Parshas Vaeschanan, Tisha B'Av, and Loving Eyes

We continue the journey of the book of Deuteronomy. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moshe is giving a very long farewell talk to the Jewish people. It starts off with him telling how telling the Jews how he's praying and praying and praying that God will allow him into the land. And God effectively says, "If you keep praying, we're going to have to let you and I can't let you. So, please stop praying." Which is kind of an interesting thing like then if if you want to let if you both want it, then just let him do it. Okay, that's a separate discussion for a separate time. Um there is a powerful lesson there, but we'll have to save that for another time. Just something to think about. Moshe then continues to warn the Jewish people against sin, against idolatry. You're going to get to this land. You got to be careful. You got to be careful not to get sucked into the culture. Your job is to transform Cananan and turn it into the land of Israel rather than get absorbed or assimilated into the Canananite culture and totally lose your identity and totally lose your mission and your purpose and everything. Don't get lost. Um I think it's important to note by the way that that was yesterday's portion of right. It happens not happens it happens without coincidence but with intention. It happens to be that we read that portion on tishab. That is the Torah reading for tishab. The day that we mourn the destruction of the b mik of the temple. We read about Moshe warning us be careful. Don't get lost into exile. Then there's almost like this surprise like we interrupt this program to tell you about the laws of the ar miklat. The city of refuge. Moshe designates three cities of the cities of refuge. We familiar with the city of refuge. City of refuge is this safety zone. Anybody here ever been to South Africa? Okay. In South Africa, South Africa, especially Johannesburg, is not particularly uh a safe place. There's a lot of crime, but it's a very strong Jewish community. So the Jewish community has their own private security called CAP. And CAP, which is their private security that kind of patrols the community, has safety zones. They have tents like every block. In the event that you're being chased, you run into the tent and there's a guard there to protect you. So whenever we were in South Africa, once I saw that, I'm like, this is the city of refuge. The city of refuge is a space where one can take refuge to were they to commit a certain crime unintentionally. They killed somebody by accident and now the family is chasing him to avenge his blood. He gets to run to the city of refuge and protect himself. It's not only a safety zone and protection, it's also rehabilitation because who lives in the city of refuge? The Levim, the Levites. The land of Israel is divided in according to the tribes and each tribe has their region. They own that land. They do business. They do trade. They do farming. That's how they support themselves. That's how they make money and they're able to give charity and support the service in the bas. The Levites don't own land. Their job is to serve God. So, they're given the land of the city of refuge to live in. And in that city of refuge, this unintentional criminals placed in a rehabilitative environment around holy people. So he could become holy again. Even though what he did was by accident, but he still landed a uh circumstance in life that is reflective of something that is not ideal in him that needs to be corrected. Commentaries do question why this is being discussed now. Like why is this relevant here? Why are you telling me this? Now if you just look at the basic interpretation of Rashi Ramban and some others, Moshe is excited to do a mitzvah or at least start the process of doing a mitzvah. Moshe does not yet make it to the land of Israel, which means he's not actually going to formally separate or consecrate the cities of refuge. He's not going to for formally uh what's it called when you inaugurate I guess inaugurate the cities of refuge because he's not going to be there. But at least he's going to start the process. Why is that meaningful? Mosha is never going to see the city of refuge. He's never going to get to know anybody going to that city of refuge. He's never going to go to the land of Israel yet until Mashia comes. Why is he what does he care? So commentaries derive the importance of engaging in a mitzvah even if you're not getting the full credit for the mitzvah, even if you're just starting the mitzvah. Kuyakar, one of the commentators gives an example of an elderly person who suspects that he doesn't have too much time left, but he has this urge to plant an esrog tree. You know how long it takes for an estrog tree to start but budding let alone grow estrogs? Four years. And even though it's likely or at least possible, not to be a pessimist here, but then he might not benefit from that tree, he's willing to do it for his children. Even though he's not getting the mitzvah, he values mitzvah objectively. He wants Jews to be able to do mitzvah. Moshe is talking to a new generation of Jewish people, the second generation from the receiving the Torah at Mount Si. The generation that's about to inherit the land. And he's teaching them a message. You're about to go into the land. Remember what's truly important. And even if you can't fully engage what's in what's truly important, don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Engage in a mitzvah to the extent that you can. Now there's another lesson here that I I very important. When Moshe is himself inaugurating or at least beginning the process of inaugurating the cities of refuge, who is he addressing? somebody who killed somebody, albe it unintentionally. But Moshe is willing to give attention and special care, not just to the quote unquote holy people, but Moshe cares about all people. And if somebody lands in a space that is in life that is less ide than that is less than ideal to the point that they might have to go to the city of refuge. We don't have cities of refuge these days. But if God forbid we found ourselves becoming the kind of person that would have had to have gone to a city of refuge, know that Moshe was thinking of you and values you and hasn't written you off. So I I want to share with you an interesting law from the Talmud and from the Rambam. Here's what it says. The verse in our portion says that Moshe separates the city of refuge. What's the city of what's the purpose of the city? Somebody who god forbid kills somebody or does some sort of crime. He shall travel to one of these cities of God. He should live. He should go to one of those cities and live. That's what that's what the Torah says. And the Talmud says, "Well, yeah, of course he's going to live." Like, that's why he's going there. Why are you telling me that? So, the Talmud derives something else here from here. a student who accidentally killed somebody that has to go to exile. His teacher has to go with him. And that's what it means. He has to live. He has to like he can't go without Torah. What happens if you don't have Torah and you're a Jew? What happens if you don't have Torah and you're a Jew immersed in Torah study and Torah is your life? So if you don't have Torah, you don't have life. You might be breathing, but you're you're missing something. There's going to be a certain part of your soul that you feel is being sucked out of you. I mean, that's a pretty holy student, right? We've compelled the teacher to go with him, which is I I want to put this in brackets. I just think this is interesting because Levites study Torah, too. So, no offense, Levites, but you're not good enough. He needs to have his teacher. I I mean, I think that's powerful. This guy is so committed to Torah study. It's not enough to have generic Torah study, he needs his own teacher to come with him, which isn't really fair, but that's fine. The Rambam adds something. Here's what the Rambam says when he quotes this law of the Talmud. Ju just so you understand the context here, the Talmud is going to tell us laws that we derive from biblical verses, right? Mymonities is going to just tell us the law. He's not going to give you the whole background how you how we got there. That's just not his role. His role is really just to be like a more encyclopedic like here's the law. The Rambam quotes that same law as the from the Talmud, but the Rambam adds that the life of those who possess wisdom and those who request it, you're going to have to remember this, okay? The life of those who possess wisdom and those who seek it without studying of Torah, they're considered to be dead. That's what Ram says he needs his teacher with him because those who possess wisdom and those who seek wisdom are dead without that wisdom. I'll tell you the irony here. Bear with me guys. The Talmud says something fascinating. You know what the Talmet continues to say? There's another law we derive from here. Be careful who you choose as students because if you choose the wrong students, you might end up being exiled with them. be selective with who you allow in your classroom, with who you uh take under your toutelage because should you end up choosing the wrong guy and he does something that he shouldn't have, he's going to end up in prison, he's going to have to go to exile. Okay, it's rehabilitated, but whatever. You have to uproot your family and your life and your existence and move to a strange town and you're never allowed to leave ever again until the ken gole dies and now you're stuck with this guy. The tal says be careful of your student who you choose as your students. Do you notice a contradiction here? This student who we want to be careful of this prototype, what qualities does he possess? He's passionate about studying. The Rambam references him as the possessor of wisdom and the type of person who seeks wisdom to whom if he doesn't have Torah study, it's like he's dead. This guy loves Torah. He loves God. But he loves the wisdom. He seeks it. But be careful. He might not be a good student. Wh what is a good student then? If that's not the kind of person you would want in your classroom, and if that's not the kind of person you would hope would be a good role model, if that's the kind of person you'd suspect of murder, albeit unintentionally, who could you trust in life? Like, what what's going on here? A lot of commentaries ask this question when studying the Raam here. Like you could tell me, okay, be careful with your students, whatever. But if you're telling me he's the type of guy that possesses wisdom, he's the type of guy that seeks wisdom and to him without star he's considered to be like dead and therefore a teacher has to go with him. Therefore, be careful who you choose as your students. It's like there's some sort of tension here. We're missing something. You guys ready for the reframe? Fascinating how when the Reb reads this passage of Rambam, how he explains it literally one letter that he tells us we're misransating. And if we could learn to just translate, you know what I say all the time, guys, translations are dangerous. If we learn to translate this properly, we're going to learn how to look at people differently. And when we learn to look at people differently, we become more empathetic. And even if they're going into exile, we cannot lose our respect for them. We could still follow them. See, here's what the here's how the Reb interprets the Rambam. Rather than reading those who possess wisdom and those who seek it, if they don't have to study, they are considered to be dead. The real way to translate it is not and but or those who possess wisdom or those who seek it. You can have the type of guy who lacks wisdom. By the way, you know this from from Tanya and fromidus. Wisdom is code word. Wisdom doesn't just mean you are uh you possess information. What does it mean to be truly wise? So wisdom is synonymous with vital with openness. The most the deepest connection you have with God on a conscious level, not on a subconscious level, but on a conscious level isma is is the sole attribute of wisdom because that's the part of you that's open to something bigger than yourself. That's literally what a wise person does. A wise person knows how to listen and say, "I might not understand this. Let me be open-minded and and and and internalize and and not just let me dump my preconceived notions and be open to something bigger than me and not think I know everything. Right? That's real wisdom. With that comes Bitell, which I'm avoiding to translate on purpose, but with that comes Help me out, guys. It's not humility. It's I'm absorbed in something bigger than me. And the Ram says those who have wisdom contains all that or those who seek it. It's two different things. You can have the wise guy who is faithful and passionate and he's the good boy. Or you could have the guy, you know, like the the teacher writes on the report card, he has potential. You know what that we all know what that means, right? You have the guy who has potential. He wants to have wisdom. I don't know if he has it or not, but he definitely wants it. And this guy who wants it doesn't have it right now, which is why he's prone to getting in trouble. Well, then why did you take him on as a student and put yourself in a position where you have this student who is less than ideal and has the potential for getting in trouble? You know what that tells us? What did the teacher see in the student? Maybe it was more than just potential. The teacher saw that yeah he doesn't have wisdom. Yeah his faith is not solidified. Yes he doesn't have complete BL but he wants to he showed up. Doesn't that mean something? I mean to I I think of like when I work with couples even in situations where they doubt their ability to repair their relationship because they're in pain. But you showed up. There's something you want. the student showed up and the teacher took that seriously and said, "Yeah, you might mess up huge because you're not there yet, but you're also showing up and I'm gonna take that version of you seriously to the extent that when this student or if the student does mess up and ends up in a position where he has to run to the city of refuge because he exhibited something he shouldn't have, even if it was unintentional, but that still says something about M teacher is going to go with him. The teacher's going to say, "You're still worth teaching. There's still something valuable about you. There's still something meaningful about you. You still matter. You are still valuable. You did something horrible. You made an irreversible mistake. And now you got to uproot your life and your family. and and you're going to have to deal with this and it's not easy and I'm still going to teach you Torah because I do see your potential as actual. I'm going to follow you into exile. What would it be like, guys, if we had teachers like that growing up in school? I I I will say I did have some teachers like that in school, but I imagine imagine as parents we were like that. Imagine as as Jews, as individuals, we believed that that's how God sees us, which literally is how God sees us. Our sages tell us that as we find ourselves in exile, God follows us into exile. God comes with us and the pain that we have in exile, God is in pain. I I think this is something, you know, as we are in the nine days and entering tishav, it's something worth reflecting on that we mourn exile, but God mourns exile, too. Now, you might ask, well, God, you could end it. I mean, I think God is looking at us and saying, "You guys can end it, right?" So, who's going to start? I don't know. I don't know what to say. Not here to I'm not here to, God forbid, justify exile. But what I am saying is as we find ourselves in this very long exile with incredible pain and difficulties that people are going through, God followed us into the exile and understands how deep it is. And he's here with us and he's saying, "I still value you." Yep. your actions brought upon destruction. But there's still a version of you that I believe in that I care about. You know, the after the destruction of the first base of Mikdos, the first temple, the Jews were exiled to Babylon. And that's when Ezra, the scribe, Ezra started authoring what ultimately evolved into what we know as the sitter. And one of the first prayers that he had authored was the kadesh. Kadesh did not exist yet. Kadesh is in Aramaic. They were living in Babylon. What does the Kadesh talk about? Let us proclaim the greatness and the holiness of God's great name. And we answer to that. May his great name be blessed, be drawn into our lives, be relevant. Why did Ezra write this after the destruction of the B mikdash? He was conveying a message, a message to God and really a message to ourselves that we are not in our land. We are not in the B mikdash. The divine presence is not experienced as it once was literally just a generation prior. And we still nonetheless proclaim the greatness of God. We are still committed. We still care. The Talmud in track says every time somebody says amen to the kadesh proclaiming the greatness of God, God regrets exile. He says why did I do that? But he's here with us experiencing it. He knows how difficult it is. The reason why he's here with us in exile because like that teacher, he sees in that student that even if you are not the possessor of wisdom and you're lacking that faith and that mistle, that humility, that openness that you still want it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be in exile. You'd just be doing your thing. Exile means you're not where you feel like you should be and you feel like you should be somewhere else. That the world should be different because that's how you because you have this perception that something's off because you want something better. Going back to our par, going back to our question, why is the Talmud or the Rambam or really a Jewish law? addressing how a teacher has to follow a student if we're addressing the kind of student that would have landed himself in less than ideal circumstances because that's not all that the teacher sees and that's not all what God sees in us and that's not all of what we're supposed to see in other people and that loving eyes that with which we see other people is what's ultimately going to bring the gula going to bring read. We got to make this world a better place.