for us to get the satisfaction, the meaning, the purpose of providing that help. And then you've You've You've renewed and re-energized them, but you've also renewed and re-energized yourself. And that's why it's put them in your sphere of influence. He put them in your circle. He made you aware. You saw or you heard of him or her because you're meant to stand up and you're meant to make a difference in their lives. That is our responsibility. That is our obligation. And that is how he understands this parsha. That's how he understands this parsha. We're not allowed to take ribbis from another person. We've talked about in the past. We won't belabor now. You're not allowed to take ribbis. You can't charge interest. Why not? The points out go to The points out there the Torah doesn't only allow us to take ribbis. The Torah says you can or should take ribbis, interest from a non-Jew. So is interest unethical and wrong? Then why can I do it to a non-Jew? If interest is permissible and ethical, then why can't I lend with interest to a Jew? And the answer is very clear. The answer is very clear. Because we're trying to cultivate and harness within ourselves the sense that all Jews are brothers and sisters. We're all family. I can lend to another human being. Why? Because there's a time value to money. The amount of time that I'm without my money, my money can't be earning money. My money, I don't have the liquidity to spend my money. There's a time value to money that I'm losing out on. So when I in fact charge interest, I'm not making money. I'm simply getting back what I lost by not having that time value of that money. So it's completely ethical. So why can't I do it to a Jew? Because if my brother or sister asked for money, would I charge them interest? God forbid. That's what it means to be family. It's what it means to be fiercely loyal. And that's the attitude and mentality that we're meant to have with all Jews. They're all my brothers and sisters. We're all part of a family. And that's what the says. Don't charge interest. By not charging interest, that's how we cultivate and that's how we harness an attitude and a mentality of that he is our brother within us. The captures this very beautifully. He says the following. The Torah emphasizes the calamity of becoming destitute. Sorry, not this comment. Following. The above teaches if two are traveling on the on the way, we know the story of They have one canteen. Only Only one can survive. If they share, they're both going to die and so on and so forth. And the statement stresses the distinct character of Your existence should be coordinated with your brother. So on the one hand, there's and there's First, you have to take care of your survival and then the survival of another. As long as one is cognizant of the existence of others, one is characterized as a an acquaintance or neighbor. But the very instant that one begins to perceive another, not just to know him, but to feel his existence, experience his joys and frustrations, agonies and hopes, one turns from into a brother. This is a higher degree of coexistence, of interrelatedness and companionship. Brothers are united by existential bonds, one destiny, one memory. In speaking of the Torah, constantly employs the term not not The precepts of are nurtured by the doctrine of the sympathetic brotherly open existence. In contrast, when the Torah speaks about civil law, not to inflict harm on someone, it says reya. Lo sachmon bas reya acha, lo sasig vurei acha. The fact that he is my neighbor imposes a duty and obligation. I should respect his property and his rights. I must not inflict any harm or damage. But it doesn't entitle the reya to my support, that I share his troubles and be helpful. For that, the bond of reya is too weak. You need the stronger bond of ach. So the rav calls our attention to the fact that sometimes the Torah calls says reya acha and sometimes the Torah says achi acha what's the difference? Reya acha means an acquaintance, a neighbor. And that governs the laws that I can't damage. I can't harm. I can't injure. But the positive, the notion that I have to rescue, that I have to step in, that I have to guard and protect, that I have to support, that is not dictated by the notion or the relationship of reya of neighbor acquaintance. That is dictated by the relationship of ach of of being a brother, of a connection. Rav Volbe, the great mashgiach uh points out that if I have to begashmius, if I have to provide for him physically, then imach beruchnius. I have to make space so there's room for Jews to live with me spiritually. I have to reach out and I have to make safe space and I have to support and I have to invite and I have to love uh my fellow Jew not only in the area of uh physically and gashmius but in ruchnius in ruchnius as well. Okay, let's move now over to Parshas Bechukosai. Parshas Bechukosai. We have a double parsha and we only have a little bit of time left. The Bechukosai has in it of course the famous tochacha. It has the harsh rebuke, Kadosh Baruch Hu telling us uh what is the consequence if we uh are dismissive of our relationship with him or neglectful of that relationship. But before we have the brachas and we begin with a promise. In Bechukosai telechu es mitzvosai tishmeru va'asitem osam. If you walk in my ways and you observe my mitzvos and you do them and then I'll give you rain in its time and the land will produce and you'll have continuity and you'll live with peace, all things we so desperately crave. And it's the promise Hashem gives us when? In Bechukosai telechu. The Chidushei Harim points out that here the Torah captures how are we meant to observe, what is how are we meant to capture or characterize our Jewish lives and lifestyles? In Bechukosai telechu. It doesn't say in Bechukosai ta'amodu ta'amdu, if you stand firm in observing my laws. It says if you walk with my ways. Why says the Chidushei Harim? Because a person is on a journey. We are forever evolving. We're growing. We're aspiring. We're elevating. We're climbing. The malach angels are described as standing still. But human beings, we are growing. We're moving. We're changing, hopefully in the right direction. And that is why the entire uh area, the entire description of Jewish law is called halacha. Halacha comes telechu. It's the same root. It means the journey, the the the the process. It means to be traveling. Telechu. The Torah uh escorts us on our journey through life. When not while we're standing still, but rather as we evolve as people, as we grow and as we learn about ourselves and as we reach higher and higher. Chidushei Harim says Bechukosai telechu not ta'amdu but telechu. It's not about standing. Angels stand still, but human beings, we continue to evolve. We continue to grow. We continue to change. And that's what Torah is meant to do, is meant to do for us. Rav Betzalel Zalman on his opening words draws our attention to a very very important a very important idea. He says a Jew has two distinct sources of covenantal obligation. The first is a communal kedusha, which derives from the covenant of Har Sinai and the covenant of the patriarchs. This is the subject of our parsha signified by the fact the blessings and curses are dressed in the plural. There's also a second covenant based on each individual's kedusha, a covenant detailed in Parshas Ki Savo. The wording of this covenant is in the singular. He says this tochacha, the tochacha in our parsha is going to be belashon rabon in the plural because it reflects the responsibility we have towards one another. And then there's also a second tochacha in Parshas Ki Savo that is communicated in the singular because it speaks about the individual holiness. We need both covenants because we are chosen in two distinct ways. One aspect of our chosenness relates to being the progeny of Avram and it is for this aspect we recite the blessing was not made me a gentile. A second chosenness comes through the study of Torah reflecting in the bracha asher bachar bonu mikol ha'amim. This chosenness involves a higher sanctification. By understanding the duality of our kedusha we can explain a puzzling area of Jewish law. The halachic the halachic status of a Jew who renounces his religion is complex. Although his status as a Jew is compromised, it does not entirely disappear. With regard to specific halachas an apostate Jew is considered no different from a non-Jew. On the other hand, if he betroths a woman his betrothal is valid. So how do you understand this contradiction? The apostate Jew retains the sanctity afforded to his lineage, a heritage that cannot be renounced no matter what he does. This kedusha applies equally to the apostate as it does to the greatest of rabbis. The second kedusha is dependent on the sanctity of the individual, attainable only through limud ha'Torah. This apostate has renounced the second kedusha. The holiday of Shavuos is associated with the communal kedusha and for this reason Parshas Bechukosai is read prior to Shavuos. The acceptance of the blessing and the curses by Bnei Yisrael was in the form of a shvua, a oath. The Torah itself was accepted by the oath of na'aseh venishma. These parallel oaths form another reason we read Parshas Bechukosai prior to Shavuos. The Rebbe has developed what he calls elsewhere we have two covenants. We have two forms of a relationship with Hashem, two promises. What he calls Bris Avos and Bris Sinai. Only the Rebbe formulates so beautifully. Bris Avos is the connection and the relationship, the bond I have with all Jews, whether they're religious or non-religious, whether they practice or don't practice, whether they have a background or or no education, there's a Bris Avos. We share the same genetic material, religious spiritual genetic material. We both come from we all come from Avram, Yitzchak and Yaakov, Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah. And that creates a bond, a Bris Avos, a connection that we have. There's also a kedusha sanctity that comes from a Bris Sinai. I stood at Har Sinai and I accepted the yoke of Torah and the commitment to learn and to live Torah. They're two separate and overlapping sanctities I have through my commitment and acceptance of the Bris Avos and my commitment and acceptance of the Bris Sinai. Sadly in our time, my dear friends, sadly in our time, little editorial comment, we have segments of the Jewish community who are committed to the Bris Avos, Jewish unity, Jewish connection, Jewish live and let live, Jewish um the the Jewish diversity, but they're not committed to Bris Sinai, to the binding authority of Torah and mitzvos, the non-negotiable nature of halacha, the kedusha that comes through our commitment to Torah and mitzvos. And then we have a community who are vigilantly committed to to Bris Sinai. They observe Torah and mitzvos scrupulously. And yet, it's as if they're entirely unaware that there's something called a Bris Avos. Reform and Conservative and irreligious and irreligious Jews are also part of our family and our people and our nation. We have a shared history and a shared destiny. And unfortunately, it's only it's too few who live in both of these brisim, who live both of these covenants and who live with both of these uh kedushas simultaneously. That there is a Bris Avos and there's a Bris Sinai. I have a commitment and a covenant with both. I have to see and live at both of these. My uh brother, Rabbi Dr. Judah Goldberg, is actually putting out a book on exactly this topic, Bris Avos and Bris Sinai as seen through Torah and through practice. I highly recommend it. Though it's not out yet, you can read it online on the Gush the Virtual Beit Midrash, VBM. He's been putting them out as essays and they'll be combined as a book. But this beautiful notion here the Rebbe introduces the beginning of Parshas Bechukosai. In Bechukosai telechu. And the parsha has both kedushas, has both covenants, the notion of Bris Avos and Bris Sinai. That's why it introduces Avram, Yitzchak and Yaakov. We have to remember the relationship we have with all the other progeny and descendants of Avram, Yitzchak and Yaakov, the Bris Avos, and also the kedusha the sanctity that comes from the fact that we stood at Har Sinai and we're obligated also in the sense of a of a Bris Sinai. Okay, one more point and then we'll end. Perek Chof Zayin Pasuk Chof Alef is in the tochacha. And the tochacha tells us im telchu imi bekari. Again, we have this notion of telchu. We're on this journey in life and we can either be walking with God or we can be walking neglecting God, maybe walking on God, trampling upon him. So the Torah tells us Perek Chof Zayin Pasuk Chof Alef im telchu imi bekari. If you walk with me bekari. What does it mean to walk with God bekari? What does it mean to walk with him bekari? So Rashi says kari is lashon mikreh. Im telchu imi bekari, bekari is lashon mikreh. I lost the place. Where is the im telchu imi bekari? Sorry. It's not Perek Chof Zayin Pasuk Chof Alef. Im telchu imi bekari. Rashi says what is kari? Lashon mikreh. What is lashon mikreh? Mikreh means casual. If we walk in our attitude Perek Chof Vav Pasuk Chof Alef. Thank you so much Mark Blechner, our great sponsor, Shabbos Light of last week's Behind the Bima. Perek Chof Vav Pasuk Chof Alef. Thank you for that correction. Im telchu imi bekari velo sovu lishmoa li. If you walk with me with kari and you don't listen to me, then this is what's going to happen. Zagt Rashi, what does it mean you walk with me bekari? Rebbe Shimon bar arrived in Mikra. It's a it's it's casual, a casual attitude, a casual relationship, a casual interconnection with Hashem. The Rambam understands differently. The Rambam in Hilchos Taanis, in Perek Aleph, Halacha Aleph, the Rambam describes what Keri is. He says chance. He says a fast day. The notion of a fast day is to recalibrate our compass and to realize that there's no chance or coincidence in life. Everything is from Hashem. Everything is from Hashem. So, Reb Volbe says, you know, you know where else we see the word Keri? A Baal Keri. Baal Keri is a description of a person who encounters Tumah. Someone becomes contaminated, someone becomes impure, someone becomes Tamei when is described as Keri, a Baal Keri. Keri leads to Tumah. Why does Keri lead to Tumah? So, Reb Volbe applies both the interpretation of Rashi and the Rambam. If you're casual in your relationship and your attitude to God, we have an audience and we are the offspring of the Almighty, of the King of Kings. And if we're casual in our identity and casual in that opportunity and that audience and that relationship, it leads to Keri, it leads to impurity. And for the Rambam, if we interact with God in a way that we think what happens in our lives is chance and coincidence and happenstance, then that leads to Tumah, to a life. It's an impure life. A holy, pure life is not to be casual in our attitude and relationship with Hashem. A holy and pure life is not to see it as chance. In fact, the Rambam says there that in the beginning of Hilchos Taanis, the Rambam writes that if your attitude is with Hashem that Keri and Mikra, that chance and coincidence and casual, it's an act of cruelty. Why is it cruel? It's cruel to God to ascribe what happens as chance rather than a seeing it coming from him. So, my brother-in-law, oh, quoting a lot of family today. My brother-in-law, Joseph Hellman, actually said back in my Sheva Brachos, just a few years ago, he said what it means it's cruel is the following. If someone's calling your name, someone's screaming and you ignore them, it's cruel. Someone's trying to get your attention and you're ignoring their attempt to get your attention. You're in the other room, you hear them calling you and you're willfully ignoring them. It's literally cruel. If you've ever called someone and you know they hear you and you see they hear you, but they're not turning towards you, it's cruel. So, he suggested maybe that's what the Rambam means. When Hakadosh Baruch Hu interacts with us in our lives, he's calling our name. He's communicating with us. And when we don't listen and we don't respond and instead we dismiss it as being chance or coincidence, that too is an act of cruelty. That leads to a life of Tumah, Keri. If we want Tahara, a life of purity, then you can't be casual and you don't dismiss as chance. We look and we see Hashem all around us, all in our lives. And uh wishing everyone a beautiful and a holy Lag BaOmer. I forgot I was going to talk all about Lag BaOmer, too, but we're out of time. A beautiful and a holy Lag BaOmer. A wonderful week. If you're watching on YouTube, do me the favor of subscribing to our channel on YouTube. Even if you're not, do me the favor of going on YouTube to Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg and subscribing. It'd be a great help. Wishing everyone a beautiful and a wonderful day.