Ki Savo: Please Hashem.......Let Us Be To the Head & Not the Tail

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That's all you need to do. >> [clears throat] >> Okay, we have an amazing topic today. And parshas kisaveh Hashem says that if you keep the Torah, you observe the law when the sun Hashem the roish God will make you a head below you and not a tail. The highest Iraq la mala you will be only up below you see a la mata, you will not be down. Kishish ma, this will happen when you listen El Mitzvos Hashem Elokecha." So, the promise is you will be a head and not a tail. You will not be on the uh back end of LC, wagging a tail. Instead, you will be a head. What exactly does it mean to be a head and not to be a tail? And why then why the need to say once you're a head, obviously you're not a tail. On the other hand, in the Tochacha, "Hu Yialvecha Viyata Lo Yisaveinu. Hu Yiyaleh Raish Hi." The Akum will be a Raish, will be a head. "Viyata Ti'aleh Zanav." And you will be a tail. So, if we observe the law, we will be a Raish and they will be a tail. If we observe the law, we will be a head and not a tail. If we don't observe the law, it's interesting. When we observe the law, we'll be a head and we won't be a tail. And they won't even they won't either be a tail. They'll be so they won't even be the tail. As opposed to by the Tochacha, it's he will be the head and you will be the tail. Likewise, on Rosh Hashanah, the Shulchan Aruch says something that may come as a surprise to you. Because many people say this to hear a sign, but they don't necessarily have the optimum item of choice to be able to make the hear a sign. The Shulchan Aruch says, "Ochlim Raish Keves." You eat the head of a ram. "Lomar to say, Ni'a L'Raish V'Lo L'Zanav." Now, for years and years, we only had the head of a fish. And now, uh every year, my friend brings me the head of a ram. And it's much better. The head of a ram, first of all, it's it elicits much more excitement. And I think the Yehi Ratzon just works much better, you know? But that's the ideal mention that's the ideal way to have this Yehi Ratzon. That Oichlin Rosh Keves Lo Eimar Niya Lo Rosh Lo Eimar Not the head of a fish, not the head of a not the head of a chicken, the head of a ram. By the way, the Mishna Berurah says, if you don't have the head of a ram, eat the head of a another animal or the head of a bird. But the optimum is the head of a ram. The Tur brings, you eat the head of the ram and the lungs to say Niya Lo Rosh Lo Lo Zanav. Why the lungs? Because it's light. The Rema Mi Rottenberg would say not the head of a Keves, a sheep, but the head of a ram as a Zecher to the Aiyel of Yitzchak. As a Zecher to the Aiyel of Yitzchak. The Beis Yosef brings that the Mordechai would write in the name of the Gaonim um that we use the head of a sheep and we we are mispallel She Niya Lo Rosh Lo Lo Zanav. So, there's a question that Rav Zalman Sorotzkin deals with in his Sefer that once we ask to be a head, why is it necessary to iterate not to be a tail? Obviously, if you're a head, you're not a tail. So, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin says like this in his Sefer Ha De'ah Ve Ha Dibur, Ois Chaf Alef, Chelek Beis, Ois Chaf Alef. He asks, Lama Anu Masifin, why do we add Lo Lo Zanav? We already said She Niya Lo Rosh. Why is it necessary to say Lo Lo Zanav? He says because there are some heads that are worse than tails. Like the mission says in Avot, Rabbi Masya ben Charash omer, havei maktim bishlaym kol adam. You should introduce, you should advance the peace of all men. Tehave zanav la'arayot, you should be a tail to lions. The al tihi rosh lashu'alim. Don't be the head of foxes. Better to be a tail of lions than to be a head of foxes. So, it's not enough to say she ni'a la'rosh because there's some tails that are better than roshas. For example, it's better to be a tail of lions than to be a head of foxes. He says since there is a head which is worse than a tail, like it says have a zanav la'arayot the al tihi rosh lashu'alim, be a tail of lions and not a head of foxes. So, we don't want to just ask to be a head. So, what we do is we say we don't want to be a tail at all, even to lions. Even among the lions, we want to be a head. You see, we don't just say we want to be a head. We say we don't even want to be a tail. So, then asked of Zalman Sorotzkin, so why don't we say explicitly, let's be a head of lions? He says, no, that would be maybe too arrogant to explicitly ask to be a head of lions. So, we say we want to be a head, but don't think it means any old head. It means and not a tail. E and from there we can infer we don't want to be a tail of lions. We want The implication is we want to be even the head of lions. Okay. In the Sifrei Devarim Rabbah, Zalman Sorotzkin says also he's bothered, why do we have to add velo lezanav? We already said she yi'a la'rosh. He says in his first answer, if we're just going to say we want to be a head, there are some people who are heads and leaders but in the eyes of Hashem, they're a zanav. Like it says, "Zaken unasu apanim is a rosh and um and a navi and a moreh sheker is really a zanav. So, when we say we want to be a rosh, we say not just a rosh in the eyes of people, "V'lo l'zanav." We don't want to be a zanav in the eyes of Hashem. And then he says another explanation in somewhat of a humorous vein, "Sometimes the fishermen, when they sell fish, what they do is they take the head and they appendage it straight to the tail without the body in between. That's That's sometimes the way of presenting a cut-up fish. The head appendaged to the tail. So, we say, "We want to be a head, but not not a head just to a tail. Ushni al rosh and not uh we should be a rosh to a complete guf, but not a rosh just to the tail." Um and there are other interesting uh explanations for "Shayi al rosh v'lo al zanav." In the sefer "Podeh Es Avraham" of HaGaon Rabbi Avraham Palaggi, I once had the zechut to be in Izmir at the kever of Rabbi Avraham Let's see. At the Kever of Rabbi Avraham Palagi on his yard site. Let's see if this works. I once had the the privilege to be at the Kever of Rabbi Avraham Palagi. I was once at the Kever of Rabbi Avraham Palagi at his yard site in Izmir. Avraham Palagi has many, many interesting Sefarim. One of them is called Pada Es Avraham. And in the Sefer Pada Es Avraham Rabbi Avraham Palagi says the Tefillah Sheniya LeRosh is I want to do Sheniya LeRosh La'asois Retzon Avicha Sheba'shamayim. LeRosh stands for La'asois Retzon Avicha Sheba'shamayim. VeLo LeZanav. LeZanav is we don't want to be to the snake who the the Torah says Ve'atah Tishufenu Akev. You're going to step on his step on him with your heel. So, we we were saying we want to be dedicated La'asois Retzon Avicha Sheba'shamayim. That's the Tefillah Sheniya LeRosh VeLo LeZanav. Sheniya LeRosh VeLo LeZanav. By the way, in the Sefer Pardes Yosef on Rosh Hashanah on Rabbi Yosef Baim Garten, he says also the Remez Sheniya LeRosh La'asois Retzon Avicha Sheba'shamayim. So, that's another interpretation of Sheniya LeRosh VeLo LeZanav. So, Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin says we want to be a rosh, not just of of shualim, but of arayos. We want to be a rosh b'einei Hashem. We want to be a rosh, but not a rosh to the zanav. We want to be able to do lasos with tzina v'chashmal v'chashmalim." And then, this is the in a way the the deepest pshat of all. The Gemara Megillah on daf yud alef beis says that the navi predicts that Hashem will cut off from Bavel she'er. Hashem will cut off uh nin v'neched she'er. And the go the Gemara says, "What does it mean Hashem will cut off from Bavel she'er?" It means lashon. God will cut off the Babylonian language. So, Tosafos asks, "Really? But then that prophecy never came to fruition because they still speak Babylonian in Bavel. They still speak Ar- Aramaic in Bavel." Says Tosafos, "Kasha. Shadayin hein misaprin b'Bavel b'lashon Aramis." Says the Maharal in the sefer Or Chadash, that regarding Tosafos' kasha, that they still use the language, they still write, they still have the script in Bavel of Aramaic, says that the Maharal, "This is not a question at all. Yes, they still have it. But at this point in time, the only reason they have it is because they still have it. They don't have it because they have it, they have it because they still have it. The meaning is, there's some things that the only reason you have them is because they're still in your house. Other Had they not been in their house, you never would have bought it in a million years. If you weren't lazy, you would discard it. You would toss it out. And the reason you have it is because you still have it. It's still there. It's still sitting in your house. The reason why the Babylonians have Aramaic is not because they want to have Aramaic. They choose to have Aramaic. There is no vitality in the language. There is no life in the language. They don't want to have the language. It's just still there as a relic and a dinosaur of the past. That's not called having a language. That's called the language is dead like a doorknob. Something that you have because it's still there is not called having it. It's just by default because of inaction and uninterest, it's just still there. So, when the Gemara quotes the navi that their language will be cut off, it is cut off. Are they still have it? Yeah, but they're not speaking it out of a vitality. It's lifeless. It's lifeless. So, this is what it means V'hecharati L'Bavel nin v'neched sha'er. Comes Rav Shimshon Pincus in his sefer Tiferes Shimshon on parshas Ki Savo and he says something really fantastically remarkably amazing. When the tochacha says >> [clears throat] >> first the the parsha says that if you do the will of Hashem, Hashem will make you a head and not a tail. But if you violate his will, then they will be the head and you will be the tail, which is the same tfila we have on Rosh Hashanah. Y'ratzu m'lfanecha Hashem Elokeinu u'lkeveisei nu shani al rosh v'lo al >> Which by the way, there's a whole discussion, when is the right time to make the Y'hi Ratzon? You know, it's interesting. First, you want to make the bracha. Yeah, first you want to make the bracha. Because if you eat from it, it's not going to be the over shalem. So, you want to make the bracha. You eat from it. And then you make the Y'hi Ratzon. So, you you have it. You eat from it. And then you make the Y'hi Ratzon. This way you're making a bracha on a davar shalem. And it's important to make the bracha before you make the Y'hi Ratzon. Because as Rav Shimon Pesach Frank teaches, before you make your own request, you want to praise Hashem. So, first you make the bracha. You eat from it. And then you praise Hashem. If Now, there's certain foods that you're not going to be Maybe you don't have. Or certain foods maybe uh you're not going to eat from. Maybe you don't know how to check it for bugs. Or uh maybe a person's allergic. Then you can make the Y'hi Ratzon just by looking at it. Cuz there are two gemaras in Shas. One gemara says um Y'hi ragel adam l'mechal, you should be accustomed to eating. And one gemara says Y'hi um Y'hi ragel l'machaze, to look at. So, if you can't eat it, you could also make the Y'hi Ratzon if you look at it. So, Rav Shimshon Pincus once said, "What exactly is this important request? Hashem, we want to be a head and not a tail." He says, "This is a request that manifests and is reflect reflected in all aspects of life and society." There's some people who they do everything right, but they're the caboose. Other people are dragging them. The reason they learn is cuz their friends are learning. The reason they dive in with a minion is because their friends are diving with a minion. The reason why they go to the sheer is cuz that's what everyone else is doing. They don't do anything on their own initiative. They don't do anything out of their own volition. They allow They like to be dragged along. So, their entire life is they're one big tail. They're doing it cuz their rush of Shiva asked them to told them to they have peer pressure, social pressure, um their parents want them to, their family wants them to, their spouse wants them to, but they're always being dragged. They never do anything on their own. So, they're a product of being a zone of. Imagine if I have a simcha or somebody came up to shamayim and the person said, "I went through the whole shas. I went through the daf yomi five cycles." And they said in shamayim, "Yeah, but you're a big tail." You did it because you saw other people doing it. So, at least the guy could say, "Yeah, but at least I was a tail to the right kind of head. At least I was a zone of la arayos and not a rosh la shualim." But still, that's not what we're aiming for. We want our avodas Hashem to be through our choice because that's what we want to do, because that's who we are. We want to be independent. We want to be our own We want our good deeds and our spiritual achievements to be through our own choice and our own volition. But now Rav Shimshon Pinkus takes it to the next step. You have people who they learned because at one point in time they wanted to learn. At one point of time they wanted to come early to davening. At one point of time they wanted to be uh involved and immersed in our way that's Hashem. But now 10 years later, 15 years later, 25 years later their fire has waned. Their excitement has diminished. Their enthusiasm has dulled. And all the good deeds they're doing they're not doing now because they're doing now. They're just a tail of yesterday. They're just continuing to learn every day. They're just continuing to daven with some emotion. They're just still acting with uh following the rats and Hashem. So, yes, we give them credit for the good habits they formed. We give them credit for having initiated a very uh dedicated path. But if we allow our fire to decrease and we allow our intensity and our dedication to dull and now basically we're just follow we're followers. You know who we're following? Sometimes we're just following ourselves. Sometimes we're just following yesterday. That's also called being a tail. It's nice that we stirred up the fire 20 years ago. But we're not stirring up the fire daily. Every day you need to stir it up. Every day you need to say I'm going to daven today like the entire fate and the destiny of the Jewish people is dependent on me. Not just because we did it yesterday or 20 years ago. I know we were fired up maybe when you were a young man or young woman learning in base medrash or seminary or but we don't want to be a product in a tail of our Russia Shiva. We don't want to be a product of a tail of our parents. We don't want to be a product of a tail of our society and we don't want to be a product and be a tail of ourselves. We want our avodas Hashem to have life and vitality and enthusiasm not just because we did it yesterday because every day we want to be a rosh to ourselves because as the Maral teaches if the language is being employed and utilized not because we the country wants to use it just because it's still using it then it's a dead language. And if our avodas Hashem is not because we're choosing to serve Hashem but we're just tailing ourselves that's also not an avodas Hashem with vitality. So that is an element of the request. Shania Yirasainu Milfanecha Hashem Elokeinu v'Elokei Avoseinu Shania L'Rosh Shania L'Rosh means we want to be a rosh of arayos of lions. Shania L'Rosh means we don't we want to be a rosh b'einei Hashem not just b'einei Bnei Adam. Shania L'Rosh means la'asois retzone Avicha sheba'shamayim and as Rav Shimshon Pinkus teaches similar to the great insight of the Maral that's something that is just still being done just because it was yesterday that is called cut off. We don't want to be tailing other people and we don't want to be just tailing ourselves. So this is a good preparation for the siman of Rosh Hashanah Shania L'Rosh v'lo l'zanav. That is today's share for you. And with on that note, I wish you an amazing day. And brochos v'hatzlacha, shkoyach, my holy brothers. >> Shkoyach, thank you. >> Yes, shkoyach. >> And Rabbi Glassman, can I have the mar komos? >> Yes, sure. >> Thank you. >> Let me just make sure I send it. >> Thank you very much. >> Where is it? Okay, have a good day, everyone. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Shkoyach. >> Goodbye.