Parsha Perspectives for Today (Naso, 5782) - Stay in Your Own Lane

Okay, good morning. Welcome back to partial perspectives for today. So grateful for this microphone because I have no voice. The sign of a good shamash is when you have no voice on Israel the day after. Baruch Hashem. Want to thank our generous series sponsors for the year, our dear friends Becky and Avi Katz and family who dedicated the partial perspectives in loving memory of David Grossman, of Becky's father David Ben Menachem Monish. I want to remind everyone who has not yet signed up for the one and one campaign, a dollar a day of tsukah, a minute a day of total learning in the merit of our beloved Esti Moskowitz, Esther Teela bas Aryeh Tziporah. The Moskowitzes get alerted each time someone signs up. It's tremendous chizuk. It gives them a lot of strength to know that people are willing to give a dollar a day and learn a minute a day. You can find it online brsonline.org/oneandone. We are not in person the next two weeks. We'll be uh elsewhere, b'ezrat Hashem, celebrating a simcha. Uh we may do the partial class online only. Haven't decided yet. I'm location, I'm a very special place. We'll see. But uh we're not going to be in person, so please uh pay attention to the notices about whether we are streaming live the partial class the next two weeks, but it will not be in person. We have the privilege this week of reading and learning parshas Naso, page 748 in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash, parshas Naso. And here we are continuing the story of Klal Yisrael, their trek through the desert. Hashem spoke to Moshe saying, We are continuing this notion of the census. It's the census that never ends. It is the count that is never complete. The continued exercise in Hashem's affection for his children continues to count and to visit and revisit how many there are over and over again. The Kedushas Aryeh made a point on our parsha. Kedushas Aryeh said that there's more Torah about them Nasso than anywhere else. The Medrash in Parshas Nasso, the Torah about peh, the rabbinic text and rabbinic tradition in our parsha is extreme, is elaborate, is lengthy, is comprehensive. Why so much? The Zohar Hakadosh also has an enormous amount of quantity on this parsha. Why specifically Parshas Nasso is there such a rich rabbinic tradition that complements the Torah shebaal peh, that complements the text itself? The Kedushas Aryeh said that this Shabbos is not just an ordinary Shabbos. We have some Shabbosos that have a name. Shabbos is not just associated with its parsha, but there's a name, there's a theme. And the Shabbos Parshas Nasso is known as Shabbos Nach Shavuos. It is the Shabbos after Shavuos. Not just Parshas Nasso, Shavuos is not in the rearview mirror, Shavuos is not behind us, no matter how gratified and satisfied we are that we're complete and that we finished all of our shiurim and drashos and all of our themed extensive elaborate Shavuos programming, but Shavuos is not the rearview mirror, it's not behind us. The next Shabbos after Shavuos, the Shabbos Nach Shavuos, it is still an extension, we are still drawing from the wellsprings of Shavuos. And writes Rav Avraham Shor, quotes us Kedushas Aryeh, and he writes Rav Akiva Parshas Nasso Shabbos Nach Chag Hashavuos, u've Shavuos kibbalnu Torah mechadash. Yesh hashpa'as Torah. Shavuos we received the Torah. Shavuos we re-received the Torah. We weren't commemorating, we spoke about this on Shavuos morning, we didn't commemorate or remember or memorialize, we didn't recall, we don't have a ritual or a ceremony because Matan Torah, Kabbalas HaTorah was not something in the past. It's not ancient or archaic, it doesn't have to be relived or remembered. It is ongoing. It never ended. Kol Gadol Lo Yasaf, Kol Gadol Lo Pasak, there was no half stake, Hashem continues to speak to us. The conversation is ongoing. We are receiving the Torah each and every day anew. The issue of We add to the quantity and quality of our learning, more time dedicated for learning and a deeper understanding and approach, more penetrating insight into learning. There is still a ongoing connection to Shavuot. That energy, that inspiration, that motivation, the drive that we took from Shavuot to revisit Torah anew, to receive it anew, to learn it with excitement, with enthusiasm, with zeal. We have to accept upon ourselves to learn Torah with more time, greater quantity, and in a deeper way, greater quality. So, it's not a coincidence, our tradition teaches, that we have so much Torah in Parshat Nasso because we are diving deeper, we are allocating more time. Shavuot is not over and the summer has begun. Shavuot just gets it going. We're not done with Sefirat HaOmer. We counted the 49 days, Shavuot came and went, and now it's over. We're just getting started. We're just beginning. We're just setting our learning goals. We're just making time for Torah. We're We're just getting started with Torah Sheb'al Peh. We're making Torah the central part of who we are and of our lives. So, that is why there's so much Torah Sheb'al Peh connected to our parsha. Parshat Bamidbar Mem Tet. We're going to already start post this census on the next page, page 750. The Torah tells us at the end of this count we're given the totals. All of those who were counted separately. They were not part of the general census. They deserve their own distinguished count because they had distinguished themselves in their service and their behavior. They hadn't fallen prey to They hadn't made the same mistakes as the rest of all of Israel. We're on men test. They counted them at the word of Hashem. Every person over his work and over his responsibility. And his count was as Hashem commanded Moshe. What does this mean? We got to have So, Zaydel Epstein, we've got to have a shot to have a shot to have a shot. Let's take a look at the Ramban, what the Ramban has to say. Ramban has to say Rashi understands. Let's take a look first at Rashi. Possible men test in Rashi. Rashi understood This was a reference to Moshe. Moshe had to count the people from 30 years until until 50 years. These were the counting. But the Ramban rejects. The Ramban does not fully accept Rashi. He says Yoma Shemini Shloshes Kol Moshe here was counting the offspring the progeny of each of these three brothers. Who are the three brothers that we're talking about? Again? Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. These three, thank you. These three uh brothers we're talking about they and their offspring. Each had their own uh personal service, each had their own responsibility, their burden, their responsibility, what they had to do. Shame on you for not listening to your friend. A person has their own responsibility, their own what they're meant to do, their own mission. And we cannot overlap or interfere. We don't compete or compare. We don't do someone else's mission and a person doesn't do ours. The Rambam quotes the Gemara Chazal in Sifrei on Korach that one great sage wanted to help the other sage and he said, "Step back. Fall back. Fall back." Or we'd say today, today's parlance, "Stay in your lane. Stay in your lane." What are you doing? My job is to lock the gate and your job is to sing. We have different jobs. Why are you trying to infringe on my job? Why are you trying to take my responsibility, my role, my mission? We don't just overlap and we don't just allow it to blur. We have distinct, unique missions in this world. Hashem positioned each of us with our talents, with our skills, with our blessings. He positioned each of us is even with our liabilities and our challenges and he told each and every one of us to pursue why we're here, what we're meant to do. Don't simply copy someone else and don't compare and don't compete with someone else and don't infringe on the responsibility and job of someone else. And no one should in ours. And that's what Rabbi Yeshua ben Chananiah was telling Rabbi Yochanan ben Gudgada where he tried to help him. And what did Bilam and Good Gudo say? "Chazur l'acharecha, stay in your lane. Fall back. That's not your job. That's not your place. Each of us have a unique mission. And where do we know that? Where do we see that? From our pasuk. The Ramban understands that's "U'fkudav Asher Tziva Hashem es Moshe." Hashem was instructing Moshe each one's responsibility, each one's job, what each one was meant to do. The great Reb Reuven Zaidel Epstein, the Mashgiach of Yeshivas Torah Or, in his Ha'aros, beautiful sefarim, we're going to quote him several times today. The great Reb Reuven Zaidel Epstein says in this Ramban, "A kama tzarich kol echad l'hakir es makomo." How important it is for each and every person to be makir es makomo. Person has to know their place. Person has to know, "Why am I here? What am I meant to do? What are my strengths and what are my challenges?" Too many people in life just coast through life. We're just carried by the momentum of life. We're just trying to keep up with others in life. But do we pause? Do we stop? And do we say, "Why am I here? What am I meant to do? What is my unique mission? What is my unique responsibility? What is my purpose? What are all the aspects of my life that position me to do what?" "She'kein im osa davar she'eino tafkido, alul l'chayev misa." You see from this Ramban that if a person does what they're not meant to do, it's a capital crime. It's capital punishment. We're not taking advantage of what we were here for. The world will be bereft and absent, void of what we were meant to contribute to it. "Al lo sh'beinaim asur kavod Hashem tzurufa." This is the chiddush. Here's the incredibly powerful insight. Is that even though, even though what I'm trying to do is what you were doing, is serving Hashem, but if it's not what's meant to be for me in serving Hashem, "Chayev misa." It's not just a factor. It's not just a function of is this for me or is this for Hashem? Even if it's excuse me, for Hashem, it has to be what was meant for me for Hashem. It has to be what was meant for me for Hashem. Someone who was a gatekeeper, someone who was supposed to tend the gate, and instead they decide, you know, I have a nice voice, I'm going to sing. And their singing is for Hashem, they want to be in the choir of Hashem, the Levi'im that sang when the carbonos were offered for Hashem. Today the last thing the Zohar says, every Jew has to figure out what they're meant to do, why they're here, and then pursue that, and then pursue that, and not infringe on someone else's territory, and not compete with someone else's territory. Piazetzna Rebbe, Shalom Noach Rabinowitz Kalonymus Kalman Shapiro, in his Tsav Veziroz, in his Tsav Veziroz writes, Kama Mis'onin Adam Lemor, B'chiati Achshav She'ani Kasur B'Avos Ha'Chishuk B'Chemdas Ha'Olam. People the moment they see as a lack of freedom of choice, they feel so compelled, I'll read you in the English, they feel so compelled by earthly desires that they feel they cannot control themselves. But know that for every choice that must emerge from an individual chooser, there must be an individuated self to choose. There must be a person who can stand by himself who can decide what he wants for himself. But if there's no person, just one of the crowd, there can be no free choice or personal will. Because who will choose if besides the herd mentality, there is no one there at all. In other words, we're swept up with peer pressure, popular opinion, with the behavior of others, and we think and we claim, what can I do? What choice did I have? I don't really have free will, I don't really have bechira, but we do. We do if we simply take the responsibility for it. If we take ownership over it. We have that bechira. We have that bechira. If we take that responsibility, we have that bechira. But it begins with what? Not being part of the crowd, recognizing our individuality, understanding that we're unique and distinct and different, that each and every one of us have our own purpose in why we are here. That's what it begins with. Are you like a plant or animal whose individual essence is just one of a kind? What is in the species is in the specimen, which is why we have no free will. Their instincts are not under the individual control, but under that of collective laws of the species. Their willfulness does not rise out of individual need, but out of collective need. And so, PS Esner says, "Before we can express or exert free will, free will begins with being ourselves, individuality, recognizing who we are. That is the beginning of That is the beginning of free will, the essence of individuation. How is a person individuated from mankind? By differentials in intelligence or willfulness. This cannot be. Animals also have differentials of this kind. At its prime, an animal's greatest willfulness, perhaps even intelligence, than when aged. Nevertheless, the basic nature encompasses them all without the ability. So, a person must individuate himself with the essence of who he really is. Not only must he not remain imprisoned by social rules, cultural customs, or accepted thought without the ability to see beyond them, he must also have a mind of his own. Without this, not only is he not a Jew, he's not even a person. Not even a person. This means bringing out that which is unique within you, that which depicts your very self. Your Torah learning or divine service should not just be an expression of your intelligence, but of your very essence. The way you approach Torah learning or prayer should represent you. Someone hears a Torah thought or a specific spiritual practice, they'll then be able to identify it as typically one of yours. Take for instance the Rambam's works. They can be identified by their style and distinct wisdom. Same is true of Ramban and so on. And this is not some privilege reserved only for great luminaries, says the PS Esner. Each and every little one of us has not only the right, but the obligation to express his unique and individual self. And to degree that you are able to live in this world from the very center of your unique self, to that degree will you be able to exercise your individual free will. Raise yourself up above the crowd. Bring out what makes you unique. Become a person who can choose for himself. The prerequisite for reaching Hashem. In his Safed Zera, this is written in his spiritual diary. He had a diary but the Piazetzner Korczak didn't write in his diary. You know what I had for breakfast today? Or I can't believe my friends didn't pick me for the the softball game in the softball team. Piazetzner in his diary wrote these spiritual um thoughts that he had. He wrote these spiritual struggles that he had. He wrote what came to mind. And here he talks about this notion that the prerequisite for free will is recognizing the power of our individuality. Recognizing who we are and what we offer the world. He writes in another entry, two entries later. That was entry Yud, 10. Two entries later, this is one short paragraph. So, I'll share it with you. He says, "Hamakier es makomo." Person has to know their place. If the makier es makomo, you have to stay in your lane. Have they also a po ba olam ba anach v'lmi t'vacha ad she tamid m'komcha ba olam ye nikar. Be creative and contribute to the world. Give it the best you have. Make a niche for yourself that will always be felt in the world. Are not the places k'im makom ha'avot v'hanvi'im v'sharat tzadikim gam ata lo nikar ba'olam. When you're makier es makomo, when you carve out your place, when you plant your flag, when you know why you're here, you achieve immortality, eternity. Your legacy lives on forever. Avraham Yitzchak v'Yaakov, Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Akiva, Rambam, are we not still quoting them? Are we not still referencing them? Do they not all know their place? Eich haya ha'olam shamem lo lo haya ba'al Ba'al Shem Tov v'chulai. Are there not places of our forefathers, the prophets, or the tzadikim to this day not known in the world? What a void there would be in the world, for instance, had there been no Bashemtov? He who knows his place will leave his mark in this world with his life, his place will forever be known even beyond his life. The notion of being Makom. We can't begin to live our life we can't begin to craft a legacy to leave a legacy if we don't know our place. Who are we and why are we here? What difference are we meant to make? What is our unique and distinct mission mission in this world? Makom Makomenu, to know our place. We've shared countless times I'm proud that the the essence of life is a soda soda soda soda soda the core of life Makom Adam Adam Adam not Adam not as what's man's duty in the world but Adam Adam each and every one of us have our own world. We are a world onto ourselves. Everyone's going through their own Everyone's going through their own thing. Everybody is positioned with their own power and strength. We have to know our place. We have to know our place and while we are here. I will show the world but also elaborate on this. I don't have time I want to get back to the Pasha. But he too writes so beautifully about Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam There's an enormous responsibility a great Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Adam Individual knows himself and is aware of his nature who knows what whatever Adam has given him as a wondrous gift. If he will only take advantage of his talents and strengths he will attain all desirable traits. Such an individual does not suffer from jealousy or envy of another person's lot in life. Don't compare. Have faith in Adam he's given us all of our spiritual needs. Take the We don't need anyone else's haskama. You don't need anyone else's approval. K'sh Baruch is approval is all we need to wake up and realize why we're here, what we're meant to achieve and accomplish. We don't emphasize this enough and we don't undergo this exercise enough with our young people. We try to download countless information and data. We try to overload them with halacha. We overload them with facts, all critically important, all part of Torah and Torah, but do we have a curriculum? Do we teach them have an exercise in teaching them what it means to be makir et makomo. How does a person understand who they are? Not in comparison or contrast, not in competition with others, but uniquely and distinctly who each person is on their own and what they offer the world and what difference we are meant to what difference we are meant to make. Okay, let's keep going. Rather, we move on with the law of the purification of the camp. They shall expel from the camp those who are impure. The camp has to retain its purity. K'sh Baruch has a concept of kedusha. Our whole camp has to be holy and the three camps of Hashem have been higher thresholds of holiness that have to be maintained. There's a notion of t'shalchum of sending out until the person undergoes their own purification and is ready to come back. So, Hashem spoke to Moshe and he told the following halacha. Speak to Klal Yisrael, a man or a woman who commits any of man's sins. And what are those sins? By committing treachery, me'ilah, toward Hashem, and that person becomes guilty. What do they have to do? Vihisvadu es chatasam. asher asu Such a person has to confess the chet that they did. Person has to confess the chet that they did, and heishiv es kesef ha'avarasham asher lo yesivenu la'alav. They have to pay back the principal and add another 20% a fifth. Venasan la'asher asham lo and pay back the person whom they hurt. The person who they hurt. So, um What Why this is the source of the Rambam, vihisvadu es chatasam. The notion that we make a mistake, we have to confess it. It's not enough to make restoration. It's not enough to offer compensation. But, a person has to offer a a confession. You have to admit, you have to articulate, you have to say out loud, I made this mistake. I did this thing that was wrong. Take responsibility. I take extreme ownership. It was me. There are no excuses. There's no one else to blame. But, I am taking responsibility. Vihisvadu. The notion that we have to confess when we are repairing, when they're going shuva for any mistake, the Rambam learns from this pasuk, from this case of gezela ager, when a person stole from a convert. The Chidushei Harim wonders and is bothered, of every place the Rambam can learn it, of any source that we can learn that there's a obligation or responsibility of confession, why specifically in the case of gezel? Why theft? Why not learn that if you violated Shabbos, admit, confess you violated Shabbos. Yei nan kosher, admit it. Spoke lashon hara, admit it. Why not some other transgression? Why not that be the source for the notion of vidui, of confession, of articulating our mistake? Why specifically gezel? The Chidushei Harim has a magnificent answer. The Ger Rebbe, the Chidushei Harim says, says, "You know why it's here? Because implicit in every chet that we ever do is gezel." And this connects to what we just saw in the Piazetzner and Rav Volbe. The idea that each of us are given gifts. each of us are an individual who are positioned with opportunity to make a difference in this world. Every time we make the wrong choice, every time we abuse, we misuse our strength, our health, our talents, our skills, our gifts, we have stolen from God. We've stolen from Hashem. He endowed us with those things to make a difference. And when instead of using them to make a positive difference, we use them in the pursuit of selfish hedonism, we use them to satisfy our own to indulge in our own instinct and impulse, we haven't just crossed the boundary of done something wrong, but we've actually stolen from Hashem. Every hate is an act of gezel. Every time we ignore Hashem, within every sin we do, we have stolen. We've misused our resources, our health, our strength, all of it could have been more directed to Hashem. So, that's why this vadua asam, the source of confession is learned from the case specifically of gezel hagera. That's me'ilah. Me'ilah's to take something holy and to profane. You have hekdesh, you have something consecrated, sacred, sanctified, and instead you use it for something personal, that's a violation of me'ilah. Something designated for the temple and you use it personally, you violated me'ilah. So, the truth is every time we abuse and misuse what we have that could be consecrated and sacred, the talents, the skills, the strength, the energy, the time that we have that could be used for a holy purpose, and instead we use it for something else, that's me'ilah. That in itself is a violation of of of profaning something that was meant to be holy. Perek kaf pasuk gimmel, turn the page. Move on to the case of the sotah. The case of the sotah. If you have a man whose wife goes astray, he says that sota same and sin are interchangeable. That's why you use the same as sota. Torah here uses the same as sota, but it means that a woman made a poor choice. She went astray. She violated her marriage. She was untrustworthy. All my love and my all. Why here is this called meela? Treachery meela. To profane something sacred. What was sacred? Marriage. Marriage is called kadusha, hechtish, kadosh, kadusha. Marriage is holy. Marriage is not just marriage is not just some partnership which is of convenience. Marriage Marriage is not some transactional relationship. You cook dinner, I take out the garbage, you bring in the money, I'll bathe the kids. Marriage is holy. It matters. It's a big problem. I'm going to write an article about this. The institution of marriage is under assault not only in its new definitions, but even just people not getting married. The The numbers, the data of how many people are choosing to Not talking about in the firm community right now, but everything that happens in the world ends up seeping in and penetrating into the total community. But the people who are just choosing to live together cuz marriage is just a piece of paper. What difference does it make? Makes a huge difference. Marriage is an institution. Marriage is a commitment. Marriage is a promise and a pledge of holiness. It's something that transcends more than just the transactional relationship or even a romantic relationship but absent commitment. Marriage is the expression of commitment. It's called kadusha. It's called holiness. It's called holiness. And it means something. It's bigger than just the tax benefits that you can claim. It's bigger than just a civil ceremony. It's something greater which is achieved. There's a kadusha. There's a holiness which is achieved. And when that holiness is violated, when it's profaned, mal al bo mal, there's a me'ilah which is which is violated, a me'ilah which is carried out, profaning something that should have been sacred. Why did it happen? The commentaries point out, why do we have a redundancy? Ish ish. What led this woman ki sista ishto? What led her to look elsewhere? What led her astray? What led this woman to seclude herself with another man who it turns out that maybe maybe not she actually violated physical boundaries with. Maybe they were just playing chess or checkers. Maybe they were just having a conversation or a cup of coffee, but she did it inappropriately. She violated yichud, she was alone, secluded in a locked space. What led her there? So, the commentaries say ish ish. Could have just said ish once. Ish ish. This man overpowered. Ish ish, he dominated. He overpowered, he micromanaged. He was so interested in showing her his masculinity, ish ish. Ki sista ishto. He's so overpowered. That's not to suggest she's innocent. You don't blame him to the exclusion of her accountability. But it means that part of the background of what created the situation that she looked elsewhere was ish ish. His dominance led her ki sista ishto that she wanted to find someone else who validated, who loved, who had affection. Who admired, who was appreciative, who was grateful. So many of the unfortunate tragic episodes of infidelity have nothing to do with physical connection or intimacy, have everything to do with looking for something emotionally elsewhere. Looking elsewhere for an emotional connection because of the result of an ish ish or an isha isha, the result of an overbearing or overpowering, of a lack of of affection and connection and intimacy emotionally ki sista ishto that leads elsewhere. The case of a woman who is not necessarily wayward. The case of a woman who is not necessarily wayward. What happened was the man said A man is suspicious. You secluded yourself. You isolated yourself. Don't ever do that again. I'm giving you a warning and the warning is in front of two witnesses. Don't ever secluded yourself again. Don't lock yourself. Don't violate Don't be alone in a place of temptation. And she secludes herself. She ignores the warning and witnesses testify that she isolated herself with another man. She is brought to the Mishkan to the Beit Hamikdash. She's given the Mayim Hamayim. She drinks from the special beverage, the special concoction, special liquid. Hashem allows his own name to be erased for the purpose of shalom, to try to preserve shalom. And the Torah tells us what happens. If she's innocent, she's blessed with a child. If she's guilty, she explodes. She suffers a horrific, graphic death. And so does the man with whom she violated her marriage. Even though that man is not summoned to the Beit Hamikdash. He doesn't appear before the Cohen. The man does not drink from that concoction, but the man with whom she violated that boundary also dies as a result. As our Shalom Bayit bells, the Belzer Rebbe says from that phenomena we see the source of drinking l'chaim. What? What does drinking l'chaim have to do with the man dying in the case of Sotah? He says, you see, if the woman in the Beit Hamikdash could drink and he wherever he is, he's playing racquetball, he's in the Beit Midrash, he's at work, wherever he is when she drinks, he suffers the consequence. If that could take place for the negative, then it could also be that when we drink, we could bring a positive result for someone even if they're not there. So, when you could drink l'chaim, someone should have a refuah shleimah. L'chaim, somebody should have a simcha. L'chaim, somebody should have good news. You see that if it could work in the negative, of could drink and the man dropped dead, then we could drink lechaim, and it brings somebody else wherever they are a sense of a refuah shleima. So, in this context, perek pasuk yud, I skipped. V'ish es kol asher lo ya'aseh ish asher yitein l'kohanim. Go back a section. I apologize, I left out. I just left out. At the end of the section that preceded this, person was obligated to bring to the kohein all of the proper gifts to the kohein. Person was obligated to bring those proper gifts to the kohein. So, Rashi says here, now we have the case of sota. That's why I skipped. I was confused coming off a three-day yom tov and spoke, I won't tell you the number of times, so if you'll bear with me and forgive me today. Just bear with me. Samach lo ish ish k'sista ishto. Rashi says, why do we have the responsibility of giving to the kohein positioned right next to the case of the isha sota? Lama nismach parshas sota parshas trumos u'ma'asros? We have a responsibility to tithe, to separate from our income. Today we do it financially my sick sefa, but the farmer took a portion of what they worked hard and toiled, the income they drew, the produce that they harvested, and they had to give a portion to the kohein, a portion to the levi. So, why do we have the juxtaposition? Why does the Torah teach us the laws of separating a portion for the kohein and levi and immediately afterwards succeeded right by ish ish takisi shta ishto. Ish ish, that the case of the wayward woman. Lama l'chachas says Rashi, kol she'yesh lo trumos u'ma'asros v'eino osam l'kohanim, sof nitzrach l'kohanim ishto. Whoever has that produce, whoever has that income, but they're stingy, they're selfish, they refuse to give it or share it with the kohein, they don't bring it to the kohein, you didn't go to the kohein to deliver the gift you were meant to give to the kohein, in the end you're going to have to go to the kohein, you know why? Cuz you're going to bring bringing your wife to the kohein when you suspect her of adultery. So, Reb Yitzchak Weinstein was a mashgiach shalom in Lithuania. he says, you think this is At first, this sounds like the Torah is telling us a classic case of me that can I get me that. You were trying to avoid the coin. You selfishly and stingily didn't want to give the coin what he deserved. You avoided the coin. You can't avoid the coin. You tried to keep it to yourself. You avoided the coin. Guess what? In the end, you're going to the coin not for such a pleasant thing to deliver truma. You're going to the coin to test your wife to try to save your marriage. However, says Rav Einstein, no. This is not just a classic me that can I get me that. This is not just because you didn't want to go to the coin. Now, you're being dragged to the coin. The goal and the mission of a Jew is to be holy and Kadushen to you. Who are the source? Who are the role models? Who are the influencers of holiness? The Kohanim. That's their whole mission. That's their whole job. They can be holy The kid asked though. The Kohanim have a responsibility. They are distinguished in their sanctity and their holiness and their service in the base of English but more than that, we treat them with that dignity, with that sanctity. They get that first and they lead the benching. And you're not allowed to be a shamash of a coin. You can't ask a coin to go bring you a couple of water. We treat a coin with distinction because they are the role model of Kadusha. Why do they get truma? Why do they live off the community? Why don't we say to the coin, why don't you go buy your own farm? Why don't we say to the coin, buy your own farm or uh be your own farmer, be your own sharecropper. Draw your own income. Draw your own livelihood. Are you leeching off the community, Kohanim? The answer is no. We give a portion. We give trumah 40, 50, 60, depending on our level of stinginess and generosity. We give the coin. Why? Because that is his payment for being our teacher and our role model, for being our mentor, our trainer, and our coach. It is not we're doing something generous or magnanimous. We're not doing something gratuitous. We're doing something that is deserved. It's his compensation. The coin has that role and our recognition, our appreciation for the modeling of kedusha that the coin does, we give him the trumah. Bal demisra makom is matnas kehuna. So, someone who says, "Nah, I'm not paying it. I'm not giving that compensation. I'm not paying the coin through trumah." My mashma, what is that person really saying? She'ena makom is klus kedusha sam. You know what? I don't think the coin is so holy. And I'm not really interested in holiness. I don't want to live with holiness. I don't want to learn from his holiness. So, I'm not paying him. I don't need a trainer. I don't need a coach. I don't need him as a role model. I don't recognize that aspiration or ambition. And I don't recognize his role in my life. Adam kaze kishim mitrachish l'skulus akedusha b'Yisrael. V'ze avirab b'Yisrael. V'yisam l'kedusha lav dafka. So, this person who the atmosphere in his own home, his spouse and his children say, "Abba, Daddy, Tati." She says to her husband, "Nu, aren't you going to bring the trumah to the coin? Don't we have to say thank you for the model he is, for how he serves, for the holiness that he inspires us to live?" The husband says, "No. I don't I'm not inspired to live with holiness. I don't value holiness. I don't care about his being a role model of holiness." What happens? What happens? You degrade, you dissolve the pursuit and the appreciation of holiness within such a home, and then what happens? The result is the wife goes astray, and you're left going to the coin paying the price to the unraveling of your condition. Condition is holiness. And if we want to receive holiness and live with holiness, we want the people around us to preserve and protect and honor and be faithful to holiness with us, then we have to be faithful and honor and pursue and value holiness. We spoke on Yom Tov about Indian Americans dominating the spelling bee and why that is. What we celebrate, we value. What we value, we celebrate. What our children see us celebrate, they will value and they will sacrifice for. And what they don't see us celebrate, they don't see us care about or value, then they won't sacrifice. They won't pursue and they won't value. So, what role does kedusha have in our life? The Hashem is saying, it's not just me that can I get me that. You didn't want to give the gift to the coin in the end of the day, guess what? You're going to the coin. You'll need the coin now. It's not just that. It's not just you also speak lashon hara about the rabbi at your shabbos table. You had nothing good to say about the rabbi. You didn't care about your membership. You didn't pay membership. You didn't value membership in the shul. You didn't care about the rabbi. Guess what? You're going to need the rabbi. When your passport expires, you want to go to Israel, you need a connection with the congressman. When you have a shaila, an end of life issue, when you need that rabbi cuz your marriage is falling apart or your child is in crisis. It's not just that. That's also true. But it's not just that. It's not just me that can I get me that. It's it's explaining to us the notion of kedusha. If you don't value holiness to the point of giving truma to the coin, then that will permeate the atmosphere of your home will be an attitude and an atmosphere that doesn't value holiness. And then the result will happen. You'll find yourself at the coin cuz your marriage, the holiness of your marriage has been compromised and corrupted. The Maggid Yosef of Telshe has an insight here also. I saw that's very interesting and very beautiful. Rashi says the connection is the madness Kohanim. Hakasha Ben Azara he sees a different connection. This man is stingy. This man is self-centered. He doesn't want to give the Kohanim what he deserves. What does that have to do with his wife? Her behavior, her unfaithfulness. Why does the person act stingily? Why don't they want to give generously? Why does this farmer not want to give the Kohanim what he deserves? The answer is it's a breakdown not only interpersonally. It's not only that you are failing to give the Kohanim what he deserves, but it is a breakdown also in faith with Hashem. Why does the farmer not give to the Kohanim? Because he's worried. What if I don't have enough? I can't become wealthy if I give away and share what I have with others. So a lack of faith that Hashem can make me wealthy without my holding on tight to everything I have. The unwillingness to be charitable and generous is not only unkind to people around you. It is a lack of faith in Hashem that he can't provide or can't make you wealthy even when you give away, especially considering that this is the one area where allowed to test Hashem, where we have the promise of Bishalash Tishaser. That if you give my serve you tithe, he will replace, replenish, and expand and make us wealthy. So this individual was exhibiting not only stinginess, but unfaithfulness. He was unfaithful to Hashem. He didn't have faith in Hashem. And when he accuses his wife, he doesn't have faith in her. Whoever is not with Hashem can not show can I get the own share who shame in a tech beige to make it a partial sota. If you're not faithful to Hashem, you'll not be faithful to your wife, you're not faithful to people. Inami or second explanation. Shalom you move on the solid in cos ball ball core for names of Miss Halacha Mish dough. If you're not willing to part with your money, in the end you're going to part with your wife. If you're stingy and you're not willing to part with your money, your wife may go elsewhere and you're going to end up being parted from your wife. Don't be stingy and self-centered. Be generous and giving. The person who can't give matnas kehuna, says the Meged Yosef, the individual who can't generously give the gift of the coin that they deserve, will probably also be acting that way way to their own wife. So stingy. When you're unkind and stingy and self-centered, then it's going to drive the people close to you away, and that's in fact what happens. Perek pasuk tes vav. Now moving back to the The heavy issues each other going to be coming out last year say by the Kama Sodom. They took Shamayim and the bonus came in first and then the coin must carry some home. He brings the man brings his wife to the coin. He brings an offering a tenth of barley flour. Should not pour oil over it, not put frankincense on it. It's a meal offering of jealousness, a meal offering of remembrance, a reminder of iniquity, a reminder of iniquity. The um Another tells her. Basically Bloch Rashashiva tells Rashi says on this pasuk, why is she bringing a korban a sacrifice of Sodom and Akita? We spoke about this several times of the Sefiras HaOmer. The korban Omer of Pesach was made from barley. Korban Omer that we just brought yesterday, two days ago, Shnei Halachot was made from wheat. Why did we go from barley to wheat? Barley is machal beheima, animal food. We came out of Mitzrayim a group of animals, vildachayes. We were a group of animals. The 49th level of tuma. We counted Sefirat HaOmer. We elevated, we ascended, we climbed the ladder to improve ourselves to become human beings. Lo aleinu yahei adam. To just simply be partial and adam, to be a human being. So where do we see the Or HaChaim says from there that the count from Pesach to Shavuot, from se'orim korban omer to the shtei halachim, is going from being an animal, a beheima, to becoming an adam. So Rashi says the same thing here. What korban does this woman bring who is accused? Se'orim. Why? Se'orim u'lachim, hiya asur asur mai'aseh beheima. Korban mai'aseh beheima. You acted like an animal, you're a wild animal. You secluded yourself with a man, you gave in to this animal impulse, animal instinct. You acted like an animal, you bring the korban of an animal. U'lo yeitzuk aleha shemen, you don't put oil on this korban. Lo yehei korban mu'chda shemen k'rei or, hiya asur asur choshech. Sometimes we use oil. Oil is very expensive. Oil can be very expensive, it's considered a commodity. And oil elevates everything it's added to. Something with oil. Something with oil is considered mu'chdar, it's elevated. Oil is light. Oil glistens and it shines. But she did something in the dark. She did something in the dark. She doesn't use oil on her korban which illuminates and shines. U'lo yeitein aleha levona, you don't use frankincense, levona. Why? She imahos nikras levona. Because our matriarchs were called levona. Give us levona. Vihi pirsha midarkhehen. She didn't learn from their ways. She didn't act like one of our matriarchs. So Rashi says you see in her korban, her korban reflects so much about her mistake and where she went wrong, her korban. Number one, it's made from barley not wheat, she acted like an animal not a human being. Number two, there's no oil because she didn't act with light, she didn't act enlightened, she what she did was in the dark. And number three, there's no levona because the matriarchs are righteous mothers were called Lavona, and she did not follow in their path. She did not walk in their in their way. In their way. Good. So, Rebbe Hirsch Leib Bloch, Rosh Yeshiva of Telz, says the following. He has the following. These are very subtle allusions. When she brings this carbon in the Beis Hamikdash, you think she realizes there's no oil? It must be because I acted in the dark. There's no Lavona. It must be because I didn't follow the matriarchs. And it's made made from barley because it must be acted like an animal. And you want to give her a patch? You want to give her mussar? Tell her straight out. Explicitly. Let her have it. Let her know. Give her a mussar shmooze. Why are you embedding such subtle allusions and hints that she likely won't even notice? Such little hints. Barley, not wheat. No oil cuz she was in the dark. No Lavona, she didn't follow the mothers. So, he says we have powerful lessons that sometimes when you want to give someone mussar and feedback, it's not explicitly or overtly, it's not overpoweringly. It's subtly and it's with nuance, and it seeps in, and the person's capable of hearing and learning from it. Sometimes when you let someone have it, the stronger you are, the more they recoil and react in the moment, but it doesn't last. It's a hyper reaction to a hyper action in the moment, but it dissipates and disappears quickly. But if you subtly and in a nuanced way, you get a message across that this was beneath you. You acted like an animal, but you're a human being. That you have role models of matriarchs that you should have followed. They need to come out of the dark and live in the light. That sometimes the more subtle, the more nuanced our message, the deeper it'll penetrate, the more transformational it will be than the explicit, overt, or overpowering, overwhelming, strong response that we sometimes that we sometimes have. That we sometimes have. The Gra talks about the little differences that we make. The Gra once was with a fellow Jew at an inn, where all good Jewish stories happen, and he saw this non-observant Jew, this Mashumun, this heretic and atheist, was eating without a Bracha. The Vilna Gaon said, "No, you forgot to make a Bracha." So, the atheist looks at him and says, "Forget to make a Bracha. Vilna Gaon, I'm an atheist. I'm a heretic. I don't believe I'm a Mashumun. A Bracha you're worried about?" So, I'm a law gra. Lo yachshov shezeh shemish tamei poter osamei o neshama gilo. You think that cuz you're a Mashumun, you're not also accountable for the fact that you skipped the Bracha? Even being a Mashumun, Hashem cares about each and every little thing. Yisbu mimenu al kol halachos like him gam al prota maktana bioser. Even the small things, even the little things, Hashem also cares about. Vachein advar meforashim haRambam. The Rambam writes this in one of his letters, Iggeres haShmad. Teida shetzarich laleida ikar ikar haDas. Sheirov ben Avada from him as yeser hagoyim avodah zarah et hashinom avodah below. Yeravam ben Navat, who was a rasha marusha, who led people astray. Hashem held them accountable cuz they didn't make an error of Tishlan. Really? That's the little thing you held them accountable for? Yeah, the answer is even when a person is failed or come up short on the big, you have to care about the little. That's the subtle message that comes across to the Sota, but the inverse is also true. Listen to this incredible insight. Listen to this incredible insight. This Ishes Sota, this woman, what happens if she's innocent? She's tested. She secluded herself. She locked herself in a room. What happens? She gets pregnant. Why does she get pregnant? The one Sota says if she suffered infertility, she conceives. I'm going to do what you could do. So you're motivating. This was Hannah threatened Hashem. Hannah showed an act of Kedusha. Hannah showed a brazenness. She said, "Hashem, here's the deal. Give me a child. If not, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to lock myself in a room with a man. I'm not going to do anything wrong, but the very fact that I'll be warned and witnessed and then lock myself in a room. When I drink those Mayim Marim, you know what will happen? Then I'll conceive. That's your promise." It's not only the barren. You're not only rewarding those with infertility. Hashem had an answered her. You're not only rewarding those with infertility, but the Gemara elaborates and says, "If you have a girl and you want a boy, you'll have a boy. If you had gave birth in pain, you'll give birth without pain. It's not only those who were barren. Even those who previously had children will be blessed." So the question begs itself. Question begs itself. This woman, is she so innocent? Should this woman get the Ishes Chayil of the Year award at the shul dinner? No. Why not? Because it's true that it turns out that she didn't do anything wrong when she was in the room, but she was in the room. She was told, "Don't seclude yourself with another man." She has a tendency, she's flirtatious, she's been talking to this other man, or maybe she won't seclude herself. So, the husband says, "Don't do it again." Kenna V'stira. Kenna is in witness to see she locked herself in a room. She violated Yichud. Mike Pence doesn't violate Yichud, and she violated Yichud. So, it's true that she didn't cross any boundary when she was locked in that room. Good, you got away. You were lucky, you didn't give in to that urge, you didn't do anything in the room. But, you're not a tzadekes. You're not a tzadekes. What'd you do going locked in the room? So, why does she get this reward? I understand she doesn't die the horrific graphic death. That makes sense. But, why is she blessed with this beautiful gift of children, of a child? Chasam Sofer is bothered by this question. Chasam Sofer says, She underwent countless bizyonos. First, the whole world knew. They saw her getting dragged to the Beis Hamikdash, to the Mishkan, to the Kohen. He uncovers her hair, which is very demeaning and degrading. This is the source, by the way, for married women having to cover their hair, from the fact that when she's challenged about her marriage, her hair is uncovered. You see from the fact that the Kohen uncovers her hair, that ordinarily a married woman has to have her hair covered. So, she suffers bizyonos. It's degrading, it's embarrassing, every blog, every headline is following this trial, is following this accusation. Is it true? Whose side are you on? Justice for the husband, or justice for the wife? Hashtag which one do you believe? It's terrible bizyonos. She'll never get a part again in a movie. She suffers terrible bizyonos. So, Chasam Sofer says, "The very fact that she suffers these terrible bizyonos, that in itself makes her worthy of the reward if in fact she was innocent. She paid the piper. She put in her time for the embarrassment that she suffers, and therefore she gets the reward. That's the Chasam Sofer's answer. I'm not satisfied by it. Cuz again, I would understand, you did something wrong, you don't get rewarded. Okay, you don't get punished, but you don't get rewarded. So, Rav Elyashiv Lopian Rav Elyashiv has a different answer. Rav Elyashiv has a different answer. He says the following. The Gemara Makkos tells us that yoshev v'lo avera nistamlich k'ilu asa mitzvah. If a person sits and has an opportunity and is tempted by the chance to do an avera, but they don't do it, they get a reward as if they did a mitzvah. Get a reward as if they did a mitzvah. In other words, you're sitting there with some delicious non-kosher and it looks good and it smells great, you really want it, but you don't eat it. So, I would have said, great, you don't get a reward. You just didn't do an avera, you don't get punished, you didn't do anything wrong. You were neutral. You didn't do anything right either. You just didn't do anything wrong. But the Gemara Makkos chov gemul tells us that when you're tempted to do something wrong and you overcome it, you've not just not done something wrong, you've done something right. It's k'ilu you did a mitzvah and you get a reward for it. Says the Rav Elyashiv, listen to how powerful this is. Such a powerful partial perspective for today. It's true this woman did something wrong. It's true she locked herself in a room, she secluded herself with a man who wasn't her husband after she was warned and cautioned not to. It's true she did something wrong. But when she had the chance to compound it, when the actual chance to make it much worse, when she had the chance to sink and spiral downward fast by then doing something wrong with that man, she didn't. And for that, she deserves to be rewarded. For that, she deserves a reward. Yes, the punishment for the fact that she secluded herself, she suffers the terrible bizayonus. She's humiliated and embarrassed. But you know what? She could have done more that was wrong and she stopped. She stopped. She didn't. It's a big hisuk. A person is looking at something on the internet they shouldn't look at and they look at it for 59 minutes straight. But in the 60th minute they stop. Their conscience kicks in and they say I shouldn't be looking at this. I shouldn't be acting out on it and they turn it off and they turn away. So do you say, "Wow, what a lowlife ice warf miserable unholy terrible person. They looked at the wrong thing. They acted in the wrong way." So Baruch who is making burning gehenna? Maybe for the first 59 minutes. Probably not, but maybe. But we should not dismiss or discount that in that 60th minute Kodesh Baruch who says, "Wow, I love you. That means something. It means something to me." You spoke lashon hara for 20 minutes and in the 21st minute you said, "You know what? Let's stop talking about this. My conscience has kicked in. Not just cuz I ran out of good juicy lashon hara. I still have plenty more to share, but my conscience kicked in and I don't want to compound it and add to it. Does it matter? Does it make a difference? Absolutely. It counts and he cares. So much so that this woman, she did the wrong thing by secluding herself, but when she then stopped herself, Kodesh Baruch who cares. It matters. It makes a difference. So you see the atheist who makes a bracha, Kodesh Baruch who is not so happy they don't believe in him, but the little bracha matters. The little things, they matter. They make a difference. They have a cosmic implication. They matter to a Kodesh Baruch. They matter. Why do we say she doesn't bring the levona? She doesn't bring the levona, the frankincense, cuz our imos, our matriarchs are called levona and she didn't live darkheim. She didn't live in their path. She didn't follow in their way. So what? Was she really meant to live like them? Is that even a possibility? So Pnei Menachem Leibovitz, the Rosh Yeshiva of Chofetz Chaim zt"l, he says "Tefillah ein al kashya al gedulas imos." She's not accountable that she didn't live on the level of Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah. Who can? Who can? They're the amount for a reason. Who can? That's what we're holding her accountable for? That she wasn't sort of Leia, she doesn't bring in her carbon. They're called she didn't live like them. So says the of time, note look carefully, that is not what it says. It doesn't say she's accountable because she didn't reach their level. Rather, he she separated me and from their path, from their way. It's not that she didn't live like them, it's that she didn't aspire to live on their path, in their direction. She didn't take that trajectory. We are not accountable for not reaching those levels. We're accountable for not having that ambition, that aspiration, for not making that effort, for not caring or for not trying. That we are accountable for. Tomorrow has all tell us tells us that a person has to say to themselves every day, "When will my actions reach the actions of my forefathers?" Not when will I become them? I'm not a capable of becoming them. I'm not meant to become them. We spoke before all about being welcome. You have to stay in your lane, you have to know your place. You're not meant to be sort of you're not meant to be Jacob. So how why doesn't she bring the owner? Not because she wasn't them, but because she didn't aspire or have an ambition, she didn't have the drive to follow in their footsteps, to walk in their to walk in their way. The mega Joseph of can ask a great question. When does she bring the carbon? When she's accused before she drinks the water. You don't yet know the outcome. We don't yet know whether she was guilty. So why does she bring cuz it's Michael you don't know if she acted like an animal yet. The jury's still out. The water results haven't come back. She brings the carbon of barley barley not wheat because she acted like an animal, but it's before we yet know if she acted like the animal. An animal acts on nature. Says the mice of a hema is not the fact that she what she did in that seclusion with that man. That's not the mice of a hema. The mice of a hema was that she allowed herself to be secluded. What she did in that room may be a mice of a hema or not. But that was the very act of of going into the room was a mice of a hema. She acted like an A hema is ungrateful to the owner who gives it food. And this woman was ungrateful to the relationship, unfaithful to a relationship that had responsibility to it. So you're right, it's before the results are in, but the mice of a hema was not necessarily what happened in the room, it was even the ability to go in the room to begin with. To go in the room to begin with. You know, once a person's in that room, in that situation, in that setting, it's difficult if not impossible to overcome the animal impulse. The whole reason we have an institutional of prohibition of yichud is to say don't put yourself in that circumstance. Don't put yourself in that situation. Cuz once you're in that situation and circumstance, it's almost impossible not to fall or fail. So the key in the core is don't even get there to begin with. To stay true and honest, to never ever get there to begin with. This parsha is incredible. Birchas Kohanim we have all of them the korbanos of the Nesiim that repeated over and over and over again. I only had 100 more divrei Torah to tell you. Ish ki ofli lindor neder. Yozair otzmo min hayom, is a nazir good or bad? The role of wine, why become a nazir? Yavi oso is brought. Otzmo, we have to bring ourselves, personal responsibility. I have another hour of shiur prepared here. Who's in for another hour? Don't worry, I'm not, so you're okay. You're okay. Make a l'chaim. Let's make a l'chaim. Klim achsik brocha. Need a klim achsik brocha. We'll end with the end of the parsha, one more insight. One more insight. Vayihi b'yom kalos Moshe l'hakim es hamishkan. Very end of the parsha, Zion aleph, perek Zion pasuk aleph, 7:1. Towards the end of the parsha, we'll miss him. Vayihi b'yom kalos Moshe l'hakim es hamishkan. Vayimshachu es avdei hakodesh es avdei hakodesh v'yom vayimshachem. Vayikadishu es avdei hakodesh, on the day that Moshe finished inaugurating the mishkan, he anointed and sanctified it and the utensils and the altar and everything in it. Zocher Rashi l'nemar b'yom hakim. Says b'yom kalos Moshe l'hakim. On the day that Moshe finished inaugurating. Doesn't say the day that he established. Mal amur sheko shivah shivah amur b'yom Moshe madim umefarko. For 7 days Moshe put it together, took it apart, put it together, took it apart. V'yom shivah yom madim umefarko, on the seventh day put it together, he didn't take it apart. D'kach nemar b'yom kalos Moshe l'hakim, oso yom kalu hakmoso. It was the end of putting together and taking apart. Doesn't say he put it together for the first time. It was the erection, the inauguration, it was the end of putting it together and taking it apart. Why did he do that so many times? Why did he have to put it together and take it apart so many times? How many times? Seven. Why? It's not a coincidence, says Rav Zeidel Epstein. Ki sheva yipol tzaddik v'kam. We have the idea that a Tzadik falls seven times and gets up. You're not called a Tzadik if you don't fall seven times and get up. The things that we build get destroyed. The things that we construct fall apart. The things that we build sometimes unravel. In life we have mistakes and we have failures and we have shortcomings. In life we fall. Moshe Rabbeinu was modeling for us the idea of standing up each time that you fell. That you put it together even when it comes apart then you put it together again even if it comes apart. Then Moshe himself was modeling for us, don't become disheartened and don't despair. Don't become hopeless and don't become helpless cuz even the great Moshe Rabbeinu for the Mishkan, seven days, seven times, Kisever Yipol Tzadik V'kom, we will fall and the key and the definition of being a Tzadik is our ability and our willingness to get back up. Again, we will not have Shiur next two weeks in person, whether we will stream it live online, I'll let you know.