The Inaugural Launch of המלצר נושא - Identifying the Theme of the Parsha

Okay, good morning everyone. Welcome back to the new series Zabah. So actually this year we're embarking on a very courageous journey and voyage and program a new approach to 5 years ago I think we did the ha on the para four years ago we did original insights on the para three years ago we did connecting to the para the para to the time of the year two years ago we connecting the opening and closing of the para. Last year we did explaining the juxiposition of the par. You ready for this year? First of all, it's a very courageous attempt. May Hashem help us with extra special. And the first thing I'm going to drop is the title of the series. Now, I'm not 100% sold. I'm not 100% sold. I was actually going to put it out there. Maybe someone has a good suggestion for the title. But I'm going to tell you the title even before I tell you the subject matter. The title is, you ready for this? You're sitting, your your seat belts are fastened. The title is No say what? What does that even mean? It means the waiter carried. Where does it say that? Well, it says that in safer. Okay, that's the first thing. Now before I explain the title, I'm going to tell you a little bit about what we're going to do. There are many perushim nearly every per explains the words theim sometimes it will even give you general messages. What I would like to focus on is the following. Here you have a guy. He gets up at a bra and first he tells you he's not prepared. So he needs to be escorted out of the room immediately because he has no right to waste anyone's time if he's not prepared. Then he tells you what he was thinking of saying. It's bad enough we have to hear what he's actually going to say. Now we have to hear what he was thinking of saying. Now, this is not off to a good start. He's not prepared. I need to hear what he's thinking about saying. I'm thinking maybe he should have not gotten up in the first place. Then he tells you a old stale recycle joke and now it's stream of consciousness. He's telling you a bunch of random ideas. First he tells you about then he tells you about then he tells you about um bad business decisions he's made and and then he tries to compliment the and he can't even do that. He's just criticizing them. Anyway, you know what's most absent from this person's drussa? There is no theme. There's no theme. What in the world is the guy talking about? He's just like randomly shooting shooting from the hip. Good content has to have a theme. Otherwise, there's nothing that gives it distinction as why has this information been presented together as one entity. What I would like to try to identify is what is the theme of the para? Isn't that a reasonable question? What is the theme of the para? Okay. Now before I explain uh the the basis of it, I'm going to explain the name. If I were to ask you how do you say the word theme in lash and kadesh there is no word inan maybe the topic although the word inyan is not a word that's found in tanakh in modern Hebrew the word is tma as in theme it's just a hebraicized the English word the closest word there is to theme is the word no means theme. Although it's not a word in the or it's not a word in the mission or no is the word that's used to mean theme. The reason they use the word no means to carry. What the theme does is in one short word or sentence it captures and carries the subject matter. So in other words, whenever someone gives a shar, you're entitled to ask what is the theme? In a nutshell, what was the person talking about? You don't have to say what he said, but what was he talking about? And if the answer is, well, first he spoke about this and then about that. If you can't say in one sentence what the topic was, then it's fundamentally flawed because there's nothing that carries the whole subject matter. I think it's very logical that any body of work needs a theme. Okay, now we're going to come back to that soon. Why am I choosing the title at least for now? Because if you look and say for Danielle, Daniel and Kanan Michelle Vazar were captured. And as Jews, their their diet is compromised. What are they going to eat already? They can't eat the bread of the king. It's past palter. They can't drink his wine. It's yay. They can't eat his meat. So Danielle tells the waiter, "Just feed me seeds. Just feed me." I have a friend who whose name is Danielle. He wrote a safer zero Daniel. The seeds of Daniel. Okay. So the waiter says to Daniel, "This is not a good idea. I'm going to feed you seeds. All the other attendants of the king, we're feeding them fatty hog bacon. They're going to be plump. They're going to have a reddish complexion. You you guys are going to look like your uh your skeletons. Danielle said, "Give us 10 days. After 10 days, our complexion changes. Then we'll eat whatever you want, but you'll see. We will subsist on seeds." So the the waiter said, "What what am I going to do with the king's provided food?" Danielle says, "You'll eat that. You'll take that and this way we'll eat our food." So the Pik says, "Vay." So what I was looking for is a word in Tanak where in Tanak does it say no where is the word no used in Tanakh? Now I didn't want to use that wasn't going to go over you know. So it says the waiter carried away the food in order to provide Daniel with his kasher food. So what does that have to do with this topic? So the pa continues God gave these four young men intelligence the and comprehension safer in the whole book the and wisdom in other words by the waiter carrying it away that provided Daniel and his friends with wisdom to explain the whole safer The explains, see now that Danielle didn't have to eat that food that was not kosher, he his consumption of kasher food endowed him with extra understanding to explain the whole safer. So I like to think the whole safer is a reference to being being able to uncover a theme that captures the whole safer and that was provided by the waiter. So what I would like to think is this presentation we're serving as the waiter to be able to provide understanding not of an isolated part of the para but something that carries the whole para. Okay, so that's the explanation of the name. Next, what evidence is there that a para has to have a theme? Does Rashi speak about it? No. Does the Ramban doesn't seem that way? Do any of the do any of the classic mafarim discuss the theme of the para? Therefore, so to speak, the burden of proof rests on us. Who says the premise of our sh has any firm stability? So, I'd like to suggest as follows. Number one, like I told you, you don't need evidence. It's logical. It's logical. Every body of work for it to have the distinction of being an entity must have a theme. Otherwise, what makes it a distinctive entity? I'll give you an example. The Gammoran says the Torah begins with and ends with. It begins God clothed Adam and his wife and it ends Hashem buried Moshe. What's the GRA getting at? I heard from Rev. Miller what the Gumar is getting at it is that if it begins with and it ends with that means the theme of the whole toyra is actually my friend Dr. Gdali Schwarz said, "Well, this then indicates the theme of every para is Hashem's." And you know what? That's a valid point. And maybe in a future year, we'll have a series showing how the main theme of every para is the of But that's not where I'm headed this year. Right now, we're trying to prove what evidence is there that a para has a theme. So the first is I think it's illogical. Number two, the Ramban at the end of safer boratious is bothered. Why is the book of Batius? Why is Genesis? Why is Safer Batius called Safer Hayat? Only the beginning of Sepher Batius talks about the creation of the world. Why does the whole Beratius talk about the create? Why would you call the whole safer safer if only the beginning talks about the creation of the world? And the Ramban explains that it is it is fitting for the whole book to be called because the stories and the narratives of the created the future and the destiny for their children. That means the Ramban feels the safer called safer must have a theme and that theme is creation. Likewise the Ramban wants to know safer sham is called exile and redemption. Ramb is bothered. Well, then why doesn't it end in parish when Hashem redeemed us and the Ramban develops an idea that we're not considered redeemed until we revert back to the level of the and the dwelt on the Mishkan. That means the Ramban feels a safer as an entity must have a theme. So by extension, if a safer has to have a theme, shouldn't a para have to have a theme? A para is not an arbitrary convention. There's a concept of gan pario. A para is an entity. If it's an entity, it should have to have a theme. If I were to ask you, what about in shas does a ma have a theme? Of course, it has a theme. If I were to ask you about any could you tell me in one word or at least a sentence what the maka is about? Of course you could. Even if you never learned the if I were to ask you what is about? H let's see if we could figure out what is about everyone know it's about what is about what what is about the what is about I mean most you could summarize it in one word if not a few words why would a para be any different the only thing is when we come to a para it is extremely challenging to identify a common theme in the para. But what the first step is we need to to support and to prove that it must be a para does have a theme after all called. So therefore this is the introduction to the series that at least in week one we're calling no as in carry but also as in theme. the waiter that's we're trying to pro provide the service as being a waiter of providing the theme of the para okay so that is the intro the inaugural launch and introduction to the series called hamelsar no and by the way don't think this is easy because I had this idea last year and as we were going through the paris I could not identify a I don't think of even one par. That's how difficult it was. However, that did not deter me and it does not deter me from giving it a shot. Okay, so let's begin boratious and you'll see how at first glance it ain't so easy. Okay, hang in there. >> Recording stopped.