Shavuot Special pt 2: Lessons For Shavuos Gleaned from Parshat Naso by Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] okay so okay so Larry just asked a great question off camera and I want to repeat it before we start the second part so what exactly went and asked the same question what exactly went through yes's mind to think to change the H that if Bo says it was okay why would yesha have any doubts right so one of the doubts is didn't boas die right afterwards if he died right afterwards that might be a proof positive or at least a sign that he was wrong so that was actually asked this morning by one of my students and I answered him what I thought was a good answer don't ask the question why did he die right afterwards how did he live so long it could have been that his time to go was much earlier but Hashem actually kept him around in order to impregnate her but the question is valid at least in in in Yi's mind if if the man dies right afterwards the the next day so must have been proof positive that he was wrong God punished him right okay so let's start number pares naso and um you'll find this in chapter 4 of numbers and I'll try to sum up the questions the cleart gets CU they're absolutely fascinating questions and leads us to really fascinating uh results uh conclusions if you notice this is chapter 4 verse 21 why in the world does a chapter nuso para noo start 21 verses later after right I mean you would assume that a that's not a th question because chapters were introduced by the church this is exactly why I ask it and that's going to be the answer so people should know ever since in Europe Medieval Europe we had things called disputations where Judaism was put on trial we always knew our verse like through memory we knew them b um by memory and if someone would ask about a certain verse to another Jew they would say in the third Aliah of this particular para the third or fourth verse of that particular Aliah because the the alot the parot divide into seven different distinct portions would be quite easy even if you didn't say that people knew the Torah by memory but once Judaism was put on trial and there were disputations you in fact you can look up the famous disputation the ramban and a a Jew who converted to Christianity um anyway you can look that up so we were put on trial many times and it became quite easy just to use their chapter and verse when having a discussion because they're using it for communication and when the Bible when the printing press came around of course the Bible actually probably was and still is one of the best I don't know today printing presses but it's you know at least on online it's probably the most looked up and accessed book ever yeah it's it's the number one bestseller people buy put it in the shelf and it's the number one book stolen oh alome okay so anyway that's why we're starting in ch on verse 21 little bit of the background now and it's really interesting because gon is being counted guess what all you have to do is look back um a few sentences and you see that kahat was already counted so how do we know the order of who's the first born who's the second born who's the third born so even though in pares nuso we're beginning with Geon he is the first born and yet we already read and counted kahat in in um in the in the end of B midbar so you start with kahat the counting of in Paro you're starting with gon who is the firstborn now how do we know he's the firstborn we're going we're going out of order it's very interesting look in chapter 3:1 17 these were the sons of Levi by their names gon kahat and then mirari so gersam was actually the first born and yet he's being counted second even though he's being counted first in our para he's being counted second altogether all you have to do is like I mentioned you go back to the end of um pidar where chapter 4 begins take the senses of the sons of kohat that's how it begins so the real question here is well he says it should have been right it makes sense that gon would have been counted first because he's the first born so what exactly needs to be understood here he explains that the medish explains part part of it and the Bish Begins by telling us that because the holy Ark the Ark of testimony the carry the Torah was given over as a responsibility for carrying to kahat that's why kahat is first because for the honor of the sake of the Holy Torah for the sake of the AR kodesh but he says this also is a problem if that's going to be your answer haha that itself poses is a problem because what He suggests is well then why don't you just give gon the responsibility for carrying the ark and then count him first don't put gahat first because he's carrying the ark and then gers who's really the firstborn second just switch the whole order put the responsibility for carrying the ark with gon this the firstborn and then you got no problem you count gon first okay so the clear explains that what God really wants to teach you is that what how important the Torah is and how do you know that because if gon would have been like we suggested given the responsibility of carrying the Aon and then they would have been counted first you would have said the reason they were counted first is because they were the first born not necessarily because they're carrying the iron that would have been your understanding would have been mine so he quotes a verse from Mish that's Proverbs 3:35 which says that the wise inherit honor and the rest of the verse is and fools generate disgrace and what is all that this is all to get over this concept into the people's consciousness as long day Torah to honor those who learn the Torah and teach the Torah and to call Holiness for what it's worth to recognize Holiness for what it's worth and this is the way that kahat was counted first on account of the fact that they carried the word of God that's what they did they carried the word of God you know when you see a a sage you say to yourself This is a living safer Torah this is a Torah scroll it's alive whereas if the Torah I'm sorry the Ares who carries the Torah would have been given over to the first B toon so I would have said it's on account of what it was only because they were the first born they were counted first and then I would have put I would not have put importance on the Torah itself this is a continuation we spoke about earlier about the oral Torah being so significant and celebrating the Torah itself so here it fits in so nice that this para falls out this year probably every other year as well on shus therefore the iron the holy Ark was given over to kahat he should be counted first in order that everyone should give honor to those who uh to the Torah and those who learn it now this is where this is going to where it really gets interesting and I'll try to go slow now in the text the Bal right in the medish itself it brings down a very important verse that relates to this par now we don't always see it until they draw it out for us and this you'll find in it's the same Proverbs uh chapter 3 but it's verse 15 it's talking about the Torah it's talking about wisdom and it says that it's it's more pre than pearls that the Torah is more precious than pearls now we're going to focus on this one word we know now that it's more it's more important it's more what than pearls what is the word we're using for pearls right p p pearls from from pearls it's more precious than pearls now this is how the Mish describes it this is what the medish wants to teach us by using this this uh verse that the ker Torah the word ker again it's 613 + 7 the crown of Torah is available to everyone it's not just to an individual individual but it's to the whole nation number one and more than that the king as we just described King David represents unbelievable Crown right it's also the heart of the nation it's the heart of the world Messiah is the heart that really that's why I mentioned in the last segment about all these intricate intricate relationships it's so that we really understand that the Messiah is actually able to relate to all mankind I heard this in the name of Y that the I don't know what you want to call them CU they're risque right those relationships that happen with L and his two daughters and Yehuda and Tamar there's some like risque uh parts to these relationships even Boaz and Ruth right right as you may have noticed right and now we talked about yesi a little bit with his wife and he was silent that the Messiah is going to be able to relate not just to the Jewish Nation but his soul relates to the entire mankind as we said the word Adam Adam will relate to every human being on the planet which at this present moment it's around 8 billion right so first of all it says the K Torah is heare heare means it's available it's not owned by any individual it's available for everyone to take make an acquisition on so that's why the Torah the Aon Kesh the holy Ark was not given to the firstborn because so that we don't blow up his ego and his um self- glorification and arrogance by saying that I'm more fit to carry the Aon or I get a special place in Torah more than anybody else because I was the first born and this is something I think every Jew should understand we are called God's firstborn yes we do have a special place but it's our job to give it over that's our responsibility in a responsible way okay it we have to be responsible how we give over the Torah to the rest of the world but it's our job it's doesn't belong only to us think about that that if it was given to the B the Bor would say I must be higher and mighty than everyone else no everyone is equal in it everyone has an opportunity for the Torah and that's why it says this is what the the the medis is saying that verse it's more precious than pearls now we don't understand that at the very end we will now we will understand what it means by the B but in the meantime what about a Coen GLE a Coen the coim the Coen God goes into the most innermost Chambers what's it called in Hebrew there's two different ways to refer to it as kesim holy of holies or the inner most chamber and how would you say that so now we understand that word is a play on the word right if you if you adjust your ear to hearing these words it's more precious than the co G who goes in only once a year into the holy of holies it's more precious than the let me preface this there are three to there are three crowns right there's the crown of Torah there's the crown of kahuna and the crown of kingship how do we know that there are three vessels in the Tabernacle that have a zar a crown and the medish explains that these represent the three crowns the one on the incense altar that Crown represents Kahuna the priesthood the crown on the bread on the the table of breads that represents m by the way well since we're on the subject King David was born in Bethlehem what's the reason the king the mesia and has to be born in Bethlehem and when we say born in Bethlehem we're talking about David only the Messiah today is through David who was born in Bethlehem he doesn't have to be born in Bethlehem okay so for those Christians out there that want to read the whole thing very wrong I just want to make you correct that for you it was David who was born in Bethlehem why does kingship have to come from from Bethlehem because it means bait the king like the president of the United States or the president of Brazil or Mexico the president the king he's responsible to make sure that everyone's fed right as we know in the in the in the gorah that says the people used to come every morning to King David and say give us parosa help us make money what should we do that's the role of the government that's the role of the King right to provide welfare and assistance and if they don't they're not doing their job okay you heard that from me so that's a little bit of a a stickle for today with the corona thing that's going on but p is talking about the who nickn he goes in once a year to the most inous Chambers the right the way to get the crown of priesthood is only through the seed of Aon but when it comes to Torah it's available to everyone it's Hef call everyone has a chance to Merit in it what about okay that's why it says and you know why because of the actual crown of the king what happens I mean I I haven't seen a real crown I've only seen pictures museums TV right the the queen they're Jewels they're very uh what do they call um crown jewels crown Jewels there you go right precious gems right so it's more precious than pearls than even more precious the Torah is more precious than than it's made of gold and has lots of gems but guess what only if you're from the seed of David can you become the king but when it comes to ker Torah the of Torah everybody can Merit and now we're talking about the because that's how we started off in Ruth just imagine in Ruth there's a verse um that says Isel in chapter 4: 7 when it's talking about the live live right marriage right the Yum the LI liver right marriage that this is something that is from former days this is something that went on in within our people for many for many generations since we left Egypt so the words are this was first this was early it's so what look you're standing in line You Who who how do you tell someone else you're first or right and you're saying I'm first so the word first so what's firstborn is is the first born that's with the word here so going back to when it says it's even more precious than pearls it's even more precious than the firstborn so we see that the Torah is more precious than the meaning it's more precious than the and the kingship that the represents by the P of the crown and even more precious than the Bor who is which which first the only Merit you have to be a firstborn is if you were actually firstborn but the Torah is available to everyone so I want to end the sh it's just know that it's there for you to take take advantage it's there find time right find time on sh especially but after sh it's like it's a celebration of the Torah this is when the nation was born right it's true we were um we left Egypt it seems like we were really born we went through this uh the canal and the waters broke right but what was the purpose of coming out into this world was as we're counting we're almost finished counting towards towards receiving the Torah right the 48 ways you'll find this in mishna and per chapter 6 vishna 6 there are 48 ways to acquire the Torah this is what we should have been doing during the uh this the SP counting and going through the different processes and changes and character traits in our life to acquire the Torah but it's never ending start over or if you haven't started start now right this is the time for change all right you want to put the corona back in its place that's my let's let's finish this thing let's put it back in its place it's we talking metaphysically here I'm not a doctor I'm not an epidemiologist I'm not a biologist I'm none of those things I'm a metaphysicist a do I have a doctorate in metaphysics and that's all I can tell you let's put the corona let's put the crown the ker Torah back in its place Jews out there there's 613 right principles basically 613 paths paths to have an intimate relationship with your Creator and for the non-jews there's seven overall principles and I I give series beyond the seven I suggest you listen to them I'll put the link down below so you can get um more information about that but that enjoy your cheesecake but most of all like we talked about it's milk it's the it's the fact that a Tino a child when he it sounds a little bit risque here when he sucks his mother's breast he's getting a new taste we're going to bring a we're going to bring a brand new um offering on and therefore the is to remind us to make to learn Torah as if it's new every time it should taste just like you've never had this before and I I wish that upon everybody this coming year so first of all H shabbat shalom enjoy have a great life and welcome home to Tara [Music] some