Rav Aaron Dovid Poston: Mystical Insights into Sacrificial Offerings

Shalom aleikhem, everybody. Welcome back to the YU Bina Beit Midrash. Welcome home to Torah. A warm welcome. And chodesh tov, chodesh Nissan. We're in parshas Vayikra. Of course, we're dealing with the Kli Yakar in a safer here called Ir Giborim. And I just want to let everyone know, look, we're dealing with some very sensitive subjects tonight. Okay, so you're in for a real treat. Some very like we always deal with fundamental issues. And tonight you will not be disappointed at all. And we encourage you to use the Hebrew sheets. So, you can find the link on the website in the description box below. And by the way, we're also collecting to give kimcha d'Pischa. This is Rosh Chodesh Nissan. So, anybody that can help and contribute, there's a link below. And we distribute thousands and thousands of shekels to needy families for the chag. Okay, so we're going to be dealing with two major issues that need to be addressed. Okay, and I'm going to give you a little bit of background. Burnt offerings. Burnt offerings are entirely consumed on the altar. Everything. Whereas sin offerings, it's only the blood and the chelev and the fats. So, one of the questions that we'll ask why, I'm not sure we're going to fully answer that question. But the next question we are going to scratch the surface. And like I said, it's a very sensitive subject, and you'll hear it from the question. The Olah, the the this elevation offering is going to be only used right? It doesn't matter you're a male or female you bringing it but the animal can only be a male. Whereas the sin offerings it's going to be only a female animal that can be brought whether it's a male or a female person bringing it it can only be a female animal. The question is why? And the Shlamim can be either a male or a female animal. So the question is why? What is the depth? I just want to give a little bit of a introduction to what these offerings actually are as well. So an elevation offering, we're going to call it an Olah. It's a burnt offering. So it may be brought by someone who has intentionally committed a sin for which the Torah does not prescribe a punishment or if someone failed to perform a positive commandment or by someone and this is going to be important who had sinful thoughts that had not been carried out indeed. Okay? So they're dealing with sinful thoughts or by anybody who comes up to Jerusalem let's say for example during the three pilgrimage festivals and I just want to and and and what they want to do is they want to raise their spiritual level. By non-Jews, the only thing that can be brought by a non-Jew is an elevation offering, is an Olah. Okay? So just put that aside. That is a general rule regarding the Olah. Um regarding the Shlamim peace offerings, that's what the Shlamim are are brought voluntarily by a person or group of people who are moved to express their love of God, their gratitude for his goodness, and to enhance their closeness to him. Basically, it's brought as a tribute to God, blessed be he when the person is moved to offer it, recognizes the ways of God's goodness and constant goodness to us. Regarding sin offerings, by the way, it's only bishogeg, only if it was inadvertent, and it was if for a serious sin. Okay? These offerings cannot atone for sins that were committed intentionally. Any sin that was done intentionally, there is no offering. All that God wants is teshuvah. Okay? So, now we're going to start with the Medrash on the first page. We're only going to deal with the first eight lines, and then we're going to skip to the second page. So, the pasuk in Leviticus 1:1, and we're going to lead right into the second verse, and I want you to focus on three groups of animals that are to be used for atonement on the altar. Okay? So, God called to Moses, and the Lord spoke to him, says, "And he called to Moses." Remember, God's name is he mentioned, "And he called to Moses." How do we know it was Hashem? You can see from the rest of the verse, but also from the previous verse, that Moses was speaking to God. And the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying, "Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, Okay? So, in Hebrew, Vayikra Moshe elav Hashem me'ohel mo'ed lemor. And what did he say? "When a man among you" Now, man, it really means a person, "among you brings a sacrifice to the Lord." Right? It says, Imartem lahem adam. That's a general name for humankind. Ki yakriv mikem korban Hashem. And what is this offering? It's from your animals, from your cows, your cattle, or from your flock. Okay, min habehema, min habakar, umin hatzon. I highlighted that because that's going to be the focus. For the beginning, there are these three groupings of animals, takrivu as korbanachem. Those are going to be used for your sacrifice, for your offering. Um the the Medrash says, back to the Hebrew, Amar Rebbe Yehuda bar Simon, Amar Kodesh Baruchu, so Rebbe Yehuda ben Simon says that God says this these words. He said, "Eser minei behemos tehoros yesh. I gave you 10 different species of animals that are called pure, pure in terms of eating, they're kosher. Yesh masarti lacha, I'm sorry, masarti lacha sholosh birshutcha v'zayin sholosh birshutcha. I gave you three that are called in your domain, domicile. Out of the 10 animals that are kosher to eat, three of them are close, they're in your corrals, they're in your pens, they're eating off your trough, you're feeding them, they're called domestic animals. Zayin sholosh birshutcha. And seven of them, we're going to call them wild animals. They're not found in your Hey, Shalom Nissan, please put yourself on silent. And seven are not in your domain, meaning they're wild animals. They they live in the mountains, they live in the valleys, they live outside of uh the they're not domesticated. Gimmel birshutcha, and he lists the three that are domesticated. And that is the shor, which is the cattle. You have I'm sorry, which means sheep. And which are goats. And then he lists seven that are not in your issues. They're not domicile. They're not domesticated. And I'm not going to tell you what each one is. Acha dish on the summer the summer. These are 10 wild animals that are kosher to eat. Now, may you shine on the car. Where those that are not domestic God says I did not bother you. I did not make you go out of your way. I didn't ask you to go to any extra effort. Should have you may have the fun eye. So that you would not have to bring them as a Corbin before me. I'll my oyster and sugar dealing all a busy car. But rather only those that grow by your trough that you feed and they they water they they take the water and the food from your hand basically. I'll be rushing to have the owner. Now, I'm telling you that you only to bring those that are close to you because I God am not hungry. You're not bringing that for me because I'm hungry. It says in Psalms chapter 50 verse 12. See this number three in the source sheet. If I were hungry, I would not tell you for the world and its fullness are mine. We understand from here Hashem really doesn't need to to eat any any food here. So it's really he's doing us a Can you imagine if we had to bring I don't know a certain type of animal that's only found in the wilderness and then we'd have to go you know, and maybe fly to Hawaii or who knows where to the to certain mountaintops to bring them down. Hashem did a great hesed for us. So, that's how the Kli Yakar opens with this measure. We're going to go to the second page on the right side in the middle where he's now going to begin something that I must give another introduction to. Besides everything I already said over we're going to be dealing with remember the most important questions really will be right? Um why does the burnt offering is it's entirely burnt whereas the sin offering it's only the blood and the fats? And the the the the the olah, the burnt offering it's only from a male animal whereas a a sin offering, a chattat must be brought only from a female animal and a shlamim can be brought from either male or female. Now, when I mentioned the idea that there's male and female involved in not the human that's bringing but in terms of the animal the the Kli Yakar is attributing this to some very deep uh let's say cabalistic ideas. Number one, maybe even psychological ideas of humankind. God created mankind and he created us male and female. And there are certain attributes that a male has that a female doesn't have and vice versa that she has that that men don't have. In other words, even Hashem, there is certain aspect of feminine aspect to Hashem if I could say such a thing at least in terms of like names. The Shekhinah is feminine, okay? But other aspects, in other words, there's an idea that the God created the world and he created systems and models and everything fits in somewhere. So, the male and we call God he, why? Because he's a provider. He's the giver. And we call the Shekinah a female. There is an aspect, perhaps, at least we're created in the image of God. So, we also have male and female. The female is the receiver. Okay, even the word nakuv and nekeva is a hole, a receptacle. Okay? That's what the word the Hebrew word nakuv means a hole. A woman is in the keva. She's a receptacle and she's a receiver. The male on the other hand is the mashpia. He's the one who's influencing. We have other ideas such as, let me just say it now, we spoke about the idea that God created the world with the yud and the hey. There's a famous pasuk, right? Beyah Hashem tzur olamim. Okay? With the yud and the hey, God created the worlds. The yud in the man in the man's name, ish, and the woman's name, ishah, you have the aleph and the shin, which are common letters, but you have the yud of ish. So, in a man's name you have the yud, and in the female, ishah, you have the hey. The yud is lifted up off the ground and it's this little point that's somehow hanging in the air. It's a little bit lofty. It's going to be more related to spiritual ideas and we're going to call seichel, which means spiritual intellect. As the woman, her two feet are firmly planted on the ground. That's what the hey. The hey has these two legs that are firmly planted on the ground. And somehow or another, that represents the physical world. And a woman can actually, like we talked about I think we last week even, the woman can take challis, so to speak. She can mold the physical world and make something beautiful out of it. She can go window shopping and all she thinks about is how I could use this for Shabbos, how I can use it to make the world a better place. How I can serve Hashem. A man has a harder time doing that. Okay, he's a harder time with the physical world. Okay, he's a lot of what we're going to call tigers, a lot of um desires that he has to he has to work out. And we're So we're going to with those in mind, when I mention the idea of male female, we're not talking about human beings being male and female, although to a certain extent we are. We're talking about the model. The mode. Let's call them energy, certain spiritual energies. Just like I have more male energy, I hope, but at least I have it, and then I have some female energy. And women also have the other side, too. They also have male energy. And the truth is, when you're married, I just saw this a very interesting article, even in the um in the lovemaking aspect, right? Because you're going to become one flesh. That let's just take the woman's side for a second. So she's going to cook for the man. Obviously, not all women cook. I do plenty of cooking on my own. But the blood and the sweat and the tears that goes into cooking for the husband, there's we'll call it certain aspect of moisture that's being tran- energy is being transferred into the food. He's eating the food, and he is what he eats, and therefore goes into his blood. And he's going to transfer that liquid back to her through the lovemaking process. And there's a constant transfer of liquids back and forth. Okay? And so the article I read had to do with um how testosterone is passed on to the woman through the lovemaking. In other words, it's like a boost of vitamins and iron uh and tes- testosterone through the lovemaking process. So there's a lot of transfer of fluids going on. And so in a certain sense, we really we are one. We're one flesh. So we're just, you know, use these terms in ter- we're going to see the terms masculine, feminine in terms of models. So, everyone has both. Okay? But, the women have a little bit more women and less men, and the men hopefully has a little bit more men than women, but everyone is unique, right? A different amount in each person. With that in mind, what we're about to see, right? We just started with this Midrash, and included in it is a great concept regarding the whole idea of korbanot. Korbanot it actually means to bring close. You're going to come close to God. Um we translate it as sacrifices or offerings. Sacrifice sounds like it's um it's like it has a negative connotation to the word sacrifice. Offering is closer to the word korban because it means to come close. Another background that we really have five levels of our soul, but we're not going to discuss the two highest levels. We're going to discuss the three levels as if that's all we have for the moment, for the moment. So, we have what we call Neshamah, which is the highest level, and it's usually found mainly found in the head brain area. Then, you have the Ruach, which is in the middle of the body, like in the the lungs and the heart. And we'll see it's in the torso of the body. And then, you have the Nefesh, which is the lowest level of your soul, which is in the blood. But, he's going to describe them in different ways. So, he says we have three levels of our soul. For example, you have the Nefesh HaSichlit. Now, the word Sechel usually tran- people translate it as intelligence. I'm not going to discount that. That's the Rambam's translation. He would translate Sechel as intelligence, and that soul is a soul of intelligence. He In fact, the Rambam says the highest level of of a human being is to reach the level of prophecy where you have this absolute perfection in intelligence. But I'm going to use the the Maharal's definition because the Kli Yakar was the student of the Maharal. He translates the word seichel as spiritual. But let's take both definitions. And let's use the term every time we see the word seichel as spiritual intelligence. Okay? So you have this nefesh that is basically your spiritual intelligence. Then you have the nefesh which is nefesh behemes, we're going to call the animal soul. So you have the highest level which is up here in the brain. And you have the lowest level which is in the blood, which is the animal soul. And then you have your nefesh ha-chiunis, which is in the middle, the torso. And it's we're going to call it a life force soul. And that's meshutaf mi-seichel u-mi-teva. And that is somehow matched up, it pairs up. Since it's in the middle, it reaches into the higher sphere and it also reaches into the lowest sphere. Ki ha-sichlis ve-ha-behemes, so the highest and the lowest heim shnei achim mi-mash. They're seemingly, let's say, complete opposites of each other. Zeh kulo sichli, one is entirely full of spiritual intelligence and the other one is in entirely, let's say, instinctual. It's it's animalistic. Whereas the chiunis, this life force which is in the middle, is meshutaf mi-shneihem k'nizka. It somehow matches up and pairs up with each one a little bit above and a little bit below. Now, what about the sin? The sin itself? So, sin comes through three ways. Kashir is Kairnu, he mentions this in another safer of his in Shaarei Teshuvah, siman aleph. I didn't read it, so I really don't know what he's he's referring to over there, but he's describing it here. The who connected dalid nefashos. When we sin, it depends what level of our soul we're sinning with. It's connected the it's parallel to the three levels of our soul, where the yetzer hara is making every attempt to agitate or to provoke. Okay? Who connected gimmel nefashos seilu sha yetzer hara mitgar bam. Okay? It makes every attempt to overpower. The hainu ha cheit beratzon hanefesh hasichlis. That the sinner, the one who's sinning, he's sinning willingly with his mind. Okay? Or his cheita mitzad hitgabrus ha'chomer shel nefesh habeheimis. Or he's not sinning with his mind. He's sinning because of this overpowering physicality of that animalistic soul, which is more instinctual, without thought. Or there's that middle road. Ha cheita beratzon hanefesh ha'chiyunis. Or he's using some aspect of his will when he sins uh through this uh life force, because it's meshutaf misechel veteva. Because it does have some connection above and below. Vesham, in that safer of his, he explains this much better. But right now, ata be'inyan hakorbanos haboyim lechaper al klalei ha'cheit. >> Right now, what we're dealing with are the korbanos that are coming to atone for the general sin that's coming through these three categories of animals. Remember in the Hebrew we said it's coming from the behema, from the bakar, and from the tzone. Well, they represent something. Okay? And he claims these represent the three levels of your soul. Okay? In Bava Kamma, which Rashi also brings, if you look at number four, Rashi brings some of these ideas. The Gemara had raised an objection to the brisa which interprets the verse. It's in Bava Kamma 40B. As the verse said, you shall bring your offering from the cattle, even from the herd or from the flock. Now, the phrase from the cattle, from the behema, right? We saw this. Okay, we didn't see the whole thing, but this is what it says. So, this comes to exclude um this is the the bakar, okay? The bakar. It's coming to exclude if the animal was active in bestiality or if the animal is the object of bestiality. In Hebrew, it says mina behema l'ma'uteh rova v'nirba. Either the animal, I'm going to say the animal came upon a woman or a man came upon the animal. So, either he was he raped the animal raped or the animal was raped. Okay? So, it's called bestiality. And it comes to exclude you cannot bring an animal that was involved in any way with bestiality as an offering to the altar. And what about Oh, so that was Behema. That was um uh uh I'm sorry, that was uh animals in general. From the Bakar, which is the cattle, Lamute Navad. That comes to exclude an animal that was actually worshipped. If an animal was worshipped, you cannot bring that animal onto the altar. And what does it mean Umin Hatson? From the flock, Lamute Hanogeach Uh I'm sorry, I skipped something. Um Lamute Mutza. That comes to exclude an animal that was set aside to be worshipped. It wasn't worshipped, but you set it aside either to be slaughtered or to be worshipped, slaughtered for a god. And there's a vav, there's an additional letter, Umin Hatson. So, what does that letter come to ex- exclude? Hanogeach Shehemis. That the animal gored a human being and killed that human being, that animal is forbidden to be brought up on the altar as an offering. The next short paragraph on the top left is shows us that even though we just read that Midrash in in Gemara Bava Kamma, uh the Braisa in Bava Kamma, the word in Hebrew that was used was Lamute. But Rashi on our pasuk uses the word Lahotzi. Now, you may think I would just translate the word exactly the same. Lahotzi or Lamute they means to exclude. The Kli Yakar here at this point wants you to know that it's it does mean exclude, but it's not for naught. He doesn't explain why at this moment, but he says there's a reason. Every time you're reading Rishonim like Rashi, you're reading the Tannoim like uh like in the Gemara, every word has a reason. And to have two different texts where one says Lamute and the other one says lahoicey even though they mean exactly the same thing, there's a difference. He's not going to explain it now, but here is what he says. The author command will eat bone name. We actually need to think about this deeply. Kimiko Swahili receive lotion lamute or mix of Swahili receive lotion lahoicey. You have some books that have this language, some use another. Come over here like Rashi Shaktoolik lahoicey hamuksa lahoicey never lahoicey ruin near war. Right, he used the word lahoicey to explain everything we just did and he says low la tau she no lotion there and it's not for naught. Kim la cabanas good dollar. There's actually great depth and meaning behind the difference in the language. Gone come on my commas arm rule of the robot. We know the verb is used as the word and it comes to add something. We see here that the verb here is la ma art is to exclude. And that requires a great deal of thought. We're going to move on cuz we're not going to answer that question at the moment. Near the forest can you do it in the cabanas? Shaka fish of behemoths heat tacos never show them and the sky of clear by war of an old town should be a doll. This is something that's well known. This is the opinion of the Ramban Nachmanides. He says this is known that the animal now the actual animal soul meaning the soul of the actual animal that you're may bringing up as an offering that is an exchange tacos never show them. It's going up. It's going to be slaughtered and it's going to be clear. Miss sky of clear. See you the person is actually liable for decimation uh total cons- con- consuming on the altar, um death, right? You're liable death, you're liable destruction on account of the sins that you did. And then we're not talking about 36, by the way, we're not 613. Umizatam oil and nasi's clear. And it's for this reason, he says, that the ola, remember the burnt offering, is entirely consumed. Umikhatas, whereas the sin offering, ain makrivim ela khelvo vedamo. The only parts that are totally consumed on the altar is just the blood and the fats. Umitam ze ye niklatam lama oila bo dat gam min hazakhar. And it's for this very reason that we we're going to include the reason why the burnt offering, the oila, is coming specifically from the male animal, the right? Of the species, the male animal. Whereas the khatas is specifically dat gam min hanekeva. It's specifically coming from the female animals. Vashlamim boyim bein zakhar bein nekeva. Whereas the peace offerings are coming whether from a male or a female, didn't matter. Now, piyursho be zekhar khamim merishonim, it happens to be that earlier rabbis, earlier than the Kli Yakar, explain tamim nekhpadim, very worthwhile and honorable explanations, ish lefi siklo. Each one of these rabbis gave according to their, uh, intellect and according to their abilities to explain it over. But, halo lelohim pitronim, is it not that God has all the answers? And I'm not going to say they're infinite, but God is infinite, but at least there's 70 faces of the Torah. There are many answers. And we're created in the image of God, we should be God-like. Why not try? And the clear cut says, I'm going to give my I'm going to attempt to give you my explanation. Remember, he's the student of the Marah. We're talking about a clear tradition all the way back to Moses. And not only that, not only am I going to give you my opinion, you'll see most likely it's going to match up with other great rabbis who lived before me, who were great rabbis. The near the forest know what that word dim young is. It seems the best way to explain this is that it's known. What we call Homer, Homer is physicality. The physical world. The word sura is spirituality, the spiritual world. Both of these terms are dim young, are you can use comparative simulation or a model. We're setting it up as let's call it female and male energy. Maybe I'm Maybe that's not right, but that's how I'm going to you try to explain it. So, Homer, the physicality we're attributing to the female aspect. To the the sura, the spiritual part, we're attributing to the male aspect. When he says even the leviathan that God created this great I'm not I'm not sure if it's a whale, but let's say a huge fish that he created them male and female, and if they got together, they would have taken over the whole world. So, he he pickled one of them and so that they wouldn't have children. But, this was the idea that in creation you have male and female aspects. They even talk about King David. King David was his soul more related to the feminine? I mean, in terms of Kabbalah, Malchus is a feminine thing. Okay? There's a feminine aspect to Malchus. And he had a relationship with Yonatan. And I'm not going to go any more into it, but keep in mind that just cuz you're a male doesn't mean you have a male soul. Okay? But, God created male and female energies in the world. And now we're getting into this K'kemo she'a zachar mashpia v'hanekevah mekabelet. That the zachar is the provider, the influencer. Okay? Well, I'm going to call he's protruding. Whereas the nekevah is the hole, which is mekabelet, is the one who's receiving. K'mo ken ha'tzurah. When we talk about this word tzurah, which is spirituality, he says that's the seichel, that's the intellectual spirit that's mashpia on the chomer. That has an influence on the physical world. U'zem metzino b'midrash Shachar Tov, there's a midrash on Tehillim. Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani says, "Olam ha'zeh, ha'zachar meshavev es hanekevah." In this world, right? We live in this world. Olam ha'zeh. The male chases the female. All right? I mean, most women, modest women, will admit that's how it works. Aval l'olam haba, but in the future, which means there will be a change. There actually will be a shift. The world will become, you hear this, feminists? The world will become more feminine. The woman will chase after will court the male. Now there's a possum in Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 21. So this is Messianic a Messianic prophecy. We say it's Jeremiah 31:21 number six on the source sheet. How long will you hide oh backsliding daughter for the Lord has created something new on the earth? A woman shall go after the man. Now I'm not saying I understand it. But those are the words in the cave that to so they gather. Interesting what Rashi mentions in the name of Yehuda the creature I heard a woman shall turn around to become a man. I gave you like a daughter who receives a tenth of the property of her father seven nations out of 70. Ultimately you shall take everything like a son a male who inherits everything. I'm not going to say I understand it but I'm bringing the sources and there is some aspect of all of my say the male chases the female courts the female tries to to seduce the female and in the future some aspects of that changes where the woman will chase after will court the man. Let's go to the next page page three near in the forest to keep all of my say it's a horror matzo below. What's the big issue? It seems we can explain it. This world the evil inclination the inclination is very common it's found in this world. And that's why because the yetzer hara very strong in this world, the male will then What's the male? The seichel, the the brain, the intellect. The spirit is chasing after the female to seduce her. The chomer. The chomer is nimshal on the keiva. We said that the physicality is compared to, right? Is nimshal to the nekeiva l'hamshich achareiha, that the seichel chases. We're looking for pleasures, counterfeit pleasures, whatever it is we're looking for in this world. But what about yemos haMoshiach? What's going to happen in the when Moshiach comes? When the Messiah comes, sha'as yitzias haYetzar Hara, the yetzer hara will be shachted. There will no longer be this deep need for the seichel to be chasing after the chomer. By the amalei aretz day, yeah, because the whole world will be full with the knowledge of God. V'az yimshoch haChomer acher haTzura. You know what's going to happen then? Then the the physical world is going to be chasing the spiritual world. What do we have? There's a famous pasuk, right? That the day will there will be a day of hunger and and there will be thirst, and no people will be looking for water and bread, but they'll be good looking for the word of God. That's the future, right? So, that's how I am imagining it. V'zeh she'amar nekeiva tisovev acher gever. That's what it means that the female energy, right? The female aspect, will be chasing after the male, meaning the physical is going to be chasing after the spirit, brother and sister. Hi nu she imshoch haChomer acher haTzura hadomeh le'ish. What will be happening is that the most physical things will be chasing after the spiritual things. And the spiritual things are compared to the ish aleph yud shin with the yud. The nira litan bizet tam nimrots. And we certainly give a very strong energetic or intense answer. And that is the chaimer is doimel in a nikeva. I know this doesn't sound very PC. But we're talking about a model, right? We're not talking about actual women. So that the chaimer, the physical world we said is compared to the feminine energy. And the tsurah, that's the spiritual energy, is compared to the man. So adam is cholek deitis and nefesh as sichlis, however I, right? That the man, he's following the advice, the the counsel of his higher soul, leat gaber al a chaimer, to overcome the physical world. As who doimel a ish, then he's really a man. But wait till you hear this. In gemora avodah zara, 19 A, it actually says, it takes a verse from Psalms 112, right? Chapter 112:1. It takes a verse, and this is the verse in number eight. Praiseworthy is the man who fears the Lord. Just think about that a second. Praiseworthy is the man who fears the Lord. It says, "Ish ashrei ish." So the gemora says, "Does that mean that only a man?" Look at what what it says. The gemora asks, "Is that to say happy is the man, but not happy is the woman? Why is it necessary to the for the verse to emphasize that it's speaking of the man?" Rav Amram says that Rav says the verse applies to both men and women and is teaching the following. Happy is the person who repents while he's still a man. What does it mean a man? While he still has vigor. Has nothing to do with male or female. But but the vigor the right before he becomes elderly and his strength dwindles. While he's still a man. Rebbe Yeshua ben Levi says, "Happy is the one who triumphs over his evil inclination like a man." Meaning with strength and vigor. Has nothing to do with being physically a man. It's using the word man to explain that the person has strength. Okay? Okay. Now, that's what it says in the Hebrew Kli Yakar, "The ish v'lo yasha." What? It's talking about a man not a woman. No, "Ela ashrei hamitgaber al yitzro." "Ke'ish." But anyone, male or female, who overcomes their evil inclination like a man, meaning with strength and vigor. So too Chazal also say G'mara Yoma 71a, look at number nine on the Seforim. So, the the verse is you'll see it in number 10, Proverbs 8:4, "To you, O men, I call." "Aleichem ishim ekra." Interesting. So, what does it mean to you men? It's "ishim." "Ishim" is plural for man, but it doesn't even only mean man as we will see. Look at number nine, Yoma 71a. The verse says, "To you men do I call." "Ishim." "And my voice is to the sons of man." As it says in Proverbs 8:4. Rebbe Berechiah said the word "ishim," although it means men, is similar to the to the term Isha, women. It may therefore be taken to refer to these Torah scholars. Torah scholars are usually men, but wait till you hear this. These Torah scholars are similar to women in one way and they're similar to men in another way. How are they similar to women? So, in the Hebrew it says because they're tsnua tsnua'in. Tsnua'in kanashim. I would have translated that as they are modest. Modest like women? But they're oisen g'voras kanashim, but they they they're very strong like men. So, they're modest like women, but very strong like men, but this is from Sefaria and they're translating it as What does it mean they're similar to women? They are physically weak and not engaged in many activities that other men are, right? The Torah scholars, you see, are sitting and learning. The best thing they're doing is picking up books. They're very heavy, some of these books. But they're not out there pounding uh you know, with a sledgehammer, right? And carrying refrigerators up, you know, four flights of stairs without without a uh an elevator. So, they're considered weak or let's say tsnua like women. But nevertheless, they act mightily like men when engaged in Torah study. Okay? So, that's a very interesting idea. That's what it means over here. And also in Isaiah chapter 28 verse six, you see this number 11 on the source sheet. And for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment and for might. So, I just want to focus on that. L'yoshvei alemishpat ul'gvura. So, there's the sitting in judgment, there's might. There's might. In fact, um you look at the rest of the verse, and those who bring back the war to the gate. Rashi says, and for the spirit of justice with the Holy One, blessed be he, to teach justice to him who sits in judgment. So, if you're acting as a judge, Hashem is giving you siyata d'Shmaya, you're able to learn. And from might will he be those for who bring back the war, the war of the Torah. Okay, so there's certain might for those who are engaging in Torah. And then there's another proof from Proverbs 8:14 that you can find on number 13 on the source sheet. I have counsel and sound wisdom. I am understanding, I have might. Ani binah, li g'vurah. Okay, look what it said. Okay, so now the clear card is trying to explain Haynu. What does that mean? I am binah, I am might, I am understanding, I am might. Haynu ha g'vurah l'hitgaber al yitzro. You know who's strong? It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, if you overcome your yeitzer, that's called the strength. How do we know? In Pirkei Avot, chapter 4, mishna 1, famously says, "Eizu gibor?" Who's considered strong? "Ha koveish es yitzro." One who overcomes, overpowers their inclination. Okay, that's the famous expression, and it's based on Proverbs 16:32. Better is one who is slow to anger than one with might. One who rules his spirit than the captor of a city. You does You don't Right, who's going to be stronger? The Right, the one who works on his character, who's able to overcome, or uh Um, let's see, for example, someone who's like knows a lot, right? Who's It says We we say this all the time in the Yeshiva. Yeah, and I forget who actually came up with it. Who coined the term that it's harder to change a character within yourself than to learn all of Shas. That's what makes you mighty and strong. Aizu Gibor, someone who's able to overcome, let's say here, anger or anything else. Then he says like this, Aizu Gibor Kodesh Yisroel Avraham Avinu, so that's all by the righteous person. He's able to overcome his evil inclination. But what about Rishaim? Rishaim are considered weak. The Rishaim are giving in to their yetzer hara. Avraham Avinu Rishaim Shitasish Kocham K'nekeva. Remember, it's just a model here. That the Russia gives in his power, he's overpowered, he's weak like a female. L'hitgaber al Yitzram. To be They're not able to overcome their evil inclination. That's why they're nimshal in the kevot. That's why the evil is compared to that female energy. It says in Jeremiah, you can't argue with the prophets. What does it say in Jeremiah? Am I right? Chapter 51, verse 30, number 15 on the source sheet. The mighty men of Babylon, who were the Rishaim, by the way, they ceased to wage war. They dwelt in the fortresses. Their might has failed. They have become like women. You get the Try to use your imagination, dimyon, the example, the model, right? It is true, generally true, that the female, you know, physical body is not as strong as the male body. Now, I I actually have a problem with this because I think I can't imagine a man giving birth, right? I think women are much stronger than men. But obviously there's, you know, God made us different then there's a certain aspect. But uh in general, let's just say that men are generally stronger than women and that's why the Novi Jeremiah is mentioning about these Rishaim specifically their might has failed. They have become like women. Nishta Gevoratam Hayu Lenashim. Okay, you can't argue with the words. That's what it says. Harishah Holech Be'etzat Yitzro, so therefore someone who follows the the inclination and the advice of their inclination should should Nisiba To Hu Ba Leclal Nimshal Le'akeva. So what he's doing right? It's the cause. You're following your your inclination, that's the cause that you're coming to sin and that is Nimshal Le'akeva Mitzad Sheholech Be'etzat Yitzro Nimshal Le'akeva. Because you're following the advice of the inclination, mean you're weak and it's more compared to the female that's weak. O Min Itam She'ish Karno, or for the other reason that we mentioned She'itatzel She'ichal Ke'akeva Midkager Yitzro that she is too weak to overcome her inclination. When I say her, it means the person but they're acting in a evil way, meaning they're weak. They're not able to overcome the Yetzer Hara. U'vehefech Zeh Holech The opposite would be if they followed the Etzat Hanefesh Hasichlit. If they followed their spiritual intellect. Now, when I was growing up back in many years ago that we came up with this idea, it was very popular in psychology and maybe it still is. I over E. Intellect over emotion. Maybe it's easier said than done. But, that you have control over your emotions. Okay? The intellect should rule over the emotion. And I think that's what we're trying to say here. I think that's what we're trying to say here. That the half of the whole day to say never just say please. That when you follow the advice of your intellectual spirit as who names is a car. That's going to be more compared to the male model. I named the Zohar cuz you're following the aspect of your soul that's more compared to the male. Oh, man she's kind of she always would eat or that you made yourself strong like a man that you're in God there all you said that you're able to overcome your evil inclination. We'll be there now according to this this way. You would remember we're going to explain I think what this paragraph does it really summarizes everything but it adds a few more ideas. Okay, the few more ideas we haven't thought of. Lama Zohar the hottest in the cave. The men Zohar been in the cave. Remember the original question and it's going to explain. Why is it that the ola the burnt offering is coming from a male animal? The sin offering is coming from a female animal and the shalom is coming from it didn't matter if it's a male or a female. Kedu Zohar hero. Are you aware of this? That we read it in the beginning that it's coming from thoughts negative thoughts. You wanted to do a sin. Now, the truth is there actually are certain sins that are produced in the thoughts. You know, when it comes to idol worship you don't actually have to physically do idol worship to transgress. And there are certain sexual sins that can also be just in the thoughts alone. Okay? But the idea is for basically generally the idea of thoughts alone are not going to my kind of you to bring. This is a free will offering. The ola is a free will offering. It's not an obligatory offering. So, the this burnt offering is coming for sins of the thought. Like Hazal tell us based in the Rabba 73. I'm not sure I do have it on the source sheet. It's just really the first line. Regarding the matter itself from Shimon bar Yochai said, "The burnt offering, which is an ola, comes only for the rumination of the heart." Well, you know what it means rumination of the heart? Rashi says it's a categorical verse. It says in Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 32, which is also number 17. "But what enters your mind shall not come about." We're talking about something that came into your mind, but you never acted on it. Okay? So, the ideas of the thought it was only in the seichel. Remember the question? Why for the ola, which is being brought for the sins of the thought, never came into fruition, you're bringing the male animal. You bring the male animal cuz the male aspect that sinned in the mind. Okay? That is what he's trying to say here. And he brings a verse from Ezekiel 20 verse 32, "Ola arachem." That's ruminating in the heart. And it's also written by Job. Job, in the very beginning, chapter 1 verse 5 of Job, it mentions that he brought ola offerings for all his kids because he suspected or not even suspected, he wanted to cover them in case they were in their minds blaspheming Hashem. Listen to what it says. "Now it come about when the cycle of the feasting days would be over and Job would send and summon them and offer up burnt offerings early in the morning. Burnt offerings according to the number of his children. And for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts." So, the old is coming for the thoughts. Okay? And it was a lie. Khatub benai baruch Elohim belivon. When it says baruch, it's a euphemism for being over on blasphemy. Nimshius is I am hair ba'av de'or loss of ma'aseh. So, what comes out from this is clearly talking about just the thought of a sin, but not actually in the physical act or deed of sinning. Rebbe Vadai hit ga'av yitzrok ish. Because certainly the person, even they thought of doing it, they didn't act on it. They were strong enough to hold themselves back from acting on it like a man, meaning like the masculine energy. Me'akor shlo yochal yetzer ha'ra sim machshavto el poel. From the very fact that didn't come out, the yetzer ha'ra didn't cause it to come out from the my guy's mind into actuality. In other words, the man was able to overcome, the person was able to overcome his yetzer ha'ra. She'chein derech kol ma'aseh she machshavah kodmo lo. What do we say? We're human beings. Nobody acts without thinking first, am I right? How much more so? Kol ma'aseh. What comes first? Machshavah. You have to think about it. V'zeh hiur v'lo asah. That's called thought without performing. Rebbe Vadai loveish guvorah v'oiz k'neged yitzro. That means the person and with strength and glory because he didn't act on it. That's why he's bringing as an offering a male species because he made himself strong like a male mean the male energy and did not act on the sin. There's another reason why it's a male animal that you're going to bring. We know that the thought process is taking place in the highest level of your soul, the intellectual spirit. Whereas the the animal soul which is more instinctual, it's more grounded in nature, it doesn't have the capacity to even think of a Vera, right? We don't think of a lion as a murderer, right? Or an ant as a thief, right? It's just that's what they do. Putting aside the cycle part, come on behave and both there, right? An animal doesn't have does, it doesn't have knowledge, doesn't have the thought process to do an affair, to do a sin. Therefore, in Yuma, ready for this? I would say drum roll please if you guys had desks in front of you. So in Yuma page page 29A it mentions these words here or a Vera caution there there. That just the thought of sin is more severe. It usually caution is more difficult. It could mean more pleasurable even, but it's more severe than the Vera itself. So I mean, I can think of a few things. You know, we could talk certain sexual relations. Just thinking could be more pleasurable than the act itself. You know, eating that cheeseburger, you can think about it and think about it, and then when you finally get it on your plate and you're eating it, it's nothing like what you had dreamed of. Right? You get the idea that the thought is actually more severe than the penal than the doing the sin. And the Rambam explains the nefesh haskeles bemivchar nafsho that this the choicest like the the sin that was the most choicest in soul that that takes place in the nefesh haskeles. That's in the in the in the brain in the in the highest level of your soul. Nimsa she chet haya mitsad hanefesh haskeles hanimshal lezachar. So, it comes out that the sin is from the aspect of the brain of the spiritual intellect that we already said is compared to the to the male to the masculine energy. Leficha korban ozachar, that's why the animal that you're going to bring is a male to atone the kapara hanefesh haskeles. It's actually atoning for the male aspect of your brain hanimshal lezachar that's somehow compared to the masculine aspect. Umitam zeh ola kalil, and it's for this reason we mentioned why is the burnt offering entirely consumed whereas the chatas it's only the blood and the fats. We're going to now be answering this. He says it's for this reason that the ola is entirely consumed because what is hirhur? The hirhur aveira is kashya me'aveira. It's even more difficult. It's more severe. I mean, if we think of the brain is the center of the nervous system I believe that we have nerves that go through entire body to every to the extremities of our body, but it's all connected to the brain. So, he says, "Here and Nimska call of our aim." That what happens is after the thought process is through, then it then it ends up acting or ends up being spread out. It ends up penetrating the rest of the body. A lot of women I had to master. But what about the hottest? The hottest, the sin offering is coming for an action, the sin you acted upon. Nims is the same as Mesa. So, it comes out that you did the act and the act is Nims shower. Let the cave It's actually more compared to the female, the female energy. The fish T shots coca can the cave up because there was a weakness or right like a like a female. Mika bear on you too. It didn't overcome. It couldn't, you know, gain the strength to overcome its the evil inclination. The Nafa Allah had the whole nation call Netflix is sickly. And therefore it fell. It it descended. It right it tripped up and sinned because of the weakness of its what we call the masculine cycle. The right? Shula Boca Cabana Homer. That didn't have the the power to overcome the physical world. And therefore carbon of the naked Therefore, the offering is going to come from the female species animal. Old Tom Chaney love in the cave up. He brings two reasons why it's a male offering and two reasons why it's a female offering in the second reason is the fish and master bowl maker of a Homer. That the Homer itself, the physical world is very strong. We said that's compared to the naked. And the yetzer hara hayored mitoeh that the yetzer hara, the evil inclination, descends and mitoeh causes a mistake to happen. Right? It distorts ad she'adam noiser al chet until the person trips up and and sins. The choimer korbanos kainu she mishum nekaiva, the physical part of the world we already said is meant is compared to the female energy. Leficha carbon o nekaiva, therefore the animal is going to come from the female part of the species. Um zeh atom biatzmo, and this is a reason on its own. Mevuar lama eima kriveen mechatis ela chelb vedam, this is going to really answer up, why are we offering from the chatas, from the sin offering, the fats and the blood? Ki chol ikar chet bo mitzad hanefesh hamitaveh, because the prime sin is coming from the bottom. It's coming from the soul that desires. Vata'avah bo michelev vedam. And the desire is coming from, like we said, that um the nef- the nefesh beheimes, which is in the blood. It's coming from the fats and the blood. And how do we know that? So he brings Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 20, number 21 on the source sheet. So this pasuk is dealing with really, you know, we're in the desert for 40 years, and we have the opportunity to eat korbanos all the time. Well, guess what? When you're eventually going to go into Eretz Yisrael, and you don't live near Yerushalayim, and your soul is going to desire meat, you're going to be able to eat chulin. You're you're able to eat meat that was not sacrificial meat. So it says, "When the Lord your God expands your ba- expands your boundary, as he has spoken to you and you will say, "I want to eat meat. I will eat meat." Because your your soul desires. What soul? It's not your nefesh. That's the lower level to eat meat. But that's the one that has the ta'avah. Okay, the ta'avah is in the in the blood. So the Kli Yakar continues, "Ein hanefesh ela hadam." The word nefesh that's the soul. It means the blood. "Ki hadam hi banefesh." Because the blood is the nefesh. That's the language for the lowest soul. We're on page four on the right side in the middle. "Senavua she nefesh metaveh mishkana bakaved." The the liver "shakula dam." Now, I looked up, right, a chart. Where does the liver actually sit? The liver is a large organ, but it's on the left side it's smaller and it gets wider on the right side. So it's majority on the right side. So explains that the nefesh metaveh that soul, we said it's in the blood and that's the one that desired, it's dwelling in the liver and the liver is like a big sponge of blood. I mean it's made up of blood. Now, let me ask you something. Are we allowed to eat liver? We all have a good chopped liver every now and again, right? Of course we can eat liver. But why? It says in the Torah you're not allowed to eat the blood. So how can you eat liver? So Hashem says, we're going to see right here in Chullin page 109b, "Kol mash'a asur lanu baTorah anything that the Torah forbids us, there's always something that the Torah allows us." Hashem, he doesn't push away this ta'avah. You're not supposed to push away the ta'avah entirely. If we didn't have any taiva desires, we wouldn't have children, we wouldn't develop medicines, right? The world would somehow, like, and I'm going to say it, like the Islamic world doesn't really go anywhere, right? Okay. Whenever the Torah forbids something to us, it always gives us an option out that allows us just like the Torah forbids blood but allows us to eat liver. It's also just another another, right? The the cow's udders with his milk. That's meat that contains milk. There is a way to kosher it means really not practical but the Torah says, "Hey, you want to eat milk and meat? I forbid it to you, but the other you can eat." Another example, and I can give you others as well. But anyway, the whole idea is we're not pushing away the taiva entirely. In fact, what are we doing? We're going to push it away with our left hand. We're going to bring close with our right, we're going to see, and we're going to push away with our left. By the example, pushing away with your left. Now, I happen to be left-handed, but let's just say most people, the left hand is the weak hand. So, when you're pushing away with your weak hand, what it means is you're not really entirely pushing it away. Okay? I don't know if you get the picture, but he says he brings down a Gamara in Gamora Sota 47A. It's number 23 on the source sheet. In the middle, I highlighted the sages taught, "It should always be the left, the weaker hand, that pushes away and the right, the stronger hand, that draws the person near." Example, we had a few examples, Gehazi and a guy by the name of Yoshke Pandrich and um that um when a student is rebuffed, he should be given he should always be given the opportunity to return, to do teshuvah. Okay? You don't ever want to push someone away entirely. So, you push them away with the left hand. So, the Gemara now the the Kli Yakar now brings that Gemara which said yetzer tinok v'isha. With small dark you mean makarevet, right? When it comes to a uh the yetzer hara or a child or your wife, it's with the left hand that you push them away, meaning you're really not, it's more show, but you want to bring them close as close as you can with the strong hand. I know how come then we're talking about the liver. The liver is on the right side that it's closest to. It's bringing close. So, that's the don. What about the lev, the heart? I know that we say it's somewhere on the left, but let's say it's in the middle, but it's a little bit slanted, a little bit maybe it's a millimeter or centimeter. It's a little bit to the left, okay? But it's mainly in the middle, but to the left. The heart the heart is on the left. And that hints to the request for wisdom. It wants to be wise. The the the the heart wants wisdom. It says in Koheles, Ecclesiastes 1:16, and number 24 in the source sheet, I spoke to myself saying, "I acquired and increased great wisdom." Okay. So, this idea of the heart in in Hebrew, v'libi, see in English, I said to myself, v'libi, I said in my heart that I see that I seek wisdom. V'hu darkha yetzer hara. By gaining wisdom, you're pushing away the yetzer hara. And that's on the left side. Someone who has a great understanding will be able to comprehend this with his open intellectual eye. What about the fats? I have to admit, he brings these two verses, they need further investigation, but they imply something very negative with the fats. And let's look at at Job 15:27 and Psalms 73:7. It's 25 and 26 on the source sheet. For he's covered his face with his fat. And he has made callops of fat on his loins. I honestly don't understand. So, when we were kids, we used to play chubby. Chubby's where you push your cheeks forward and you look fat. Um it covered your face with the fat. The other verse is because of the fat, their eyes bulge. I don't think it means they bulge cuz Rashi says that the fatter your face is, the more the eyes are sunken. Okay, so the next paragraph is really just I think a summary, but again, he adds some new information. We have the general thesis of the idea. That the physical world is somehow compared to the feminine energy for the reason we mentioned, the seichel was nimshal lezachor, whereas the spiritual intellect is more compared to the male energy. We mentioned that the burnt offering is coming because of the thoughts that are happening up here. Therefore, there isn't the power, the energy of the yetzer hara to bring your thoughts into reality, into action. But rather, you're overcoming your inclination like with the male energy. Therefore, the korban is zachar. Therefore, you're the actual offering, the the animal has to be of the male species. Gam mi'tam sheini is kar also for the second reason we mentioned, because the thought process is coming within the power of the soul, the the intellectual part of your soul. An nimshal is zachar, which we already said is compared to the masculine energy, lefikach korban zachar. Therefore, the the animal that you're going to bring is going to be a male animal. The kula k'lial, the whole thing is entirely consumed. Because we said that the thought of doing a sin is more, what's the word, is more severe than than the averah itself. The nefesh ha'sichlis mitpashet b'chol ha'guf, and the intellectual soul, which we said is the brain, spreads out uh into the entire body. And that's the reason why the burnt offering has to go entirely to Hashem. The chatas, whereas the sin offering is bo a chet ma'aseh, it's coming the the the sin offering is coming because of the action that was performed, which is coming, you're going to bring a female animal. Lefikach zeh oseh t'shash kocho, because of the weakening of the power like a female Malika bear all you throw cuz she wasn't able to overcome the inclination gone came at Thomas Shani also for the second reason we mentioned she is born me sad of Jaime that the sin is coming from the aspect of the physical the physical part of the world the name shall in the cave which we said was compared to the woman who martial McCreary the mean we explained that this offering what are we actually putting on the altar only the blood and the fats I knew the fish at Koh Koh and me Tom Bomi hello Adam because the desires themselves are coming from the blood and the fats meaning the fish at Koh Koh me Tom Bomi hello Adam because the power of the desires coming it's springing from that lowest level so from the cave and the dump from the blood and the fats come to the Ola needs to be entirely consumed because like we said usually comes from Macy's now exam what does that mean that it's the head it didn't act on it though but at least it was cognizant that's what Macy's here means it was intentional there was no physical sin but it was at least in the say code that you wanted to do it Kia here or low temps of a show again right when you do something the show gig show gig means inadvertent sin that's when a hot is brought so the hot is comes because of inadvertent sins be hot to auto Koh Koh a tiger there was a mistake that's what it means show gig I I wake up Saturday morning I think it's Tuesday and I turn my alarm off and I start making eggs I didn't sin intentionally. In fact, when Messiah comes, those sin offerings will still be brought. Okay? Because there will no there will there was never an There was never an antidote in terms of a kapara for sin offerings for intentional sins. Okay? I think the Christians have to understand that because they really blew it. Right? That for intentional sins, all that God wants, no blood sacrifices. Not interested. He's not interested in in offerings for mazing. He only wants you to do and and teshuvah. And the here were the ola is a free will offer. It's not obligatory. It's a free will offering. Completely wrong. Okay. So, the last few lines here. Here were low tims of beshogin. Right? When you do an inadvertent sin, there was a lack of knowledge. There was no thought behind it. The So, the this is coming specifically for inadvertent sins. And by the way, it's only 36 very severe sins. It's all coming because of the mistake that's coming because of the desires that are hanging on your blood and your fats. That's why the only part of the sin offering that is being offered up is the fats and the blood. He says this is what I explained in my other book. Now, I just want to read the next eight lines because this is now talking about the shlamim. Why are the shlamim brought from either male or female? You can bring either one. The whole idea of shlamim are only brought as free will offerings. In nedava, neither nedbalev, where the heart wants to bring it. In this case, the shlamim, what's the root of shlamim? Shalom. Because there's going to be complete peace between the male and the female, between the what we call the the chomer, the physical model and the spiritual model. They're going to complement each other and there's going to be peace. That's why they're called shlamim. The because it's a free will offering and the person desires to bring it. He wants to come close to Hashem. There wasn't any sin in satan, in category. There was nothing bad that happened. They just want to come closer to Hashem. There's going to There's It doesn't matter. You want to bring your entire body, both your physical and your spiritual state. You want to bring You want to elevate it all. The whole Both of them, the and the the chomer. Both the male female aspect, both of them have one goal in mind and that is to to unite with their father in heaven. And ultimately it's going to bring peace between you, within you, the female aspect and the male aspect, within you. Meaning it's going to bring peace between the male and the female, between the physical and the spiritual. Therefore, it doesn't matter what you bring a female or a male, it's irrelevant. Okay? And this is clear to anyone who understands. Now, I have to tell you this goes on for pages, but we're only going to we're going to end there. Um I hope that you get like an idea, just an idea what it's like to learn. Okay? This should open your your minds, the willingness to learn further, and with God's help next year we'll carry this on a little bit further. Wishing everybody a good month, a good Shabbos, a unbelievable Pesach. We we've already seen lots of miracles. We're not relying on them, but we trust that they will continue, and with God's help we'll see you next week.