Re'eh: The Malbim Reveals the Inner Workings of the Universe

Okay, good morning everyone. Today's sh is dedicated by our dear friend of Daniel Mun in honor of his father's yard site this evening for his family for perhaps you saw the uh the initiative we began about phones in a base medish. Now, we're not not pro, by the way, not pro phones in the base medish. You saw the video. It wasn't easy. Um, Trump was very busy. And when I contacted, you know, his administration if he could uh, you know, join the video, he said he's going to drop everything Iran, uh, Russia, China just to [clears throat] be able to participate in this important initiative cuz he felt this is the most important thing in the world that you know to rebuild the base of mikdash that we show honor to the shaw. So very appreciative of him also of prime minister of Israel agreed to join the initiative. Um and they're all very supportive and it's it's because I think you know there are two paths in life. You could take the path of blessing. And by the way, you have not don't just watch it. Sign up not to bring it into this sh into other shs. Um you could take the path of blessing or the con or the opposite. So please take a look at the uh presentation and please make sure that you sign up because the Jewish people cannot wait any longer. Okay. Paras, we're going to do something very interesting today. This particular volume you see this this is the commentary of the malam on this was my grandfather's malbum that he brought over from Europe. It's beautifully bound. It's really amazing that the swarim published over a hundred years ago are in sometimes much better condition than swarm published 30 years ago. Uh here it does not say the year of the publication. Oh, Tough R Nunb that's 1892. That's more than 100 years ago. Actually, I have uh all my grandfather's notes in this one. And in the intro, this is actually just total aside point. My grandfather is in the middle of working on a biography on the album. This is the table of contents. You know about this? No fun. The malbum, the man and his work. So anyway, we're working on uh putting together all of his notes to to make this biography on the malbum. In any event, I want to share with you the malam on paras. Very beautiful and powerful words of the malbum. We're going to examine three pieces, three of them. The para begins See that I place before you today blessing and curse. What do you mean see? What's getting at? See, see I place before you today blessing and curse says in paras the main subject matter is all the blessing in store for people who keep the mitzvah. Now that blessing was it talking about what's going to take place in Ghana in you're gonna have rivers of not one word about it talks about is going to bless your fruits and your children and your grain and your cattle and you'll be fertile. you won't be ill. Hashem will remove all sickness. It's all about reward in this world. The whole is about reward in this world. And then in later on in the end of in the par of it's going to rain and you're going to have ample produce. The whole is about reward in this world. says amalbam. Hashem says look I'm placing before you today in this world blessing and curse. This is not like other religions. This is not like Christianity or Islam where they promise you if all the person has offered is reward in the world to come. Who could actually have complete faith in that? People will be doubtful. People will be question will question that. It's impossible to have absolute faith in something in some foreign world. So therefore emphasizes this is not like the other religions that the promises says whatever is promised. Okay, that's the emphasis on it's and it's right now. Now one thing we need to address is so with all this emphasis on the reward in this world but there is no reward in this world. The end ofan is Friday night we discussed that actually the end of and the beginning of openly contradict each each other ends you get the reward tomorrow and then the whole is about the reward today. [clears throat] The Rambam famously teaches that the actual reward for mitzvah is in the world to come and all benefit in this world is not a reward. It's just a way to stir those who serve Hashem to be able to continue their path. So all the goodness that Hashem uh promises us, whether it's uh children, whether it's livelihood, whether it's health is it's not the actual reward, it's just Hashem creates the environment that if we serve him, we'll be able to continue to serve him and serve him with even greater capacity. So it's not technically the but it's just the ability to continue serving in one's desired path. On the other hand, if a person does not choose to serve Hashem, so Hashem removes the resources that we would be able to serve him. Okay. But the first point of the Malab is that Hashem is emphasizing that the word means the promises of the Torah are for this world as opposed to other religions. Now the malum has an amazing the is like this doesn't say doesn't say the blessing will be if you listen it says that you listen as opposed to the is then you're going to get a patch. Why is it that when it comes to the braha, it seems like the braha is that you listen? It almost sounds like mitzvah. The reward for mitzvah is the ability to do a mitzvah. Says something. Ready for this? Let's say um a a master says to a servant, "If you wake up at 5:00 a.m. and you mow the lawn and you clean the floors and you get my slippers ready and you prepare my breakfast, then I'll give you X, Y, and Z." Does the Then I'll give you a $100. Is the $100 intrinsically connected to the performance of those services? Are the $100 intrinsically connected to the fact that he mowed the lawn and he prepared the breakfast and he got his slippers right? It's not intrinsically connected. It's dependent on the choice of the master. The master happened to have chosen to agree to give X Y and Z to the servant if the servant provides these services. But it's not like the services inherently intrinsically afford the the servant the ability to receive the $100 as opposed to a doctor. If a doctor a doctor says listen listen if you sleep well and you eat healthy and you exercise then you'll have good health. But if you eat poorly and have uh poor sleep habits and you don't move, then you won't be healthy. Is the health an external reward for eating well and sleeping well and exercising and the bad health like some kind of superimposed punishment that the doctor says you're going to be punished if you eat too many jelly beans. You're not going to be healthy. It's not an external punishment. It's intrinsic to the activities the person engaged in. So there it's not like you know you go to a carnival if you go to the ski ball machine right and um you get a certain amount of tickets then you could cash them in and you could buy something less you could earn something less expensive than the cost of the ticket itself. It's an external reward. It's a it's a arbitrary reward. Not so the mitzvah of the Tyra. Not so the reward for mitzv. The Mam says something amazing. Let's say somebody wakes up in the morning and they put on talis and they put on fillain and they have a field. So Hashem is saying that because you served me it's going to rain. Could someone explain to me? Could someone possibly explain what connection is there between wrapping leather straps on your arm and the and the water cycle and the weather cycle? Because you wrapped fillin on your arm, therefore water began to evaporate from lakes and oceans. It then rose up into the heavens. It formed clouds and it condensed and it precipitated. What does one thing have to do with the other? The answer is set up the world that even though we don't understand it or maybe we don't perceive it but Hashem linked the the the happenings of the world and the phenomena of the world to our mitzvah. Our mitzvah literally control the stock market. People think it's arbitrary or you know you have to ask Warren Buffett to prognosticate what the stock market will be like. No, it's actually linked. If you want to know it's linked to the avoidas, hashem of the Jewish people, [clears throat] it is it's dependent on us. It's dependent on us. We believe that our service of the Almighty controls the economy, the weather, health, peace, all of these things are directly the analogy. The Malam says, I think what he's saying is I think there's a phenomenon that if you have different instruments in a room and let's say you you pull on a harp, if you pull on a small harp, it will cause vibrations in the bigger harp. Luckily, there are no musicians here and nobody's going to contradict this phenomenon. But I think the Malam says that I'll read to you his words. The whole big world is arranged opposite man like what? You ready for the analogy? Clay like two instruments that are arranged in a special format. voice. It's a well-known phenomenon that if you have two harps set up and you pull on the small harp and you have somebody who calibrates, that's a good word, the big harp corresponding to the small harp, the vibrations will actually affect the other instrument. So the way the rebum set up the world is he calibrated that our wearing wearing saying learning is actually plugged into the universe. This is basically what we said on tishab that the different the reason why if tasa does a terrible sin in the kakadashim and has no effect on the universe is because he's not calibrated into the he's not he's not plugged into the system even the thoughts of aid are connected to the system. So if a person has proper thoughts it brings blessing to the whole world. So it comes out that the reward for mitzv is not superimposed. It's intrinsic to the performance of the mitzv says the mal. That's why it says that which you listen to itself is the [clears throat] don't think reward is like a ticket. You know, you have the Rebi walking around the room and whatever kid shouts the on the top of his lungs more than the other kid, he gets more tickets. We think that reward is like tickets. You know, we do fill in and then Hashem's going to give us a superimposed ticket. No, it's intrinsic. The fillain is calibrated into the stock market. So, when you put on the fillain, the points go up. Now, it doesn't mean you see it that day. It doesn't mean it it's apparent or and I it doesn't it it's not as clear clearly visible as that but that's how the calibrated the world. So therefore when it comes to the mitzv it's but besides that the says there's also a superimposed blessing that when you go to the the are going to be that's outside of the intrinsic blessing of the mitzvah as opposed to kala is superimposedal will be Even though the teaches that when a person doesn't a creates an entity that comes back to punish a person. So actually the villag teaches that when it comes to reward it's coming directly from Hashem. When it comes to punishment it's not directly from Hashem. It's the a that you create is uh brings the to the person. Okay. Now we come to one of my f my favorite malams. It's talking about [snorts] um breaking all of the places of idolatry in Israel, cutting down the trees. Don't do that. Um, don't break anything in the B of Mikas. Actually, there's a lot, you know, if you're in a shul sometimes people have a habit they like to they like to chip off things. You ever see like, you know, they have some pews, you know, the pews, it's like peelable, you know, you scratch it. It's actually a lav. You're not allowed in a shul chip or or break off little pieces because that's the of the we have in the mikdash applies to basic as well. Okay. Then the puzzles are like this only the place that hashem chooses. By the way, what's that place? What does the mean? Only the place hashem chooses. What's that place? The BA mikdash. Now, at this point in history, do we know where it is? We have absolutely no idea where it is. Why? Cuz Hashem didn't tell us. It could be it could be, you know, in Machuda. It could be in Roma. It could be in Harion. It could be it could be anywhere. We don't know where. Hashem didn't tell us. It says the place that Hashem will choose. You need to go to the place Hashem will choose. So then the P says seek out his dwelling place and go there. This is a ste. It just said you know where you're going to go the place that Hashem will choose. Okay. Do we know where that is? We don't know where that is. So it says seek out the Seek out the place. He didn't tell us where it is. How do you seek out a place that you don't know where it is? go to the wedding. But I first need an invitation to know where it is to go to the wedding. It's very hard to go to a wedding if you don't know what hall it's in. You ever try that? I do it a couple times a week. I have a wedding now. Uh where is it? You know, is it in the sands? Is it in Mata? Is it in the palace? Is it in uh break what is that place? Breakstone. Or is it in, you know, Lakewood? It makes a difference, you know, makes a difference. If it's in Lakewood, you need to like get a helicopter or something. It's actually easier to go to Israel than to go to Lakewood. So, it's very hard to go somewhere if you don't know where it is. How could the Pik say, says the Malbum, an amazing album. Truth is, um, I quote it very often. throughout the whole the mikdash is called the place Hashem chose why because it will be ma it will be made known through the prophet that it's the chosen place eldavid God came to David and he said to David here the mikdash will be here So if the mikdash is the says the nevertheless David searched for the place even though second video crisis. One second. >> What happened? Oh, that's even though uh David was told that the novi will tell him, David still searched for the place. What is how do we know David searched for the place? Anybody remember the Pan to Hilim from which we learned that David searched for the place until David said I won't rest until I find a place for Hashem. What do you mean until I find a place for Hashem? It's not up to him. He's not finding the place for Hashem. Hashem's going to tell him no. He didn't wait until the came to him. Where did David get this from? Where did David learn from that if the Tory says Hashem's going to choose it, he does he shouldn't just sit there and twiddle his thumbs and wait until he gets the memo. David didn't wait until he got the memo. David was saying, "I'm not going to rest until I find a place." Where did he learn that from? He learned it from this. The says, "You need to seek it out." Says, What is what does it mean to be? You need to do investigations yourself to look for it. Now listen very carefully. What the is saying is Hashem of course we'll never know where the should be until Hashem tells us. But Hashem's not going to tell us unless we make efforts. When we make efforts, Hashem will pour a spirit from on high after the appropriate preparation. In other words, until God gives us the memo that this is the place, we don't know where the place is. The thing is, you'll never get the memo until you take initiative. Now, the Malam is not clear. He doesn't say what David needed to do or what David did. It seems like David accorded himself in a way that he was so interested in determining where the Makkah mika should be that he learned about it. He spoke to people about it. He it bothered him that he didn't know where it was. And the same thing applies in our time as well. The Gmorra says in Rashashana on the that we need to be mikdash. We said many times do means said from the andki who are two orthodox rabbis that do means you have to be the ba mikdash not to say would it be a good time maybe to bring the bdash out now okay sorry I'm sorry I bothered you no you have to demand it you have to seek it out we want it now we need it that's but its source the idea the the whole concept of the rash of mlisha is the malam understands is learned down from this p and we we we this was the d of even though there's he can't just build a ba mdash he can't just say you know I want to build a mea md so I'm going to this looks like a nice area you can't do anything until he gets the word from on high but you're not going to get the memo until you active seek it out. There's a very interesting parallel to this in the Yam says in the beginning of what is makid? It's a uh it is a maka about the dimensions of second B mikdash not the third B mikdash the second B mikdash says if you look in the talks about how to build the third BA mikdash but there is a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity about how to build the third BA mdash. Ultimately, we're going to need to be able to have the clarity of how to do it. But says the will not give over to the Jewish people and give us the we would need to build the third BA mikdash unless we apply ourselves to understand how they built the second BA mikdash. And once we do that, once we're we show the initiative that we're doing what is incumbent upon upon us to understand how do they build the second base of mikdash how do the fit into that then the will be to understand how to build the third base mikdash but there that's clearly the concept that the mab is saying is that there's there are two forces ultimately it's but that will not take place until We're going to have to seek it out when we So it comes out that this this was the phenomena that happened times of David. David was looking he was do and then the told him this is something we need to do that we need to be and then will be and understands that's the of that by learning the measurements of it's a way of showing the we're being and then he'll give us the spirit from on high to understand how to build the have a great day everyone