Parsha Perspective For Today - Emor 5783/2023 - Extreme Personalities

Good morning, and welcome to tell them welcome back to Parsha Perspectives for today. Back to one Parsha at a time. So this week we're only reading Parshas Emor. Our series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Cats and family in memory of David Gross, David Grossman David Ben Menachem Manash. We remain very grateful to the Katz family. This morning she is also sponsored by Pam and Prosper Bitbol in commemoration of the year of sight of her father Lester Greenberg Eliazar Ben Mayer. Thank you so much to Pam and Prosper for all they do and by Marilyn Jeremy Strauss in memory of Michael Strauss his fifth year of sight was this past Sunday. Thank you to the Strausses for all the support and friendship and by Etzion and Marlene Genauer. Welcome back to Boca. L'ilui Nishmas Rivka Bas Rav Avraham HaCohen. Thank you for your generosity and your sponsorship as well. The learning should be l'ilui nishmas all of these wonderful people. We're reading Parshas Emor page 672 in the Artscroll Stone Chumash. A reminder if you want to stay up-to-date on our Parsha Shiur schedule, additional bonus material, the write-up of Parsha Perspectives, all you have to do is join our WhatsApp group at rabbieframgoldberg.org/whatsapp. Join all the Shiur WhatsApp groups and get bonus material and up-to-date schedule. Our Parsha begins famously with the instruction. Hashem says to Moshe, tell the Kohanim, tell the sons of Aaron not to contaminate themselves to a corpse, to a dead body. Lo yitama b'amav. They cannot become contaminated, they cannot compromise their purity and their status. Kimli She'eira K'doshim Elav. With the exception of their immediate relatives. L'eemo L'aviv L'vito L'achiv. The seven immediate relatives, the Kohanim not only have license, not only are they allowed to, but they must. Rav Soloveitchik has a discussion, is it huchra or d'chuyya? The fact that Kohanim generally are enjoined, they are prohibited from becoming contaminated through contact or exposure to a corpse. And yet when it comes to the seven immediate relatives, a mother or father, spouse, brother, sister or child, they can or they should? You might have thought they can, but here the Torah says not only they can, Rav Soloveitchik's understanding is not only they can, but they absolutely should. They should. Why is this instruction? Chazal famously tells Rashi quotes Emor V'amarta. Emor V'amarta L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. Emor Al Hakohanim V'amarta. Teach the Kohanim and they should should transmit, they should in turn teach it to those beneath them. Who are those beneath them? Not beneath them in some judgmental way, beneath them in age and life experience, to their children. Emor, you teach the Kohanim V'amarta and the Kohanim will then transmit it to their children. And we've spoken much about this in the past, you could find it in previous Parsha Shiurim. So beautiful Imrei Chaim, the Visionitzer. L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. L'hazir is Milashon to brighten, to enlighten, to illuminate, to lead by example, to teach the children who are younger. But I want to share with you today three interpretations of the Heilige Noam Elimelech. My dear friend Rabbi Ari Morzov sent me early this morning the Noam Elimelech. Emor V'amarta Perush Rashi L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim Yesh Lomar Kavanas Rashi L'hazir Gedolim Hinei Tzaddikim Gedolim Al Hakatanim. It means that in every generation at all time we have Gedolim, we have wonderful, righteous, incredible examples whom we look up to, whom we learn from. And they are L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. They enlighten, they illuminate, they inspire, they motivate, they create a precedent for all of us. Al Hakatanim Ratzonam Al Ha'avira Hakatan She'odom Dash B'akeivav. It means also L'hazir Gedolim that a person or our great moments, our Gadlus should overwhelm, should supersede, should inspire us over our Katanus, our our worst moments, the mistakes that we made, the things that we dismiss or minimize or think are unimportant. But L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim means how do we find inspiration by looking up to those that we admire. One of the greatest ways to inspire ourselves is to read biographies. Reading biographies is incredibly inspiring, more so than self-help. Tal Ben Shahar teaches the most popular class at Harvard on happiness, spoke here at our shul years ago and he said, "If you want to improve and grow and be inspired, don't read self-help genre, of which he is a part. He said, "Read biographies." Biographies of people who achieved greatness, who broke through, who overcame obstacles and overcame failures and learned to fail forward. The biographies. L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. Baruch Hashem we're able to read, we have a great genre of literature, of Gedolim, of great men and women who have overcome their challenges. And L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim, that's how we can find inspiration ourselves. Number one, number two. What is the best way to communicate, to get a message across, to inspire someone else? It's not to give a specific or personal rebuke. We don't take well to that. We're a generation that don't handle criticism well. When someone rebukes us directly, in a focused way, personally, we get defensive, we get insecure, we arch our back, we reject their message. So Emor V'amarta. Instead Emor direct your message to the Klal, to a group and V'amarta it'll come through to the person. Don't direct it specifically as a focused rebuke, but give it as a more broad and general directive, feedback. And then the person hopefully will hear it that really it's a message that is pertinent, a message that's related to them. But you take the edge off, you don't make it personal, you take away what seems to be the attack or the biting criticism. If Emor, give a general thing. So one child is saying wrong at the dinner table, remind everyone it's really important in our family and what we value and how we all need to behave and what matters. And the child who needs to hear that message will hear that message more than if you give them harsh rebuke directly and in a focused way on them. So says the Noam Elimelech Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk, it is a strategy for rebuke. Emor, give it more broadly V'amarta and the message will get across. And then lastly, Binyan Nacher Near El Perush D'vei Rashi, a third possible understanding of this beautiful Rashi L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. There's a beautiful, beautiful insight of the Heilige Noam Elimelech. L'eilos Kol Adam B'sha'ah She'osek B'Torah U'Tefillah B'eizeh Davar K'dushah Az Hu B'Gadlus HaMochin. We have a notion, we have an idea of Mochin D'Gadlus and Mochin D'Katanus. Now I am grossly inadequate to explain this fully, but I'll tell you in my limited capacity how I understand it. Mochin D'Gadlus means sometimes we have a sophisticated approach, sometimes we have an expansive perspective. Sometimes we're at our best, we're thinking big and clearly and our Neshama's on fire and we're feeling close to Hashem. Sometimes we're at our best, Mochin D'Gadlus, we're on fire, the greatness. And sometimes there's a Mochin D'Katanus. Sometimes we're small and we're minimized and we are unsophisticated and we are immature and we're feeling distant and far. There's a Mochin D'Katanus. We spoke about this in the Emunah Shiur, different periods, different days, different hours in a day, one can be Rotzei V'Shov. You're close to Hashem, you feel far from Hashem. Panim V'Achor. You see Hashem's face, you see his back. You're on fire and you're ice cold. We go through these fluctuations, the roller coaster of life. We discussed at length in the Emunah Shiur for several weeks and months why that is, why that's part of the Briah, why that's part of the way that we're created. Says the Noam Elimelech, L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. Sometimes when we're in a place of Mochin D'Gadlus, we're on fire. We heard a great Shmuess, a great Shiur, we had a great Davening, we had a great Yom Tov, we had a great Shabbos. We're in a great place, we feel close to Hashem, we have a clarity, everything is illuminated, we're on fire, it's a Mochin D'Gadlus, we have a mature, sophisticated approach. L'hazir, bottle that, capture that, allow that to shine on the moments of Mochin D'Katanus. Essentially, what defines us? Which is our core identity? Who are we in the end? What do we remember and what do we hold on to? Our best moments or our worst moments? Our highs or our lows? Our breakthrough or our feeling stifled or stuck? Which one really defines us? So L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. Emor V'amarta. Let the moments of Mochin D'Gadlus, let them reflect and let them shine and let them lift the moments of the Mochin D'Katanus. L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. Our moments of greatness should outweigh and supersede, should uplift and elevate the moments of smallness. We all have them both. We all fluctuate, we all ride this roller coaster. That's natural and that's normal. The question is, which do we perseverate over? Which do we focus on? Which informs and inspires and defines us? Which is our identity? And here that's what Rashi's telling us. Emor V'amarta L'hazir Gedolim Al Hakatanim. Let the Mochin D'Gadlus shine on and lift the Mochin D'Katanus. Take those moments and bottle them and be inspired by them and capture them and use them to their fullest. A beautiful Noam Elimelech. Chafetz Chaim has a magnificent comment. What is this Pasuk telling us? How careful we need to be Lo Yitama B'amav. Be careful. L'nefesh Lo Yitama B'amav. The Kohen cannot become contaminated to anyone else. Rashi says, B'eirur Meis B'soch Amav. As long as the deceased, the corpse remains part of the people. Shafilu Kohen Gadol Ben Nozir V'al Achas Pischa Lo Yitamei Lo. You can be the Kohen Gadol, you could be a Nazir. You could be a person who's pledged to live a righteous life of purity. And yet and yet if there's a corpse, if there's a body that nobody else is caring for and needs to be buried, a mitzvah, even if you're on your way to offer your carbon Pesach, and you'll become invalid. It will delegitimize your ability to bring the carbon Pesach still out of the dignity for that body, out of preserving the dignity and the love and the respect and the sensitivity and the kindness and the support for that body, the Cohen Gadol or Nazir need to stop in order to take care of them. Rav Elio Lopian quoted in the name of the Chofetz Chaim If the Torah is so careful, the Torah is so cautious, if the Torah is willing to be so foregoing to preserve the dignity and to prevent the embarrassment of the shame to a corpse, to a lifeless body, since that corpse once held a holy neshama, since the corpse once carried at Salem and the Torah says you have to be vigilant vigilant and scrupulous and careful to preserve the dignity, so in case if this is how careful the Torah is when it's a mere corpse because it once held the neshama, how much more so we should be careful to protect and preserve the dignity and the love and the support and the sensitivity when the person's alive. You know, sometimes you see this halakha, the Cohen Gadol, the Nazir, even if they're on the way to the carbon Pesach, they set that aside in order to take care of this mitzvah. But it's a mitzvah in the end of the day. Why? Because the mitzvah once housed the neshama. But what about the person who has the neshama? Should you cut them off on the road on your run away on your on your way to bring the carbon Pesach? Should you cut them off? Should you lash out with your road rage at the person who cut you off? What happened to the way we treat another while we're alive? Here the Torah is cautioning us how to treat the corpse once the neshama has been extracted, once we're gone, because we have to be so careful. We have to be so What about when people are alive? We spoke last week. Don't embarrass the challah. What about embarrassing the people who made the challah, who bought the challah, who cut the challah, who served the challah? So careful, we cover the challah every week before kiddush. Don't embarrass the challah. The Slonimer said, don't embarrass the people, forget the challah. So many people embarrass the people in the defense of the challah. The priorities are back are upside down. So we're so careful about a corpse, be even more careful about the people while the neshama is still inside them. The wonderful Otzar HaPlasa HaTorah as uh could say for Vayikra. Emor is like half of Vayikra. It's unbelievable amount. Not easy to go through and filter out what's what we should share. But I want to share Rav Chaim Berlin in his Shu't Nishmat Chaim. Rav Chaim Berlin and his wife had sons. He had Rav Chaim Berlin who became Rav Chaim Bar-Ilan. Chaim I'm sorry, Rav Chaim Berlin who became Chaim Berlin Yeshiva, the namesake of the Yeshiva, and Rav Meir Berlin, Rav Meir Bar-Ilan, the namesake of Bar-Ilan University in Israel. So son of Chaim Berlin, the namesake of Chaim Berlin Yeshiva in Brooklyn. In Shu't Nishmat Chaim, he brings something very sharp from the Aderes. Who was the Aderes? The Aderes was the father-in-law of Rav Kook. And he said the following. The Gemara Berakhot says that Rabbi Amo saw Yochai and Rabbi After Rav Zeira Cohen had He says that even though Rav Zeira was a Cohen, Rav Zeira didn't get the mitzvah of leading the benching. Instead it went to instead it went to Rabbi Amo. Why? So the Aderes says, you know why? Because the Gemara Megillah tells us the time that Rabba and Rav Zeira had the Purim seudah together and they drank too much. Rabba got up and he killed Rav Zeira and then he davened for him and he brought him back to life. So the question is when he came back to life, did he have the status of a Cohen? And the Rav Chaim Berlin in his Shu't quotes the Aderes with this question. If a Cohen dies, if a Cohen stopped breathing, Cohen's heart stopped, someone called Hatzalah and they brought the defibrillator, they did CPR, they brought him back to life. He now has a techiyas hameisim, he comes back to life. He was pronounced dead and he came back to life. Is he still a Cohen? He's born again, born anew. Is he still a Cohen? Or once you're resurrected, once you're born again, do you lose the Cohen status? And that's what's the raya. The Aderes brought a raya that the reason Rav Zeira wasn't honored with leading the benching as a Cohen because he wasn't a Cohen. Because when he had Purim seudah with Rav Zeira with with Rabba, Rabba killed him, then davened for him, he came back to life. When he came back to life he wasn't a Cohen. That's why he didn't get That's why he didn't get the kibbud of leading the benching. So Rav Chaim Berlin says, It was a joke. This was a Purim Torah. It was a Purim shtick to be able to have this lomdus cuz the truth is it's not true. We know in the techiyas hameisim in the Torah cuz the Gemara wonders in Sanhedrin will also lack the oils. The Israelite slaughter trumah. So you see that even though Aaron doesn't live forever, when there will be techiyas hameisim, we will once again once again give trumah to Aaron. So even though he's gone and he comes back to life, he will revert to the status of a Cohen. So you see it's not true. However, the beautiful Otzar HaPlasa HaTorah quotes from another sefer, the Kerem Yaakov. Anyone ever hear of the Kerem Yaakov? Rav Yaakov Chaim Sofer who lives today in Yerushalayim. So the Kerem Yaakov brings a raya to the Aderes because the Ramban in his Hassagot on Sefer HaMitzvot references the Gemara in Yoma that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda Kitzot Rabbi Shimon, my dava hava. Why do we care how they were dressed, the memulalim, what they wore, what they wore, what difference will it make? The question was Kitzot Rabbi Shimon also lavo. The olam haba now Aaron bar of Moshe Rabbeinu Imenu nishalo. So you see techiyas hameisim Aaron bar of memulalim she got botla mishichaso memena mizoro umishas hamisa. They'll need to be re-anointed. Why will Aaron and the sons need to be re-established, re-anointed, re- set as Kohanim? Because maybe you lose the status of a Cohen once you leave this world. Interesting question. Interesting question. He goes further and he has another chakira. He has another chakira which is do you have to treat and honor a Cohen? We'll see from the pasuk of Vekidashto, we'll get to pasuk Vekidashto that you have to honor the Cohen. Cohen gets the first aliyah, the Cohen is offered to lead the benching. One should ask a Cohen to not ask the Cohen to get you the drink or bring you a paper. Cohen has a special status. We honor the Cohen because of their position. Does that continue posthumously? Does that include to the Cohen who's no longer alive? Now, you can't give the first aliyah to the Cohen who is no longer alive. You can't offer leading benching to the Cohen who is no longer alive. How would you do that? How would you do that? So he quotes her interesting question. He says Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld in his Shu't wondered. She'ela nishala, she'ela nifla. Cohen she'eish mitzvah like dimah mishum kidash to kishalom demishach vetaz imtzorach lehakdim limer hashach shehaya Cohen. You learn in the Shulchan Aruch and the sides of the Shulchan Aruch you have the Shach and the Taz. The Shach is an acronym for Rav Shabtai Cohen Rappaport. The Shach is Rav Shabtai Cohen. The Shach is the Sifsei Cohen, the Sifsei Cohen authored by Rav Shabtai Cohen Rappaport. The Taz, the Tur Zahav. So the Shach was a Cohen. In fact, that name Rappaport are Kohanim muchasim. Someone who does put on a tallit looks specifically for a Cohen named Rappaport cuz the Rappaports can trace their lineage all the way back and they are arguably the most secure and confident that they are indeed legitimate Kohanim. People by the name of Rappaport. We have in our community people named Cohen who are not Kohanim. So just cuz your last name is Cohen does not mean you're a Cohen. But Rappaport, there's a good chance that you are a Cohen. Rav Shabtai Cohen Rappaport. So the Shach was a Cohen, the Taz was not a Cohen. So when you're learning the Shulchan Aruch, should you first read the Shach before you read the Taz? Maybe that is a fulfillment of Vekidashto. Maybe you're honoring the Cohen by first learning the Shach. That's what he was asked. And he answered Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld of Yerushalayim When it comes to a parent, we see there is an obligation to honor the parent in the lifetime and after the lifetime. When it comes to a Cohen, we have no reference, no source that you have to honor the Cohen even after their life. Therefore near shita de'ein bizakpeida. You do not need to honor the Cohen because of their status of being a Cohen after they're gone. You're visiting the cemetery. Should you visit the Cohen before the is Levi or Yisrael in the cemetery? No. After they're gone, there is no source that you have to honor them even after they're gone. Very very interesting. Lastly on this opening pasuk two insights of Rav Soloveitchik. Emor ve'amarta. Teach the Kohanim their special sacred status. And Rav Soloveitchik writes the following. While Kedoshim concludes with prohibited sexual relations, parshas Emor begins with a discussion of the laws of the Kohanim. Whom a Cohen is permitted to marry, the blemishes that disqualify a Cohen for serving in the Temple, and the laws of impurity which pertains specifically to the Cohen. What is the transition from Kedoshim to parshas Emor? What is the juxtaposition? What is the end of last week's parashah, the laws of illicit relations, the laws of sexual morality, what does that have to do with the beginning of this week's parashah, the law of the special sacred status of the cohen? That is Rav Soloveitchik's question. Many of the prohibitions of forbidden relationships, arayos, were not imposed exclusively on the Jewish people. Even non-Jews in many of these same areas by the Noachide laws are prohibited. At the same time of the flood, the earth rebelled against all of mankind as a result of the abrogation of these laws. Immorality has a metaphysical consequence that other sins lack. The acts themselves defile the land. So, when we lose When we lose, I'm sharing this insight particularly because we're getting close to the generation of the flood in losing our boundaries, in losing our definitions, in losing our expectations, in losing our our sense of shame, our capacity to blush, our pursuit of holiness, our preservation of that which is sacred. It feels like we're creeping close to the days of the flood. That's not a good thing. Sexual morality has a metaphysical consequence other sins lack. The acts themselves defile the land. If acts of impurity are committed and the land is polluted, there's only one remedy, to purify and purge the land. That's what the Torah says, we'll get to it, that the land spits out the people who live with their immorality. The Torah begins in Breishit with the consequence of violating the universal principles of sexual morality. Hashem explained to the Jewish people that their predecessors were ejected from the land of transgressing for transgressing these laws. However, Jewish people were given many more restrictions in this domain. The additional prohibitions imposed on Klal Yisrael were instituted to reflect the unique sanctity that they possessed. His nation must maintain a higher standard than required of mankind as a whole. The details of this heightened standard are enumerated in Acharei Mos and the punishments are listed in Kedoshim. Now, in Emor, Hashem imparted another message that even within Klal Yisrael, there is a group whose restrictions in this regard are more stringent. There are prohibitions that apply to all Jews and those affect only one sector of the Jewish community. A divorcee, a chalalah, or a zonah are allowed to marry a Yisrael, but they're prohibited to a cohen. The reason the Kohanim experience so many restrictions in this area is because they have a unique responsibility. They offer up the fire offerings to Hashem, the food offerings. They have an added dimension of kedushah that results from the performance of sacrificial service. Why does this added dimension express itself specifically through more arayos restrictions? Why was the cohen not given added responsibilities in other areas? In other words, wonders the Rav. What's the connection between the end of parashah Kedoshim and the beginning of parashah Emor? The end of Kedoshim is the consequence for arayos. What happens when you lose those boundaries? What happens when you violate those space? What happens when you no longer know and can't preserve what is holiness? What are holy relationships? What are unholy? What are legitimate? What are illegitimate? What are appropriate? What are inappropriate? What are moral and what are, yes, immoral relationships? When you lose those boundaries, we lose ourselves, we lower ourselves. So, the beginning of parashah Emor is that the Kohanim have a greater responsibility in this area as a reflection of their greatest of their greater responsibility and role in offering sacrifices and so on. But wonders the Rav, why not give them greater mitzvahs in another area? For example, why not require the Kohanim to daven five times a day? Yisraelim daven three times a day, Kohanim five times a day. Yisraelim have these laws of kashrus and Kohanim have even more restrictive laws of kashrus. Why not give them more restrictions in another area? Why specifically in this area of arayos, of morality? And listen to what the Rav says. Sexual morality is not based solely on the sanctity of Israel, but on human dignity. Human existence depends upon these prohibitions. And this is what he writes. This is what he writes. Homosexuality, adultery, violations of other arayos eradicate the barrier that sets man apart from animal and the very fiber of human existence becomes destroyed. Non-Jews are just responsible to keep the basic laws of arayos as well as other restricted restrictions in the Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. In the generation of the flood, the violators desecrated their divine image. Loss of human dignity is tantamount to self-destruction. If certain prohibitions are essential for all humanity, many more are needed to maintain the kedushah of Bnei Yisrael and yet more are necessary to maintain the singular kedushah of the Kohanim. The transition from Kedoshim to Emor tracks the increased restrictions associated with increased kedushah. Essentially, when we lose our moral compass in this area of illicit relations and gender relations, when we in sexual morality, when we lose our compass, we forfeit our very humanity, our very dignity, our very sacred status. And so, those who have a greater responsibility to preserve and protect their higher sanctity, so, non-Jews, Jews, Kohanim, greatest among us, have more restrictions, greater awareness, and greater obligations in these areas. But that language, "The violators desecrate their divine image. Loss of human dignity is self-destruction." The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh writes this, too. We know, we speak, there are three areas of relationships that we have in life. Bein adam l'Makom, bein adam l'chavero, bein adam l'atzmo. The relationship between us and God, between us and fellow man, and between us and ourselves. And he writes that the three most severe prohibitions that it's better to give your life than violate them, which are don't murder, don't worship an idol, and illicit relations. These correspond with the three relationships that we have. How? Don't murder is bein adam l'chavero, between man and man. Don't worship an idol is bein adam l'Makom, between us and God. What does that leave last? Arayos, yara v'yavo, don't violate the moral boundaries, is bein adam l'atzmo. That is between us and ourselves. Because the moment the moment we become undignified, the moment we lose our divine image, the moment we give in, we forfeit our humanity. What makes us different than an animal? That's what the Rav is writing. Animals indulge their impulse, their instinct, their appetite, and they don't preserve some moral clarity and self-awareness and sovereignty over themselves. And I'm not sitting in judgment. We're all human and we struggle. We struggle to look at things we shouldn't look at, to think about things we shouldn't think. And there are people who struggle not to cross boundaries they shouldn't cross. And there are people who go through difficulties and have certain experiences in their life that make it even more complicated, this test they undergo. And we're not sitting here in judgment of others who may not have passed that test. That's not why we're raising this and I want to be clear. We're not sitting here in judgment of those who didn't pass that test. We're sitting here in awareness for ourselves of how careful we have to be in the boundaries that we have to preserve for ourselves and for the people that we love. And what we need to be unashamed and not defensive to teach and to model and to expect from those around us in the generations to come. Because an animal indulges their appetite. And what makes us a tzelem Elokim, what makes us a chelek Eloka mimaal mamash, what makes us a godly soul, is the ability to rise above that appetite, to not indulge that impulse and that instinct, to maintain and preserve those boundaries of who we are and how we live, what we look at and what we think, and how we behave, and if we act out. We have that ability. We should see and know that within ourselves, sometimes it's only the mochin d'gadlus know that we have it. The mochin d'katnus say, "What's the difference? And you're going to just fall back anyway, and you're going to start looking at those things anyway, and you're going to start acting out anyway. So, you know you are just that lowly animal anyway." That's the mochin d'katnus speaking. But l'hazir gadol al hakatan, tanam, is that we have to listen to the mochin d'gadlus. The moments that we did preserve, the moments that we do show sovereignty, the moments that we do have self-control, those are the mochin d'gadlus and they have to be mazir al hakatan, the mochin d'katnus, to know that we can. Don't forfeit or desecrate your divine image. Don't give up your human dignity. Don't self-destruct. Have we not seen that? The people who make poor choices in this area and violate those boundaries self-destruct. Their worlds implode. Their relationships disintegrate. Their life, their reputation, their family, all because they indulge this appetite that is animal, not human. So, Hashem says, "The more you climb on the ladder of sanctity, the more careful and the more restrictive you need to be in this area." And that's why parashah Emor is after parashah Kedoshim. Kedoshim ends with the consequence of losing moral boundaries, sexual moral boundaries, and parashah Emor begins with the Kohanim who have even higher and greater restrictions in this in this area. In this area. Then the Rav has a beautiful comment l'nefesh lo yitama b'amav. Why is it that corpses convey tumah? Why is it? And they're dirty and they're disgusting. This was a human being a moment ago before the neshamah was extracted from this body, this human being we loved, we held the hand, we caressed, we hugged, we kissed, we cared for. And now that this soul has been extracted from the body and what lies before us is a corpse, all of a sudden it's a source of defilement. It's a source of contamination. It's a source of tumah. Why? What? How? What is that all about? And here, Rav Soloveitchik has the following comment. He says the distinct status which the Torah has granted impurity associated with tumas meis is due to the unique experience which man lives through whenever he's confronted with death. Other objects which contaminate a person are experienced as either aesthetically ugly or physically abominable. Any dead organism is a source of filth, squalor. The organism is in a process of decomposition, a scene arousing unpleasant emotions. Disease can also be subsumed under the category of the repulsive. Tsaraas, leprosy is an excellent example of the ugliness of disease. Tuma and zoama, impurity and filth are synonymous terms. So, a sheretz, a bug, a disintegrating animal corpse, these things can contaminate tuma because they're repulsive. They're unpleasant. They're filth. Filth and impurity are synonymous. But, tumas meis cons- constitutes a unique category. Of course, a dead person is ipso facto a dead organism. And whatever is said of the animal cadaver can also be said of the lifeless human body, which is also exposed to the ugliness the ugly process of decomposition. But, there's something more horrible to be experienced when one is in contact with human death. As far as the zoological kingdom is concerned, death is not a monstrosity. It simply destroys the functionality of the organism. Human death, however, terminates a personality, an ontological dimension, a spiritual individuality who was self-aware and self-conscious, a personality which was driven by vision and hope, which dis- which despaired, rejoiced, and grieved, which lived not only in the present moment, but both in retrospection and anticipation. In a word, death destroys a world. It is the tragic experience of the human being who's endowed with time awareness and knows that his existence is a mockery. Death contradicts the God-man relationship. How can one imagine love of God in Shaul? Said David Hamelech a pasuk in Tehillim perek lamed. In the animal world, the death of the individual is not tragic cuz the existence of the genus is not threatened by the death of an individual. There's no individualistic existence among the animals. Now, save your emails, dog lovers, cat lovers, animal lovers. I know your dog is special and your cat is unlike any other. But, the Torah view in perspective is nothing wrong with loving your dog. And I know why your children and your spouse ignore you, the death the dog runs up and hugs you and loves you and snuggles with you. I got it. Save the email. But, the bottom line is the Rambam writes explicitly when it comes to animals, we have what's called hashgacha klalis. We see animals as a whole, as a unit. Whereas humans, each one is their own world. So, the death of a particular animal, we're sad that lizard, that iguana, that frog, that ant, even that dead dog or that cat, it's sad. It's sad. That was an individual iguana. But, we view the iguanas as a whole, the species as a whole. Right? So, that iguana was not a world. The species of iguanas continue continue. Whereas a human being is unique. A human being is a world unto themselves. The individual existence is the representative of the class. The death of the individual does not count with an animal. But, among people, the situation is completely different. The individual does not lead a representative, but an individualistic existence. Every human being is not a representative of humanity. Every human being is a world. Every human being is a unique manifestation and expression of God in this world. And when a human being dies, each human has an individuality, a personality, a microcosm. Existential legitimacy is to be found in the individual person himself. Death denies the very worth of human existence. Tumas Meis is due not to organic, but to spiritual destruction. It is the expression of human anxiety and terror, human helplessness in the face of a mocking Satan. Tumas Meis is the result of the traumatic experience that dislocates man's self, the I awareness and existential security. Death lurks in the shadows. Death defeats everyone, great or small, clever or simple. Tumas Meis represents not just an experience of ugliness, but the human situation, the tragic and absurd human destiny. So, Rav Soloveitchik writes that that's why corpse, tumas meis, is the av avos hatuma. Tumas Meis is the archetype. It is the highest level. It is the the top category of tuma because it is the highest tuma. It is the negative energy in the world of the loss of a world, of a unique tzelem Elokim, a unique expression of God here in this world. Okay, pasuk beis. Got to get to at least pasuk beis. Ki im isha Yisrael o Rabbi loved him and now tell achiv, we mentioned the kohein, even though the kohein because of their highest higher sanctity and status has greater obligation to preserve moral boundaries, but the kohein too becomes contaminated. The kohein kohein too can have contact with a corpse or with tuma when it's a mother, father, brother, sister, spouse, or a child. Not only can they, but they should. And here the Otzar HaPoskim Torah, we go back to the Otzar HaPoskim Torah. What about for a in-law? Yerushalmi Maseches Brachos, Rabbi Yanai kohein chamo, shegam avo. Rabbi Yanai, who was a kohein, his shver, his father-in-law, who was also his teacher, was niftar, he died. Uvara b'Yana v'Shal Rabbi Yosi imutalei tamei l'chamo mishum kvodo. Can he honor his father-in-law by going to the funeral? Could he go to the cemetery? Could he Does a father-in-law have the status of a father that a kohein could be metamei himself? Is it one of the exceptions? Shver av d'machor chamo, because the Torah says mishum em, we want to give a shiur about this, the relationship with in-laws sometimes complicated, not necessarily so. I now play both roles. I'm a child-in-law and a parent-in-law. Your whole life changes. When you go from being a child to also being a parent, now you see your parents differently. When you go from a son-in-law to a father-in-law, your whole life changes. You become a zeida, your whole life How you see all these things? Everything changes. So, the Shulchan Aruch says that there's an obligation to honor your in-laws. There's an obligation. And there's a big discussion. Is that a way of showing love to your spouse? Is it direct or indirect? Through your spouse you have an obligation. Direct or indirect, there's a big discussion in Halacha. Shver chamo uravo, v'chayav tamei b'chvod rav avo. And here the Yerushalmi in Brachos, in the situation Rabbi Yanai was also the student of his father-in-law of his father-in-law. So, he wanted to know both as a son-in-law, as the aidam, and also as the talmid, do I have to honor him? He shail Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Yosi answers, shvadai asur l'tamei mishum kvod chamo. Being a student, being sorry, a son-in-law does not does not justify becoming contaminated. Mishum kvod rav avo asur l'tamei mishum safek. And because your talmid also is not allowed, we don't let kohanim go to their rebbe's funeral, so the answer was no. But, there's an interesting discussion in this Yerushalmi. Maybe a father-in-law should be like a father. Maybe the shver and shviger should be like parents regarding the kohein being allowed to be metamei themselves, to be metamei themselves. Interestingly, interestingly, in this pasuk, what's the order? Who can the kohein be metamei himself to? His mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his siblings. Why that order? L'imo ul'aviv. You might have thought what would come first? The father. Sometimes the Torah gives us the father first, sometimes the Torah gives us a mother first. When it comes to kavod, it tells us, honor your mother. Honor your sorry, your father. Why does it say father first? Cuz you're more inclined to honor your mother because she takes care of you when you're sick. She packs your lunch for school. She's the one who nurses you back to health. She's the one who tucks you into bed. She's the one who loves you unconditionally. Your father also loves you unconditionally, but he's the one who sometimes has to give you consequences and accountability. He's the one who has to sometimes punish. People naturally have more yirah for a father. So, Torah has to say, don't forget to have awe and fear of your mother. People naturally have more love and affection for their mother. Torah has to say, don't be don't forget to be loving and affectionate to your father. But, why here in this pasuk is the mother first? Imo, why not aviv first? Interesting question, right? So, the Ibn Ezra says something nifla. He gives a reason. You know why le imo first? Tam l'hazkir imo kodem av, ki hazachar chayi yoser mehanekeiva b'rov. Cuz men outlive women mostly. That's what the Ibn Ezra. Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra lived in the Middle Ages. And Rav Avraham Ibn Ezra says in his time in the Middle Ages, who had a longer lifespan, men or women? Men live longer. So, who are you burying first? Your mother, not your father. And that's why the pasuk says le imo before le aviv. Excuse me, because women die earlier than men. Which goes against the Jewish joke about marriage. Why men die first? But, we'll leave that joke aside cuz what my wife insists is not funny. Anyway, so this is the Ibn Ezra. Interesting Ibn Ezra, why imo is first. This is so the Otzar HaPoskim Torah dug up that women die sooner. Also, it was in a Tosafos in Kesubos Tosafos in Kesubos quoted from the Yerushalmi. The Rambam also in his commentary on Mishnah Niddah writes, also minyan hashanim shel nekeivos l'onus nedarim pachus minyan hashanim shel gvarim. When it comes to the age for nedarim, a Halacha for nedarim, women is younger than men. Why? Shemay chaim pachus min may chaim shel gvarim al larov. The Rambam also writes this. Why does a girl turn bas mitzvah at 12 and a boy bar mitzvah at 13? Cuz she's got less to live. She's going to die earlier. So, she matures faster and therefore she's bas mitzvah at 12, he's bar mitzvah at 13. So, the Rambam writes this l'gabei two Halachos, bas mitzvah and nedarim. Tosafos quotes the Yerushalmi this way and the Ibn Ezra points this out here on this pasuk. Question is, why? I'll tell you why that's particularly perplexing because it's not true today. I looked it up this morning. I Googled it. Who lives longer, men or women? So, I looked it up today. So, life expectancy, women's life expectancy in the US in 2021 was 79 years old, men 73. According to CDC data in 2021. This life expectancy gap has serious implications for society, especially when it comes to federal spending. A whole article, a big discussion about this gap. Not only is there a gap, it's a pretty large gap. Women life expectancy is all the way to 79, and men is to 73. Some of you just guessed. Sorry about that. Uh Jerusalem Post had an article, and Israel's different. Interestingly, the same year, 2021, the average life expectancy for women in Israel is 84.6 years old, and for men is 80.5. So, first of all, if you needed another reason to make Aliyah, apparently apparently, you didn't need any new reasons, but apparently you're going to live longer. Apparently, you'll live longer if you make Aliyah. 84.6 years. The gap is smaller between the women and men in Israel. Smaller. Both live longer, and the gap is smaller in in Israel, which is very interesting. So, why? So, this article, Jerusalem Post, gives a number of reasons. There are physiological differences. Heart disease, which is the number one killer in the world today, attacks men more than women. Women take care of their health better than men. Um not only do women care about their health, they care about their social relationships. Men isolate more, and loneliness can lead to death. Women are less reckless than men. So, I guess I'm as drivers. Stay quiet, Ephraim. Stay quiet. Stay quiet. And finally, some biology. Females live longer. Anyway, whether it's in America or in Israel, women live longer than men. So, why did the Ibn Ezra, Tosefta, Yerushalmi, the Rambam, why did they have this tradition? Why in the Middle Ages were men living longer than women? So much so that the Cohen was told, you can defile yourself for your mother before your father, cuz she'll likely die first. Why? Why? So, Tosefta gives the reason. The Otzar HaPoskim quotes it. Madi is a big Amara Shamsha Misa Shchicha Benashim Mishum DeRov Pa'am Mistaknes Beleida. In antiquity, women died at childbirth. Men don't give birth. Let me repeat that. You never think you needed to repeat that. You never thought you'd live in a time that you needed to repeat that, but men do not give birth. Men are not pregnant. They're not They don't give birth. Told you, one of my daughters who's expecting, probably GYN's office, called her, said, "You didn't fill out on the form, what what's your gender?" She said, "I'm I'm pregnant. I'm seeing the doctor because I'm pregnant." To which they said, "Right, but what gender?" She said, "I'm pregnant. That's the gender." Anyway, DeRov Pa'am Mistaknes Beleida. So, men don't give birth, women do, and until fairly recent times, there was enormous risk. You know how many women died, what percentage of women died in child What percentage of babies? How many women, how many mothers and fathers buried what percentage of their children? How many didn't make it to adolescence? We live in miraculous times. Absolutely miraculous times. We are, from the perspective of antiquity, spoiled. If you have all your children, and you predecease your own children, you're spoiled from the perspective of antiquity. If you didn't die in childbirth, you won the lottery from the perspective of antiquity. Every time a woman went into labor, it was a life-threatening situation. And would she survive? Today, thank God, so much less so. So, based on that, is why women were expected to live less on average, why men lived longer, and why the Ibn Ezra, Tosefta, Yerushalmi, the Rambam Im O before Av, cuz they're going to live less time. Interesting. The Makor Chaim on the Ibn Ezra has a different reason. Any doctors here can tell us. Shacham Ativ Eev Hu Yoser Bizachram Mehanekeiva. Men are naturally warmer than women. Certainly, the feedback we get on the AC setting at shul would reflect that. So, since men have a higher body temperature than women, I guess they are positioned to better face the elements, and they live longer. I don't know. That was true one time. I don't know if it's true anymore today. Anyway, this is an Otzar HaPoskim Torah classic, and he dug up dug up this Ibn Ezra, do men live longer or or not? The Maggid Yosef from Rabbi Yosef Sorotzkin, we're going to get past this first two pesukim. We may even skip right to the end of the parsha. I promise. But Chi Im L'She'ero, to your relatives, Hakrovim, love your most immediate relatives, seven immediate relatives. Rashi brings, Ein She'ero Kim L'She'ero. Who is She'ero? Rashi says, Ein She'ero, when it talks about your closest family, your closest family are your seven relatives, but among the seven relatives, who's your closest? Your mother, your father, your spouse, your siblings, or your children? Who's the closest? Says Rashi, Ein She'ero Ela Ishto. Your spouse. So, he says, my Zeida, Rabbi Yosef Sorotzkin, Shlita, is quoting his Zeida, the Leshem HaTorah of Rav Menachem Sorotzkin. Amay Hiktamishu L'Aviv V'Imo? Why in the pasuk Hakrovim L'Aviv Im L'Im Aviv L'Livno L'Vito L'Achiv. Notice it didn't say Ishto. That's why you needed Rashi. Kim L'She'ero, who's She'ero? Ishto. Cuz She'ero Ishto was omitted from the rest of the pasuk. Can a Cohen go to his wife's funeral? Can a Cohen go to the cemetery for his wife's burial? Of course. I Where does it say in the pasuk? It does. Ishto uh She'ero. She'ero is Ishto. So, who's the first one mentioned in the pasuk? Before Im O, before your mother, is your wife. Why is the wife listed first? Why is the wife listed first? Particularly, Rav Zamen Sorotzkin was bothered. It's normal for a person, Ap Yedei Derech Hateiva, the Seder Shel Olam is that a person loses their parents before their wife. Ordinarily, a person's spouse is around their same age, which means that their parents and in-laws are both significantly older. So, one naturally, in the normal order of things, loses their parents before their spouse. So, why doesn't the pasuk say, Im O, Av, Ishto, Livno, L'Vito, L'Achiv. You have the same thing also L'Achiv. Achiv should go before Livno, L'Vito. But here, the Torah's communicating whom the Cohen Cohen can be contaminated to. One would think it would list it in the order that they'll likely expire. So, why is the wife first? Wondered Rav Zamen Sorotzkin. The Turei Zahav answered, Shim Kol Hakrovim Shel Adam Shayeichim Min Ha'Avar, Hainu SheBa'u Mimakom Acher, Aval Hakrova Im Ishto Mekureves L'Atid, Ki Bahem Mishutafim. V'Atid HaOlam Yakarlanu Meha'Avar, Ki Ma She'Avar Ein V'Efsher L'Hativu, Mash'Ein Ken Atid Efsher Od L'Shakrer. Says, "What you have in common with everyone else is your past. Your parents, your siblings, it's your upbringing, it's your childhood, it's your past. What you have in common with your spouse is your future. Is your children, the Nachas, your grandchildren, growing old together, is your future. A person cherishes their future even more than their past. You live for your future more than for your past. So, which is more heart-wrenching? Which is the greater loss? Which is more devastating? Which leaves the greater loneliness? Which is more shattering of dreams? A person's spouse than a person's than a person's parents. As devastating as it is. So, even though the loss of parents comes first, Dafka because it's natural, it's less devastating. So, L'She'ero, the wife comes first. Chazal say this. Ein Adam Mes Ela Anisha Mesa Al HaBa'ala. It's felt the most with My heart goes out, no matter at what age, that loneliness that can result in without having that people are able to find the Zivug Sheini to not have to live with loneliness. B'Nir'eh Bizeh L'Gabei Kol Hakrovim Yesh Od Krovim SheChayavim La'Asok B'Inyanei HaMisa, Rak B'Ishto Ein Od Milvado. So, his grandson, Rav Yosef Sorotzkin, in his Maggid Yosef, adds another reason. Maybe the wife comes first, you know why? Cuz when it comes to parents, your siblings can join you in arranging the burial. The laws of Kol HaChaver Kadisha, the laws of delivering has paid them, the laws of flight Eretz Yisrael. But B'Ishto Ein Od Milvado, Ela Ba'al Lo Asik B'Kvuras Ishto. But when it comes to a spouse, that's on the husband. And so much so, Ein Chiyuv Meyuchad L'Kvuras Aviv V'Imo. Ela Hu Inyan Klali Shel Kibud Av Va'Em. Is there a specific independent obligation to bury your parents? No. It's a fulfillment of Kibud Av Va'Em to take care of their burial. But when it comes to a spouse, that's one of the obligations of a husband on a wife. Maran Shulchan Aruch Men Vav, A Ba'al Chayav B'Kvurasah. Afilu Oni Sheb'Yisrael Yichos Mishnei Chalilin L'Kavnenus. Even a poor person has to knock on the door and raise funds to ensure a proper burial for their spouse. That's not a fulfillment of honoring a spouse, there's a separate independent mitzvah, halacha, to bury a spouse. So, that's why Ishto She'ero comes comes first comes first. Where do we see this all from? Concludes Rav Yosef Sorotzkin, the makor of this is Avraham Avraham Avinu was Misasek B'Kvuras Sarah, Af She'Ela Ben Gadol. How old was Eliezer at the time? They just got back from the Akeida. How old was Eliezer at the time? 37 years old. He's 37 years old. And Vayoshev Avraham Al Ha'Arav. The Medrash wonders, V'Yitzchak KeChanu, where was he? Shalcho Etzel Shem V'Eiver L'Limud HaTorah. He went back to learn. So, according to Rabbi Chanina, Yitzchak was in the house. He could have been Misasek in the Kvura, but V'Kan She'Ikra Isuk B'Meis M'Chiyuv Ish L'Ishto. You see that more than the children, the spouse has to to arrangements for the funeral, and that's why she wrote comes before of the email as I said to make it Joseph. That is the inside of the Magid Joseph. The passage is saying Torah tells us still with the Kohanim. He shows them Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying They can't marry a woman who's a zona or has been desecrated or they cannot marry a woman who's been divorced. Each one is holy to God. We know that the Kohanim has stricter rules of who he can marry. Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying That is an acronym. Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying What is the acronym? Azulai. The Kohanim is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying He has a discussion in here. Some say that anyone who describes that the name Azulai comes because of this passage Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying is putting them because what are you suggesting about the and his family? That there is an issue of being a Allah. Someone there is a zona. Not a very nice thing to call the family. So don't say that the name Azulai comes from this acronym. Somebody says so is putting them. Others say no, there's nothing wrong with saying that. Why are you saying that? Because this was a family of Kohanim who were careful Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying to observe this Allah. Anyway, an interesting discussion. What does the word zona mean? Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying A Kohanim cannot marry a Grusha, a Allah, a Giyores. A Kohanim cannot marry. Kohanim cannot marry. This comes up. Kohanim falls in love. And sometimes it comes up intentionally. Comes up Sometimes it comes up so to say rebelliously that a Kohanim falls in love with a divorcee and doesn't care. Wants to marry her anyway. What does the rabbi do? Can he be conditioned? Kohanim falls in love with a Giyores, a convert. What can you do? Allah. So what is a zona in this case? Can a Kohanim marry a zona? A promiscuous woman. How do you define a zona? The Rambam talks about a Kohanim cannot marry a woman who's ever been intimate with a non-Jew. By definition, that's a form of being a zona. A woman who's been fully intimate with a non-Jew has the status of a zona and a Kohanim cannot marry. Now that's a can be a terrible thing. But sometimes the Kohanim who fell in love with the convert or the divorcee if determines that his mother before she married the father had been intimate with a non-Jew and the father slept with a technical zona would leave him a Allah he now can marry the convert or the divorcee. So the world we live in in which these boundaries have been more violated maybe than ever is a net negative but can be a positive for the Kohanim who's trying to not be held to the Kohanim status because of who they fell in love with. If you didn't follow that don't worry about it. But that's one of the complicated ways we deal with this. Now I just share with you when you were a kid in school and you learned for example the beginning of say for Yeshua and the story of Allah who was just mentioned in today's Allah. Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah So Allah Allah who harbored the two spies who came to investigate the land. The good spies. The good story of investigating the land before they came in the beginning of say for Yeshua. Allah the zona harbored the spies. Allah ultimately marries Yeshua and Allah is described by the as a zona. And when you were in fifth and sixth and seventh grade and you ask your teacher, what's a zona? What did your teacher say? She's an innkeeper. Zona is an innkeeper. Because what does the word zona come from? She puts out the Allah Allah. She put out the and the She was the innkeeper who served the Allah. She served the Allah the good cake. So was your teacher right or wrong? Radak. The Radak of David Kimhi on the passage in Yeshua Allah Allah Allah Allah The Radak writes Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying Allah is saying You can understand the word zona in two ways. Zona Allah A promiscuous illicit woman Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah A person who serves Allah. The Radak brings the Allah Allah who every time it says zona writes Allah Allah. So Allah is a hotel and in A Allah is the innkeeper. Not like Allah translates. Allah translates Allah as Allah Allah which means a zona. She's a zona. A zona. But the Radak is relying on the Allah Allah not the Allah Allah. That a Allah is an innkeeper. The Radak explains both ways. So can you really explain? He says here that maybe it's really the same thing. A zona Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Maybe it's not a Allah. Maybe Allah doesn't mean innkeeper. Allah comes from Allah. The innkeeper is she practices a inappropriate form of hospitality. So she's called an innkeeper. The innkeeper is an extreme form of hospitality. Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Just like the innkeeper says I provide question. Maybe you are too. Is God really affected by a lowly mere mortal, a finite human being cursing him out? Is someone give God an Allah? Someone ruin God's reputation? Give God a bad review online? It's going to hurt Hashem's business? What does Hashem care? We stone him? Capital punishment? We lean our hands on him? Such a warning, such a reaction. The way the puts it considering the irreverent remark a grave sin, do we punish an insect that bites us? Does it arouse our wrath? Do we feel hurt by the barking of a dog? Certainly not. Why then is the omniscient eternal creator and sustainer of the universe whose will is the source of all cosmic dynamics, why is God concerned with a nonsensical indignity uttered by a stupid weak transient being here today, tomorrow in the grave? We're not angry at the mosquito. Why should God punish the blasphemer with death? It's a good question. So the writes Hashem punishes the blasphemer not because of the indignity to him but because by making such a statement, man destroys his own Allah. He destroys not only his own Allah but the Allah reflected in the universe. Nature, the universe is such a moral being. The Rambam in his Allah refers to the cosmos as a macro anthropos. One large individuality, a personality. Blasphemy destroys the Allah not only of the individual himself but of the macro anthropos. The universe reflects the glory, the image of Hashem. Allah Allah The blasphemer is burdened with sin. He has brought about a destructive change in his personality. The moment he makes a sacrilegious statement, he is no longer rooted in the almighty. The destructive effect is not limited to him. It is destructive to the entire universe. It's a very very important insight of the Rav. When we tolerate, when we are exposed to the poison of a person who has the brazenness to curse God, God's not affected. Don't worry about God. You know what is affected? Our environment, our culture. We are affected. When we overhear, when we see, when we are exposed to someone with the boldness, the brazenness, the chutzpah to lose and forfeit their tzelem Elokim by cursing out God, it's one thing to struggle in your belief with God. It's one thing to have uncertainty. It's one thing to navigate your doubt. It's another thing to be angry at God. That we're also okay with. One can be disappointed or angry or object to God. But to curse God? To blaspheme God? To introduce that to the environment? You know, we're such environmentalists. We worry about secondhand smoke. We worry about exposure to whatever levels and how much we're introducing to the to the universe. What about spiritual environment? What about the spiritual poisons? What about the spiritual contaminants that we're putting into the universe? So, the Rav writes, the reason Hashem has this high level of accountability and what seems to be an intense reaction is not because he's affected by the curse, but the environment. The toxin, the contaminant that's introduced to the environment. When a person spiritually has the brazenness to curse God, that venasa chato, you bear not only the burden of the words, these silly words you said, but you bear the burden of what you introduced into the universe, and that's what you're held accountable for, and that's why the universe and the people who heard you on their behalf need to react the way they do. Have to lean their hands because they heard it being uttered. They need their own. They have to purge themselves of the experience of absorbing the contaminant. Secondhand cursing of God. You could die of secondhand smoke, and you could die of secondhand hearing God cursed. So, you, this person who was exposed secondhand smoke, also has to do something. The samuch yadayim, they also have to do a smicha, and they also need to have a form of a kapara. Where did this person come from? Where did this person come from? How did they go out? Where did they come from? So, vayeitzei. Me'eichan yatza? Where did they come from? Rashi jumps on the fact that the pasuk describes vayeitzei. We're finishing up, don't worry. This person vayeitzei, they went out. Where did they come out from? Where did they go out to? Me'eichan yatza? Rebbe Levi Yitzchak me'olamo yatza. They left their world. What does that mean they left their world? Rebbe Volbe writes in Al Shulchan Aruch Chelek Beis, pelaplos Adam Yochlol es me'olamo liyos es ha'olam atzmo. You know, a person can leave their world. Their world is their sanity. Their world is self-preservation. And a person can sabotage their own world. A person can self-destruct. A person can lose their world, their sanity. Person can lose their stability, their balance. And that says Rebbe Volbe is what Chazal meant in the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos. The fourth perek of pishnah of Pirkei Avos, the Mishnah tells us, hakina'ah veha kavod veha ta'avah motzi'in es ha'adam min ha'olam. When a person is filled with envy and jealousy, and your whole life is consumed by seeing what other people have and you're craving it. When a person is filled with ta'avah, with lust and desire and insatiable appetite. When a person is filled with the pursuit of kavod, you just want to be an influencer. You just want to have the most likes. You just want to be the most famous. It removes a person min ha'olam from the world. What's the world? Rebbe Volbe says it means it removes you from your world. You lose your sanity. All you care about is competing with what other people have, envy and jealousy of others, indulging your appetite, your ta'avah, honor and influence. You lose your sanity. You lose your world. You lose who you're meant to be. So, this person who could curse out God, yatza me'olamo, they left, they walked out. They left their world. They left their sanity. Rebbe Druck has another interpretation. I told you we're finishing. We are. As long as I keep saying we're finishing, you'll believe and buy myself a couple more minutes. I don't need a couple more minutes. We're finishing. Me'eichan yatza? Rebbe Levi says me'yad me'olamo yatza. He left his world. Rebbe Berechya Omer, I'm back in Rashi. Mefarshei Sholom Aleichem yatza. Liglig v'omer b'yom ha'Shabbos ya'archenu derech melech l'chapes cham b'chol yom. O she menachem sonen es ha'Shabbos tish'ah yamim b'tmiha. So, what was the parsha that came right before the case of cursing out God? Was the showbread, the lechem ha'panim. Lechem ha'panim sat in the Mishkan on the shulchan all week long. It was switched out. And Chazal tell us, siluk u'kisiduro, when it was switched out, it was just as fresh as when it was put there to begin with. But he wonders, this individual who curses out God, what led them to curse out but God? What bothered them so much? They heard this law. What's the law of lechem ha'panim? These 12 loaves of bread. Each Friday they were baked. On Shabbos the new ones replaced the old ones. So, the anonymous man heard this parsha. He learned this law. He jumped up and he screamed and he objected. He says, "A king eats fresh hot bread daily, and for the King of Kings, we only bake him new bread once a week? We're serving him stale bread all week? We only bake him fresh bread once a week?" So, he curses out God. Does that make sense to you? He starts out by what? Defending God's honor. And he ends up by violating, by cursing God's honor. So, how could that be? How does this righteous, virtuous, pious person who jumps up and says, "For a regular king you bake once a week, and for the King of Kings daily, and for the King of Kings you're baking once a week?" And then he ends up, the same person, a moment later, in reaction, in a fit, in his rage, a moment later, ends up being the one who's mekallel, who's mecharef, who's megadef, who's cursing out God? So, the Yalkut Yehudah suggests, you know what? It's not strange at all. You know why? The megadef was never really interested in protecting God. You know what he is? He's what the Yalkut Yehudah calls a kitzoni personality. What's a kitzoni personality? An extremist. The extremist can be extreme this way one moment, and extreme that way the next moment. Because it was never really about what they were defending. It's really all about being an extremist. When someone lives as an extremist, they'll take this position, and in a moment they'll take the contrarian position. Because they're never really defending a value. They're never really arguing or caring about a virtue. They're just an extremist by nature. And that's what's going on over here. Is that this individual began by defending God's honor, and they end by violating God's honor as their anger grew because they were kitzoni this way, and they end up kitzoni that way. Can never indulge anger or rage because in that fit, you'll end up contradicting your own self. It's not about being extremist in our reaction, in our thought, in our behavior. It's about being what the Rambam calls a shvil hazahav, being measured, being strategic, being thoughtful, and thinking about what is that value ultimately that we that we care about. Rebbe Druck also has a beautiful insight. So does Rebbe Nachman. Maybe we'll start with that next week. Again, join the WhatsApp if you're not yet part of it for the schedule, bonus material, and to uh get the parsha write-up. Until next time. Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.