Parsha - Ki Seitzei

Good morning Bokov. Welcome back to para perspectives for today. Thank you again for accommodating the schedule. Special Labor Day para class, a labor of love, the labor of Torah borra. What better or greater thing to labor in than the study of Torah. Appreciate your accommodating. Have to pay a shiva call tomorrow. So thank you. Parasha series is sponsored by Becky and Navi Katz and family in memory of David Gman. We remain very grateful to the cats for their generosity sponsoring the series in memory of Becky's father David Ben. We have the privilege this week of reading and studying the para with Mos mitzvah in the Torah page 1046 paras Moshe continues his saliloquy his monologue to the Jewish people and now after he's covered much of the narrative reviewing much of history warning and cautioning when you enter the land be vigilant don't fall prey don't be influenced by others now he returns to a litany of mitzvos many many many mitzvah and we're not going to spend time but the job of the reader is to figure out what is the chronology, the succession, what is the order of the mitzvah that Moshe chooses, why does he communicate them if they've already been said, how are they repeated differently maybe than the way they were given the first time and so on. So let's begin page 1046 just like last week's para that had many lessons for war and for many years and most of my life we read these parios as theoretical as homalytical as we will again in a moment but of course we find ourselves now in two years of a ongoing war the longest war in Israel's history these parios and these sukim are not theoretical they're not hypothetical ical and they're not homalytical. They are real and they're talking right to our heroes. I have two nephews going back in as Israel is bracing to take over Gaza city and to finally eliminate kamas. Last week's par we read about the encouraging words of the cohen who would turn to the soldiers. This week's paramukim that guide the ethics of warfare of a soldier. These are no ordinary soldiers. These are our holy and precious soldiers. And these sukim in many ways are meant to be taken literally. But we are going to in addition to understanding whom it's speaking about with our awe and admiration of our precious soldiers who are very much in our thoughts and in our minds in our hearts and certainly at the forefront of our prayers of ouros. We'll also read this homalytically when you go out to war on your enemy and if God will deliver him into your hand and you'll capture his captivity. Once upon a time in war if you won you were allowed to keep what you won. Every other nation is allowed to keep its territory take spoils. Only the Jewish people even when we live win are asked to lose. So the Torah's premise here was is that war operates with certain laws of war which include and then we'll get into the often at war soldiers who find themselves at war and life and death and on a front line. So reorients everything in their lives and soldiers away from their family can be tempted, can be filled with desire. And here the Torah is not a utopian document. It's not describing a utopian society. It's speaking to the heart and to the reality of people where they are, not where we wish they were. And the reality of where people are in a non-utopian world is they can fall in love or they can be filled with desire among somebody that they interact someone that they take captive. This was true in America's war overseas. Historically, many films and documentaries cover it and it's true for all war. And how does the Torah sort of have a concession towards that speak to people in their language? But the our kazal our rabbis encourage us going way back and certainly until today to read the sukum not only literally but to read them homalytically applying not only to the soldier literally on a front line but each and every one of us who are at war. Who is our enemy with whom are we at war? So the writes the following. He say if you look at the Torah it says when you go to war not but what is the difference? Which vowel is under the means? You're going to the war not a war. You're not going to some war, a recurring war. You're going to the war. What is the great battle? The great war. It's the war that we have with ourselves. The war that you had when you pass the popcorn machine outside or the slushy machine outside or the pastry in the lobby. That little battle that ensued inside you. I already had breakfast. I don't need breakfast. I'm supposed to be intermittent fasting. If I'm going to eat breakfast already, is that really the best thing I need to have for breakfast? the war when the alarm went off from minion this morning. It's Labor Day. I could sleep in. I can sleep late. I can skip. I'm going to go to the parishes. The wars that rage inside us even before or as we open our eyes in the morning as the Torah says. And what does it mean on your enemy? It is a neverending war. So long as there's breath in our lungs, as long as we are alive and awake, we are battling. Battling our demons, battling our alter ego, battling our temptation drives and desires, we're battling the animal impulse inside us as we're learning about Wednesday morning. Because if we get weak, if we waver, then that enemy is ready to pounce. It's ready to take us down and it sets us back and then we have to get back on the horse. Then we have to begin again. But we have those days where we indulge and we look at or we say or we eat or we do or we go or we give in to impatience or to anger or to arrogance or to envy. We have those days. What kind of war in Torah? There are two types of war. Mitzvah mitzvah was to conquer the seven Canaanite nations. Mitzvah is to defend our people. The war we're in now is a mitzvah says mitzvah. Whether you live in Israel and are an Israeli citizen or you're simply a member of the Jewish people mitzvah, you're obligated to participate. If you're of eligible eligible age, then you have to go wherever you live in the world because it's a mu mitzvah. Mus is not an obligatory war. It's not a war to conquer our enemy. It's not a war to defend our people. It was a war to expand our boundaries. So says the instruction in our par that we begin with what type of war are we talking about says that we're talking about we're talking about the battle even with the optional the battle not only with that which falls neatly into a category of good or bad right or wrong just or unjust but there's gray And the gray is rash. And again, if we're talking about the inner battle, the battle with our alter ego, the battle with being our best selves, what do we mean by rashus in that context? Says the oral yahoo. What we mean is eating, sleeping. There are things that we view as neutral. Ara, something that's wrong, that's an aa. It fits neatly into a category. Mitzvah, something that's right or righteous, fits neatly into a category. But what about everything in between? What about the power of our neutral? What about the gray? What about that which seems to be it's elective. We can choose. So he quotes who says there is no such thing. Everything in life, everything we do, everything we think, everything we say, everywhere we go, every way which we interact with the physical material world, we're either doing it nobly. We're either elevating it and transforming it. It is either serving the godliness in us. It is raising us spiritually or we're indulging the physical and material. We are indulging the animal. It is bringing us down. It's weighing us down. It's speaking to the worst part of who we are. What happens? This battle, this war, the says, "Ah, that doesn't fit neatly in a it's rash. It's nice. It's extra. It's why that's where the battle rages most. A you know, is a so stay away from a stay away from that which is wrong." But the rashus, that which falls somewhere in between, the neutral, the parv, that's where it gets sticky. That's where we're most vulnerable. And that's where we have to be most vigilant and on highest alert. And in this war, in this war, the great war, in the war that's never ending, a war that we can win a battle, but never ever let down because the war is not over. What is the weapon of choice? How do we fight? How do we defeat that enemy? How do we stay grounded? How do we keep our compass calibrated? The key weapon is learning Torah is what you're here to do today. What we are doing together, learning Torah. We spoke about this past Shabas. How to avoid the blind spots of life. How do we avoid those blind spots? So the answer is limit to learning Torah is the switching lane alert. It tells us we have a blind spot. You're about to crash. You're wavering. Learning Torah creates boundaries. Learning Torah is the sensor that gives us our priorities. Learning Torah helps anchor us in a world where there are winds that are trying to blow us off course. Learning Torah keeps navigating. The Torah tells us when Hashem delivers in your hand, the enemy. How does this enemy, the alter ego, the temptation, that voice inside us that we're trying to defeat, how do we win? Through learning Torah. And then it's delivered in our hands. Because Hashem gave us that. And what's the antidote? What's the answer? Torah Torah. Torah. Torah grounds us. It anchors us. It inspires us. Torah helps us navigate. Torah sets our priorities. Torah gives us boundaries. Torah empowers us to have the courage, the conviction, the clarity to be able to defeat whatever is in our way and whatever we need to do. And the oro goes along this line. And many others come and say even though we read this and we say we're talking about what looks like a real war. No, that the fundamental war famously said in others that it's not dr to say it's talking about the inner battle. It's not homalytical. It's that the Torah was speaking literally to the fight to the battle that we have inside inside us. I went this summer. I've alluded to it. I still have not begun to unpack it. and I went to Hungary and Ukraine. We went on an incredible heritage trip fundamentally to go visit the graves of our great great grandparents in Bushina in Ukraine. But we went to countless other cities and saw countless sadikim and it was an unbelievable experience. And one of the things I did while there I had prepared a booklet just for us that at each kev we said to him but we also learned a piece of Torah from every sadic. And I did it for a specific reason. I'll tell you more another time. But when I learned when we learned the Torah of that saddic in their presence even some who lived 200 years ago we saw them rise from their grave from their ke people living in a country there are no Jews within 50 miles there's nothing left there's no remnant they spoke another language they were part of another culture we had nothing in common all of a sudden you open their safer 200 years old and you're speaking the same language you're on literally the same page talking about the same para you watch someone come and rise they're alive Again, it's it's I'm not exaggerating. If anything, I'm understating what it is. So, not only had I printed a Torah from each one, I bought the safer of everyone we visited. So, one of the people we went to was the lister of the avu was freedman passed away in 1798 and he was a Talmed of he was a Mosha Satba. We went to the ismak Mosha. We went to the liskar to the akrit. The akrita passed away in 1798. He was orphaned as a young child at 8 years old and he became very close with the ismak mohe and he was also notably the rebba ofshilah of kerila. We have a ribshila corner. Nobody heard of ribshila just a few years ago and now you can't go anywhere without being fed by ribshil. We went to ker too. It's extraordinary what's happening there. It's amazing. And was known for his hospitality and his and his love. We don't have from but we have from his and we were at the RV's grave as well and learned a piece. So I came back I bought the and I want to share with you a Torah at the beginning of the on our parman. So he says the following. Now before I saw it myself and experienced and learned his biography, it would have just been something you read in a book. Oh, I heard this from the author of the is Mosha. But if you've been to the grave of the is Mosha, then the Liskarov, then Kerist, you see it all open in front of your eyes. Hungary, Ukraine. It's really amazing. Rabbi tell us that a person should always occupy themselves in Torah and mitzvah even if they're doing it for the wrong reason. You have an ulterior motive. You're doing it. Why? Because everyone else is doing it. All the cool kids are doing it. Peer pressure. You're doing it because it's going to get your kids a good shak. Sometimes I have people call me and they say, "I have a child inim. So, can you put me on a committee? I always I want to join the Kadisha, which should I attend? I know they're going to start out getting phone calls about me. So, I I got to be able to show up. There has to be something nice to say. So, where is there something? I have a large donation I'd like to make. You know, you get that before the bar mitzvah. The rabbi's got to say something nice. And before the when you're going to start to get you're going to start to get phone calls for so a person should start. So, do we denigrate such a person? Do you give them a proverbial patch and say, "You low life, you're doing it for the wrong reason." Absolutely not. I'm not going to plug you in. I'm not giving you something to do. Come back to me when you're motivated purely. Come back to me when you're sincere. No, we don't say that. We say better to do something insincerely. Why? because it will lead to even say by the way from the word where does it come from last year it's a year ago now we remember we learned IFS internal family systems the self and our parts so the self the will be the says When you turn the corner, when you started, you know, you join the kids, you join the you wanted someone to have something nice to say about you. You join the because the judge ordered community service. You joined the Kadisha for whatever ulterior motive or purpose. But you know, by the second or third Tahara, you said, "This is amazing. I feel so good. I've been in touch with my soul. I feel like I'm this is something incredible. And all of a sudden now, even if the judge said you're done, you want to continue. All your children are married, you still want to continue. You started for the wrong reason, but you came. So now that you did a it actually retroactively transforms all the times you did it for the wrong reason into the right reason, too. So firstb said what does it mean when you go out the enemy the voice inside you that's making you do it for the ulterior motive for the wrong reason when you when you when he's handed when you win when now you're doing You're holding him captive. Now you've taken the and you've transformed it. You were doing it for the wrong reason. Ego, honor, whatever ulterior motive, but now that you've been able to learn to grow, now that you're doing it for the right reason, now you've got him. That tried to get you for the wrong reason, now you've got him. Says, now he's taking And he's continuing, he's expanding this thought. Should you say, "Bacon is disgusting. I have no interest in it." Or do you say, "By the way, it's on my top of my list. If I got to have one non-coosher food, be bacon. Looks good to me." And the khazal say the proper thing is to say you know what I crave bacon the smell the crackle probably the taste the crunch I want bacon but said off limits said no go no good you don't say I'm disgusted I'm repulsed I have no interest say yeah I'm human and I'm drawn and I'm tempted but hashem said no go the the fact that I have a drive and an impulse and an instinct and I want it but I still regulate it and overcome it. I now the is serving me if I weren't driven if I had no temptation or desire. Big deal. What's the big deal? Whenever Moscowit says no to the potato chips, it's no big deal. But when I look down the Cape Cod bag and I say no, no, I own you. You don't owe me. Now the Sahara is is an asset. The at Sahara is an advantage. The Atahara has enabled me to grow. Don't feel bad. He's got his uh I don't know what it is. I haven't discovered it yet, Mrs. Moscowitz, but I'm sure he What is it like? Red peppers, carrots. He's got his. So the fact that we have is if you walked around all day and you had no drive, no temptation, no desire, you were numb. You weren't uh didn't want to do anything wrong. You were a goody two shoes. Everything came easily. So you get no reward for it. It's when you stare down and that thing and you say, "No, I'm not going to watch it. I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to give into it. I'm not going to raise my voice. I'm not going to be impatient. I'm not gonna be stingy. I'm gonna be generous. Now, the has been an asset to you. It's serving you. When you go to war with that, when you can stare it down and defeat it, when you overcome it, when you're in control of it, when you can regulate, you've captured it. You've won it. It's in your hands. So now you've captured, you didn't defeat it, you didn't destroy it. You own it. You took it captive. You've got it because it's serving you rather than you serving it. Very interesting hamletical interpretation of the opening of our pasha. And then we go from here into the next section which is the benor the bottom of page 1046. If a person has a wayward child, Mo not listening to the voice of the father, the voice of the mother and they discipline him but he doesn't listen a weward rebellious child. Now there are incredible criteria that have to be met to qualify for this puzzle. The child has to be old enough but not too old. The parents have to sound similar same voice. He has to be everything. all these criteria make it not only nearly impossible but literally impossible. So much so the son tells us never happened it's never gonna happen hasn't happened the criteria the details that are necessary to qualify let's read a little bit more first the parents grab him they bring him to shako and they say new help me this child this uh defiant disobedient child is Our child is no good. He's rebellious. He won't listen to us. He's a glutton and a drunkard. So what do we do? They say he's hopeless. He's irredeemable. He can't be fixed. So what do they do? Stone him to death. Eliminate him. Because if he is allowed to remain, he could be a negative influence. the damage he does could be irreversible and therefore and everyone who reads and everyone who hears and everyone will see will know don't follow in his footsteps don't be like him because look at that ends now before you recoil with the o how could it be know it never happened it never happened it never will happen so you're probably wondering so why is it included why is it written Torah is not a theoretical document. It's not a hypothetical document. Torah is telling us the prescription of formula for life. So if it never happened and never will happen, why write it? Because when we dion study it, learn it, analyze it, ask about it, then all of a sudden we'll get reward for doing it. And of the idolatrous city, a city that was overtaken that the majority are serving idols and therefore it has to be eliminated, destroyed, everything in it. Never happened, never will happen. The wise are written. We learn in not only can the individual have leprosy, but the home can contract leprosy. You have to take everything out of the house. We have all the laws. So, never happened. Never going to Why is it written 71a? The Torah is endless in its richness, in its potential, in its profoundity. I can't get past the first few of any parishes here. There's enough to talk about with things that are real and relevant and happen. Why does the Torah have these three examples of things that never happened, never will happen? What are you taking up precious real estate in the Torah? More valuable than Montoya Circle and Rakavia. Precious real estate in the Torah. We don't have extra room. And you're taking up precious real estate in the Torah with concepts and ideas and laws for things that never happened and never will happen. If you said they never happened, but you never know. But the Torah confidently says they never happened and they never will. So what are you taking up precious? We have enough we can dash and bear. There's a lot to learn and analyze and ask and study and pontificate and appine. There's plenty without having to invoke or teach that which isn't relevant. Because if the only motivation and drive we have to learn Torah is to know what to do is to understand what is relevant and applicable then we're learning Torah. We're learning the Torah because we need to we need to read the instructions because we need to know what to do. But when you're willing to learn each even that which never happened and never will, then you're demonstrating we're not learning Torah only to know what to do. We're learning Torah. Why? Because it is the word and diary of Hashem. So these mitzvah that we know never happened and never will. We're not learning because it's a practical guide mitzvah for dummies. Why are we reading and studying it? because it's the word of God Almighty and that has merit to tap into the diary of Hashem. It's the way we get to know him, the way we connect with him. Again, I I'll talk more about another time. The week before we went to Hungary and Ukraine, it's an incredible story actually wrote an article that'll appear about it. But somebody had been holding on to for 10 years returned to us letter from that great greatgrandfather we were going to see written in 1929 that made its way to America made its way into Sheamus and he took it out of Sheamus 10 years ago >> and somehow through hashkah through an incredible story it came back into our hands a couple days before we went before we left and she grabbed that letter a letter from her great great-grandfather a letter from her great-g grandandmother Y for whom she's named and We took it with us. We took it to that tombstone as we ded holding the the the penmanship and the ink and the and the and the actual letter of its author. And why was it so precious? Because we never met them obviously and never will. But when you read their word, you come to know them. And you have access to their written word. Now you know them. Why they use that word? Why they say it that way? What was on their mind? What is their penmanship? What ink? What's the letter head? It all jumps off the page and comes alive. A collection of letters 1929, 1935, 1945. Unbelievable things for another time. So says quoted by if it never happened, never will. Why are we studying it? Because we have the diary of Hashem. These are his letters. This is what he wrote. This is his worldview. This is training and molding and shaping us how to think. Forget that I told you that because I'm going to tell it to you again in the more expanded version. I just can't hold it in Torah. Learning Torah does something else. Learning Torah gives us Torah. Now here is employing that term das Torah, not infallible. Go ask them, should I buy that apartment? Should I buy that car? Should I invest in that stock? Should I marry that person? That's das Torah, another conversation for another time. But he's talking about the das Torah that every one of us when we learn Torah, we are molding and shaping. We're training our brain to see the world through the perspective of Torah. Through the perspective of Torah. The mathematician sees everything as a formula. the the expert in physics sees everything through the rules and principles of physics. And the more we learn and study Torah, the more we're training ourselves to see the world through the principles and the priorities, through the language and the formulations of Torah never happened and never will. Why learn it? Because learning it also is contributing to mold and shape to train us to see and interpret the world through the prism of Torah. You see what happens? Someone who zone who's a drunkard and a glutton. Someone who simply indulges in every appetite. You'll say, "But it's all kosher. What's the problem?" So what? That's not who we are. That's not who we are. It's a danger. I won't wax my editorial now about what we've done with our shabasant all the other things we're bordering on if not have passed zel vis gluttonous and drunkenness and overindulgence enjoy I enjoy as much as anyone I enjoy as much as anyone but in in context and in boundaries and in perspective you see zel so you end up ah it never happened never ever will doesn't matter matter. We can still extrapolate and extract the lessons and the values and the messages and we're still training ourselves to see the world through das Torah through das Torah for example the fact that why are we why are we putting this person to death again never happened never will but why theoretically is that their ends it's a fascinating question do we treat someone based on what will be of them in the end predicting and anticipating ating what's going to happen or do we say no all you have is what's in front of you right now. All you can look at is what you have right now. Which is it? What's the ethic of looking to the future and predicting and anticipating and preventative punishment, preventative isolation versus do you only judge a person based on where they are right now? What's the Torah's perspective? Learn the section and we get that if you turn and train and toil and Torah it's all in there the answers how to see the world that's why we go to great people and yes they're seeing the world differently than we do they have a greater perspective a broader perspective they can see further and farther they see more because Torah learning Torah trains us to have a das Torah to see the world to understand the world in that way and to navigate the world using those using those tools. Okay, moving along. Now, we're skipping around mitzvah here. You're not allowed to see the ox of your brother or sheep or ghost or ghost or goat or their ghost and hide yourself. Don't hide yourself. What do you mean hide yourself? You know what hide yourself is? When someone says, "Can we have a volunteer? We have something we need to do." Everyone ducks their head. You pass the garbage in the sh hallway. You pretend you didn't see it. You don't want to be the one who kneels down to pick it up and throw it away. Everyone all of a sudden, you know, looks down, bows down. Instead, you have to return it to your brother. And if your brother's not near you and you don't know him, You have to take what they lost, bring it into your property until you are until you can identify to whom it belongs. This is the mitzvah what we call you have to return their lost object. This is not the American way. In the American way, finders, keepers, losers, weepers. You found it, it's all yours. You certainly don't have to go out of your way. You don't have to post or announce or search or make extraordinary effort to return something that you found. If you found it, it has nothing identifiable on it. Nobody's asking or coming for it. Keep it. Torah says that's not our way. That's not ethical. That's not d Torah. That's not the way we see the world and we operate in it. We have a mitzvah of a mitzvah of hash of you've got to you've got to return it. You've got to return it. And then the Torah continues another law. Skip ahead a little bit. You'll see why we're skipping. Chapter 23, verse 21, page 1056. You're not allowed to charge your brother interest. Interest with money, interest of food, interest on anything. To a non-Jew, you're allowed to. Maybe you should, but to your brother, you're not. So, God will bless you. Wonders. There's a word that repeats itself over and over again in these sections. And what's that word? Your brother. When your brother loses an object. When your brother falls on hard times and needs to borrow money. Your brother. Your brother. Your brother. What is it like the 60s? Hey brother. What are we talking brother? Hey brother. Why is brother repeating itself over and over? When it comes to returning a lost object five times we use the word brother. Ribbis the prohibition of charging interest. Two times. Now if we want to eliminate a non-Jew that you don't have to return their lost object. Of course you do. If you're going to sanctify God's name, one should and take advantage of the opportunity to sanctify God's name. Why does it say not too could have said your neighbor? Why does it say your brother not your neighbor? says, "Who's my if you go to my if you find lost object, maybe you'll say to yourself, wow, Hashem sent me this ring, this cash, Hashem sent me this lost object. It's it and I are exactly where we're meant to be. It is exactly where it's meant to be in my hand. It's lost. Who says I have to return it? Maybe it's where it's meant to be, namely in my house, in my hand. I was meant to have found it. You could say the same thing about interest. Let me ask you an ethical question. Am I allowed to Can one Jew rent their house to another Jew? Yes. Not a trick question. Can a Jew rent his car to another Jew? Yes. Why can't I rent you my money? What is interest? It's renting you my money. You get to use my money. And the fact that you have my money and during that time, I can't be using my money or making money on my money. So, you have to pay me for renting my money. If I can rent you my car and I can rent you my house, why can't I rent you my money? Comes along. The Torah and says, The Torah here is promoting, is endorsing, is encouraging that Jews treat one another as brothers. So you're right, a stranger, I can rent you my money, but a brother, I don't rent money. If it's very interesting, we just learned in this several took a maz everyone in our who took the ribbus passed and the average grade was a 93. It's unbelievable. I challenge any col in the world taking that the average grade on a bik was a 93 happens to be a very generous teacher as I say every I give for and in grading every I wish I was my own teacher growing up but okay let's leave that aside for a moment. So we said in which section of do the laws of ribbus appear in our par the laws of ribbus a Jew can't charge another Jewis which section of we have four sections which section of does appear I would have thought where would it appear after all interest is money and monetary matters are found where mishbah I think that's the name of a book monetary matters and mishbah. Yet where does it appear? Not mishbah. You know what it appears? Yora. You know what else is in ya? Laws of nida, laws of kash, laws of aos, laws of tatra. Why is it mishbah? The answer is it's not a monetary law. It's not a law of monetary ethics. What is it? A law of religion. It's a religious law. Why? Because Hashem wants us to see each others as brothers and sisters. You know, if a stranger comes to borrow money from you, is it moral and ethical to charge them interest? Absolutely. Why not? Why not? There's a time value to money. There's a time value to money. If I have my money, it could be earning X in the bank. If I give you my money for you to use or spend or invest, I don't have my money to make money. I need you. I'm entitled for you to replace what I could have made on my money and in fact give me more. You're renting my money. There's nothing wrong with it. A stranger comes to me. I lend your your brother or your sister literally your biological brother or sister come. I've fallen on some hard times. I need a loan. Can you lend me some money? And you say sure 9%. 5%. Whatever the bank percent. Is that moral ethical? Do we look fondly upon such a person? Absolutely not. If your own flesh and blood come and they need money, you say, "Here it is. I can lend it for this finite amount of time because I also need my money." But here here it is. The Torah says when it comes to a non-Jew, not only is it permissible and ethical, maybe even it's lauded. Maybe one should it's a mitzvah. Lend with interest to the non-Jew. But a fellow Jew, that's your brother, that's your sister. Ah, you never met them before. Ah, you did a DNA test. You have no doesn't matter. It's your brother, your sister. Rabbi Saxs and his Kish calls this the difference between a contractual community and a covenantal community. A transactional or or contractual community is it's a transaction. You need to borrow. I'm liquid. I could lend. Here's the interest rate. You could rent my money. Here's the interest rate. It's contractual. It's transactional. But when a family member needs to borrow, that's covenantal. That's familial. That's altogether different. And that's why it says that's why it says because a non-Jew technically you're not obligated to return and you're not unethical. It's nothing immoral. But a but a brother or a sibling if your sibling lost money then you'd go above and and beyond. Similarly with the lending money and that's what the Torah is trying to promote and endorse within us that level of mindfulness that level of conscious living that we see every fellow Jew as our brother and sister. We're learning now in s snippets we said last night or in the last 19th when will Hashem give us the brah of a father. The highest brah is a parent. Nobody blesses someone like a ch parent parent blesses a child because every other blessing as sincere as the person is they're not as invested as a parent could be in a child. Hashem we want you not to give us the blessing of a rebba the blessing of a friend the blessing of an ordinary person the blessing of a king the blessing of we want you to give the blessing of a parent. Hashem says no problem you want the blessing of a parent act like my children who are getting along. When is it? When How do we demonstrate that we're all united and together? Because a a brother or sister lost something. You don't get excited for it. You don't say, "Embrace your place. It fell in my hand." You say, "I've got to get it back in his place. I got to bring it back to her place. That's where it belongs. They're a brother." So these two mitzvah returning a lost object not lending with interest which are trying to invoke a sense of they're mitzvah that we have to we have to return that is not the I wanted to hold on rather hold on Yeah. Sorry. 1050. If a man marries a woman and it comes to her but he hates her and he makes an accusation against her, he spreads a false rumor. I married her. She claimed she was a virgin at marriage, but I discovered she wasn't. He levels a false accusation about her and against her. The Torah tells us exactly the formula and what we follow. Rash tells us that he marries her and he comes to hate hero. If at first he hates her, it's going to lead to false accusation. Aeris it began with hating a fellow Jew and it ends with speaking gossip and negatively false rumors which could have dire consequences says you see from here you don't get to a point of a false accusation out of nowhere. How do you get to the point? By the way, he doesn't just, you know, put on Twitter, she wasn't a virgin. It's preposterous and yet very believable somebody would do that. But it's both preposterous and believable. But it's not just that he put that on Twitter, tweeted it out. He hired two false witnesses who came to the rabbitical court who testified about her that indeed while they were engaged she had an illicit affair and therefore she doesn't have the status of absula to the point that she's now liable for the death penalty. So how could a person get to that point? He dated her. First the Shhatan called and they made all the reference calls and he examined the resume and yes, I'm being sarcastic. And then he dated her and then he got engaged and even though they had gdorum, they spent a few minutes together and they got to know each other and they thought they loved each other and they stood under the and they gazed into each other's eyes and they had chevraas where people said the most amazing things and the next thing you know he's hiring two fake witnesses to go to court to have ready be put to death. How do you get from here to here? How do you get from the shan calling and she sounds amazing and the she's incredible to yeah go testify falsely and let her be put to death. How do you get from here to there? You see the answer because it begins with a little seed, a little nugget, a little nucleus, a tiny little seed, a little hatred, a little animosity, a little contempt. Gotman talks about the four horse, the four horses of the apocalypse. I think that's what he calls it. Contempt. When you when you see contempt, it's the beginning of the end. John Gutman, who could predict to 93% accuracy after spending time with a couple whether in five years they'll be divorced or married, not because he, you know, uses cabala, but because he studied healthy marriages and he identifies. And one of the variables that if he identifies its presence is the biggest predictor that'll end in divorce is contempt. Contempt. If you sense contempt, contempt, contempt. So it begins with contempt. Begins with there's a little bit of contempt contempt and that contempt it germinates and it grows and it metastasizes until the next thing you know something unimaginable. I I see this when I counsel couples particularly as they're heading towards divorce. One of the things I say to them is love your children more than you hate each other. Love your children more than you hate each other. Mindboggling. Each claims that they love their children more than they love the children endlessly. And yet they destroy and kill their children as an outgrowth of hating the other. Love your children more than you hate the other. But you see the contempt. You see the hate. You see the animosity. You see this desire to end the other. They won't get a penny. I'll destroy their reputation. They'll never get remarried. I'll turn my kids against them. You see it and you say, "How could it be? I was at your wedding. I saw the way you looked at each other. I went to the Vort and how could it be? You went from here to the how did that happen?" Because it begins with the contempt. And if it's not moderate, it doesn't mean that there aren't divorces. Divorce is also a mitzvah in the Torah in the right circumstance. But we can't allow the metastasizing of how do you get from here to there? because it grows. It grows it don't you have to tackle it at its core says the and that's why the Torah says you have to get rid of the core the root you have to eliminate what's at the root he gives a mushel in a certain country there's counterfeit money everywhere and the police are focused on everyone who's using the counterfeit money taking it out of circulation and the police are consumed they spend all their time with chasing the counterfeit money and constantly taking it out of circulation But they're chasing their tail. They'll never get to the core of the problem. Until what? You have to find the counterfeit. Until you find the counterfeitter, you're going to continue to chase the counterfeit money to get it out of circulation. Until you eliminate the this counterfeit feeling, you have to get rid of it. You have to purge it. You have to eliminate it. Otherwise, it will continue to spread and continue to spread its impact and its effect and its effect. Oi, so much to say. So little time, such good stuff. What should we do? Uh uh uh. Okay, I'm gonna be disciplined. I'm gonna try to be disciplined. Let's go to the end of the par end of the par. End of should be familiar to you. Not only because we read it, but we read a paras page 1066. Remember, don't forget one of the earlier things we have to remember in our parish. We have six things to remember every day. One of the earlier ones we remember every day is remember what happened to Miriam. Remember what God did to Miriam. I wanted to get to this. I'm not going to, but I'll give you the questions. You have to come up with the answer or come back next year. Two questions. Number one, why do we remember what God did to Miriam? Shouldn't we remember what Miriam did? Miriam spoke negatively about her brother. She gossiped and she was liable. She was isolated from the camp and we waited for her before we kept going. So, shouldn't we remember what Miriam did, not what God did to Miriam? Number one. Number two, what is it we're we're remembering that Miriam did? What is it we're remembering? What did she do? She gossiped. So, what do we do? We gossip about her. I mean, think about it. One of the six things we're meant to remember every day is how bad Miriam is because she gossiped about someone else. We gossip about Miriam, that she gossiped about somebody else. And that's a daily obligation to remember that. So that doesn't seem right. And why would we describe it as remember what God did to Miriam, not what remember what Miriam did? I have a beautiful insight, but not for now. I'll leave you with those two questions for you to think about. So another one of the things to remember remember Shabas remember Miriam remember we left Mitim remember remember did what did they do when we were when we were on the way yes Ben Isaac's when we were on the way but says what did they do they happened upon us the earth translates it as happened we know that Rashi has three translations to let's see if we get through any of them they struck those who were in the attack those who were the tired and the weak. They did not fear God. When Hashem gives you rest from your enemies in the land, what do we do? Eliminate the memory of from the heavens. Do not forget. We cannot forget. Let's start with says who did Malik attack the weak. These were the weak because of their sins. became there were those who because they sinned the clouds of glory didn't save and that's who Malik attacked who were not under the protection of the clouds of glory that's who Malik attacked where they thought they could bring down all the Jewish people by just attacking those stragglers those outliers those few but the rest of were still under the divine protection of the clouds of glory they outliers. How could it be? Says Malik knew of the greatness of the Jewish people because Amalik heard that God split the sea for them as we say inashimaz all the nations of the world. You think the news are just obsess obsessed with the Jewish people today? They were always obsessed with the Jewish people. So the headline of every news story was, "God split the sea." Malik surely knew they're not going to win. I share this insight because said it decades and decades ago and sadly we're watching it come true in our time. where Yamakov and Kamas knew they could never defeat us militarily. They will never beat us. But by capturing those precious souls and taking them hostage by killing 1,200 and by trying to bismerch our name and reputation by isolating us in the international community that was their tactic, their strategy that's their war plan and that victory is not yet ours. Rashi Rashi here writes, you know, you have a boiling pool and nobody's willing to go in. It's too hot. One person comes in and jumps in and they showed, you see, it's not too hot. Polio terrorist Rahman decades ago the rashiv of the mere Brooklyn decades ago saying amalik didn't come to win they came to terrorize they didn't come to win now today is the new year in Israel I think two and a half million children started school including in the north and all over the south along the Gaza border and that's our victory that's our return that's our answer that's our not letting them terrorize. There's a kindergarten that started in the northernmost part of Israel that never existed before. At the northernmost part, that's our answer. Hasbollah, you're gone. Kamas, you will be gone. The Houthis, nobody's even talking about the extraordinary miracle that happened to wipe out the prime minister and his cabinet. Unbelievable of the Houthis. But that's what they're trying to do. Like Amalik, because door, Amalik continues to fight us in every generation. And we don't just measure their will and our response on the battlefield because it's not only militarily. They're trying to bismerch. They're trying to defeat us in the international community, our reputation. They're trying to terrorize and and they are terrorists who are trying to terrorize. This is what is writing. He's describing decades and decades ago. They're trying to lower the Roma. The Jewish people are exalted. They're admired. Abraham Accords were beginning to spread. More and more countries wanted to make peace with us. And what did Kamas come along and try to do? They knew they can't beat us. We far surpass them militarily. They'll never win in a battlefield. But where can they win? To lower to lower the admiration of the Jewish people to isolate us in an international community to make us paras in the world. Manhattan says just like 911 we're coming up on 911. Terrorists didn't think that they're going to destroy America by knocking down two buildings. But what did they do? They destroyed the psyche because here we are 25 years later, 26 years later and what are we still uh doing 24 years later. Thank you. What are we still doing? TSA. we still have to go through. And it's so dehumanizing and it's so because that's what they're doing. Terrorists terrorize even when they think they can't defeat. They're going after our psyche, our mentality. And where do they get this from? How far does it trace itself back? All the way to Malik. Because Amalik, they only attack the vulnerable, the Shaleim, those who weren't under the protection of the clouds of glory. Because they weren't trying and they knew they couldn't defeat us militarily. They were going after our psyche. the very same thing. The the one other insight I saw from him on this the Torah here describes that Malikim they were not god-fearing neither are the other nations. Why do we only identify AM is not God-fearing? They don't have a monopoly on that. They don't get the award on that. The answer is the following. Says the the non-Jews of the world, they see God as in the heavens, far away, inaccessible. Hashem is so great. He's up there. What do we say? Not not that God's glory is only in the heavens. What do we say? God lowers himself so we can see him and feel him in the heavens and on the earth. So says that's the non-Jews they exalt God. They say oh in the heavens he's amazing. We say don't just see him in the heavens. God dwells here on earth. The reason is they think God is exalted. He's only up there. So what's the we see? We say erase this notion that God is only up in the heavens and find and make a place and discover a relationship with him here down on earth. That's why where do we erase because we live a life and a philosophy that is two more quickly alter the great he says the following he says the following it appears in his bos the following A beautiful idea. We are commanded to remember the evil actions of Malik. As we said, the Malik, the terrorists who terrorize in every generation. We remember from generation to generation. Our par reveals Malik's key tactic. They happen chance, happenstance, randomness. We must study this. Well, a Yid must always know and feel that he is bad. A Jew is always bad. We're always on the road. Our existence on Earth is transient. We're only passing through. And that's what we have to know. Don't get bent out of shape because we're only here temporarily. This is only a temporary stop. We're just bad. We're just bad. This isn't the this isn't the end all and be all. We're we're working towards immortality and eternity and forever. We're working towards a world to come. And the few years we're here on earth, we're just bad. We're just passing through. And that's what gives meaning to life, purpose to life. It keeps things in perspective in life is when we remember we're just passing through. We're just bad. So when are we in fire? When we're when we remember we're just passing through, we're not envious, we're not arrogant, we're not angry, we're just we're just passing through. A mal came along and what did they do? is also to splash cold water. Amalik cools off our sense of because wants you to believe you're permanent. The here and now. This is it. This is everything. We're permanent. What did they splash water on? They splashed water on the philosophy and the knowledge that we are bad. That is the methodology of a malik is there splashing water on our sense of being bad of being bad and he gives a mushel. A man boards a train for a journey of several hours. He finds his seat in the appropriate cabin. But first he withdraws from his suitcase several cans of paint, polish, paint brushes, brand new drapes, gets to work decorating the cabin. After all, he'll be spending time there. Only once the walls are a fresh coat of paint, the windows have a new dress and the floors shine. Now he takes a long drink of water settles in his seat and three minutes later the train slows into a stop. So fool, what are you wasting your time and energy and money on such a short journey? What are you doing? It's the same thing. We're bad. And the more we know we're the more we'll take the most out of life. The more we can sit back and enjoy the ride. Sit back and enjoy the ride. But a malik splashes cold water on our sense of being makes us think, "No, no, no. I got to paint. Got to polish the floor. I got to get the most things. I got to live because I'm going to be here forever. You're not going to be here forever. You're just bad. So sit back and enjoy the ride. Don't let a malik splash cold water on our being. We read in last week's para Torah said, "Prepare the road. When it came to the mikl cities of refuge, prepare the road. Prepare the road for the murderer for you, not just for the murderer." says alter says the Gasha Torah is saying if we prepare ourselves by fulfilling mitzvah it'll be easy to remember we're prepare for yourself know that we're here how what are the six mikl the six things we're meant to remember every day believe in Hashem reject any other idolatry accept Hashem's unity love Hashem fear Hashem not straying after one's heart or eyes the six daily remembrance es these are the six and I think the says the sixl are the six words of if we live then prepare to live to know we're only here temporarily how do we do that in those ways I had more to tell you a beautiful but with that we end it up next time it should be a day please remain it's Labor Day you're all off and most of you are retired you have nowhere where to go. Stay and say to him, "It's the least we can do. We divide off to him. We'll finish off to him in just a few minutes." And this of our holy soldiers are going back in to fight in the merit that our hostages come home.