This Isn’t Who You Really Are | Parsha Perspectives | Tazria-Metzora 5786

Good morning. perspectives for today. Hope everyone had a beautiful, wonderful, uplifting, healthy, happy Pesach. Of course, we continue to daven for our brothers and sisters in Israel and for peace around the world. And as always, we remind you to remain afterwards to complete all of Sefer Tehillim. In that In that merit, our parsha series is generously sponsored by Becky and Avi Katzen family in memory of Becky's father, David Grossman. Our learning should be David ben Nachman Manush. This morning's shiur is sponsored by the Dikman family in memory of their daughter and sister, Danielle Also sponsored anonymously in the merit of Avraham ben Avraham Cohen ben David ben Michel ben David ben Michel ben Nissan ben Shimon for Chaim ben David ben Nachman ben Yisrael ben Yosef Halevi. And by Myrna Hershorn in memory of her beloved husband, our dear member, Marvin on his sixth yahrzeit, very much missed. Such an active member of our community and a good friend. His neshama should have an aliyah as well. Thank you to all of our generous sponsors. We have the privilege this week of learning and reading a double parsha. If you love one, you're going to love two, Tazria and Metzora. So, we begin with parshas Tazria, page 608 in the ArtScroll Stone Chumash. And we'll uh try to make our way sharing thoughts and insights from both. Let's begin. Let's begin with Rabbi Sacks. The Rabbi Sacks Chumash. He writes the following, "The laws at the start of this parsha about the sacrifices brought by a woman who has given birth have challenged and puzzled many commentators. That's how Tazria starts. The word Tazria means to conceive." More, "God spoke to Moshe, that be'el bene Yisrael lemor, teach this law that isha ki sazria, when a woman conceives vi'al hazachar." So, now we have the laws of childbirth. When she conceives, what happens if she conceived a boy? What happens if she conceived a girl? How long is the impurity? Why is it different for a boy and for a girl? We've covered much of this in the past. The days of impurity followed by the days of purity, the sacrifices, the carbonos that this woman who conceived and gave birth that she brings, and ultimately we get to the bris. On the eighth day is the bris. So, Rabbi Sacks points out that many have been puzzled why this woman who has given birth brings these sacrifices. We could easily understand if she had to bring a Thanksgiving offering. A woman is blessed with a healthy child. So many long and wish and wait. So many spend endless and countless amounts of money in the pursuit of fulfilling that dream of having a child. So, you would think that a woman who gives birth, she's healthy and the baby's healthy. We take for granted today, please God, that women who give birth are healthy. In sterile hospitals with medical care, and they recover fairly quickly. Insurance companies would like them to recover by that afternoon and get them out. Maybe they stay for one day. Used to be a lot longer. But you'd think that that woman would bring a carbon toda. You think that that woman, when she recovered, would bring a Thanksgiving offering, tremendous gratitude to the Ribono shel Olam. Instead, she brings a burnt offering together with a purification offering. Wonders Rabbi Sacks, why in the world does this woman need atonement? What did she do wrong? Because she gave birth? Because she conceived and went into labor? Because she brought a child into this world? What does she need atonement for? So, Rabbi Sacks quotes several interpretations. The Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, says that during the anguish of labor, the woman may have thought or expressed ideas that she wouldn't be proud of or that she now regrets. So, I'll I'll elaborate on the Ibn Ezra, of course not from personal experience, but I'll elaborate on the Ibn Ezra, that while her husband is trying to figure out where to be and what to say and how to preserve and save his life in that moment, maybe he's offering her some encouragement. Breathe, relax, push. And she turns to him and she says all kinds of things that I won't repeat in front of own kodesh. Maybe including says the even Ezra vowing this is the last child. This is the last time I'm doing this. This is never ever happening again. We're talking about this is before What's called? Epidurals, thank you. Before epidurals. I like to joke about someone in my life. I won't say whom. Maybe I'm a little related to by marriage that she likes to get the epidural when she sees the second line come back on the pregnancy test. That's when she's ready for. So today we have an epidural but before an epidural a woman in that extraordinary pain might call her husband certain names, the doctor certain names, maybe God, how could you do this? Why would you do this? And take a vow. This is never ever happening again. The Ramban explains that sacrifices are kind of ransom but it's survived the dangers of childbirth as well as a form of prayer for a full recovery. So the Ramban says don't see it as something negative that it's a burnt offering or a purification offering. Don't see it as something negative that the kind of the sacrifice that she's bringing. Realize that that's part of atonement. And that's part of also gratitude prayer for recovery. The great Meshech Chochmah of May Simcha of Dvinsk suggests, if you didn't read the article in Mishpacha over Pesach by my friend Dovi Safier on the Meshech Chochmah, you must. You can't learn a Meshech Chochmah the same after you read his extraordinarily well researched incredible article. So the great Meshech Chochmah suggests the burnt offering is like an olat re'iyah. An offering that was brought when appearing at the temple on festivals. The woman celebrates her ability to appear before Hashem at the Beit Hamikdash. Her eligibility, her recovery, her purification represents marks her return to be able to come back to the Beit Hamikdash. So just like someone who goes and sees God brings an olat re'iyah in that moment. So she too, her eligibility, her recovery, her reinstatement, she brings she brings that. She brings that. Maybe you could elaborate on the Meshech Chochmah. The same way one brings an olat re'iyah when they see and they're seen by God when they go to the Beit Hamikdash, the place of great revelation, maybe maybe what the Torah is telling us is that childbirth is a moment of great revelation. We have sanctity in space, that's called the Beit Hamikdash, and today our Mikdash Ma'at, our temple in miniature, which is the shul. We have sanctity in time, that's called Shabbat. Shabbat and Mikdash go together for that reason. But maybe there's also sanctity in experience. The closest one can come, the greatest imitation, say closest one can come, the greatest imitation, so to say, of God is creation itself, is conception, which of course is only in his hands. The keys are his. And when one brings a child into this world, it is nothing short, nothing less than a miracle, a moment of revelation. And maybe her olah is like the olah sh're'iyah, just to expand on this Meshech Chochmah, maybe the reason she brings this korban is that by being there in that moment, by being the source, the conduit, catalyst of that moment, an olah sh're'iyah, she has seen God. It is a moment of revelation. It's really quite extraordinary. We won't get into now, hopefully you all know, but how the ingredients are mixed that leads to conception, but the idea that hopefully a loving couple, a married couple, hopefully in the appropriate time, place, relationship, context, simply unite their love, and the result is a human being. A person with a personality, somebody who will grow to be an adult and be able to pay that forward, and also be a progenitor. It's extraordinary. It's revelation. It's creation. It's miraculous. That's a moment of revelation. Maybe that, just to expand or add an additional idea to the Meshech Chochmah. Back to Rabbi Sacks. Without displacing any of these ideas, we might suggest another perspective. So we have the Ibn Ezra, the Ramban, the Meshech Chochmah, my humble suggestion, and now Rabbi Sacks. This is related to the word tamei and tahor, pure and impure. Tamei does not mean defiled. It is a technical term referring to people being in a condition that prevents them from entering the Mishkan or the Mikdash. Tahara means the opposite, that they may enter. As we've noted, the Mishkan and later the Mikdash were symbols of the presence of Hashem within the human domain. God is eternal and spiritual. We and the universe are physical. And whatever is physical is subject to birth, growth, decay, decline, and death. It is these things that must be excluded from the sanctuary if we are to have the experience of standing in the presence of eternity. What bars us therefore from entering the holy is anything that reminds us or others of our mortality. Hence, the supreme source of impurity is the avi avot tumah. What is the greatest source of tumah? The biggest transmitter of tumah, the greatest contaminator, is contact with death. With death, is there a bigger sign or source or symbol of mortality than death? Contact with or proximity to a dead body. Paradoxically, childbirth defiles even though it represents a new life. The reason may be that until recently it was a hazard fraught with the risk of death. Many babies were stillborn. Many died young. And many mothers died giving birth. The very loss of blood was dangerous. So, childbirth may render one impure because it is an encounter with the risk of death. Alternatively, it may simply be that it defiles because it is a reminder of the passing of the generations. Birth, like death, is a signal of mortality. The Mishkan and later the Mikdash is the space set aside for consciousness of eternity. So, the Mikdash, the Mishkan first and later the Mikdash, represents a place of immortality, of contact with eternity, with the Ribono shel Olam, the source of existence and the endlessness of existence. So, anything that represents temporal, temporary, fragile, mortal, mortality, that is not allowed in the Mikdash. So, that's why death contaminates and even here there's contamination, which also connects to the end of the parashah and the end of Metzora. And Rabbi Sacks comes back to this, too, which is another lesson of purity and impurity. At the very end of parashat Metzora, we have the law "Betammah et Mishkani" pasuk lamed aleph "Vezartem et benai Yisrael el mitzmorah vayamusu betammah et Mishkani asher betocham." That people who are contaminated, impure, cannot come to the Mishkan. If they do, it is a death penalty because they can't introduce contamination and impurity to Mishkani, God's dwelling place, "asher betocham." That Hashem is trying to be in our midst. What are these laws? These are the laws of a woman who is a zav, a zavah, or a nidah. A man is a zav, a woman is a zavah, or a nidah. The body has all kinds of emissions. Today, it applies to women, but in the time of the Mikdash, men, too, were subject to zav. Men, too, would have all kinds of emissions, which would render them impure, and they, too, needed a purification process before they were eligible to come into the Mishkan and later the Mikdash. But a woman who has her menstrual cycle, her monthly cycle, renders her a nidah, and she needs to go through purification. Today, we think about nidah in the context of marital purity, in the context of mikvah, in the context of abstaining and then reuniting. But in the time when sanctity was observed, both with foods, interactions, and certainly with entering the Mishkan or the Mikdash, the law of nidah was a law of purity and impurity. And a woman needed to become pure, much like a a man did, as well. So, what are these laws? So, Rabbi Sacks continues this idea here. The very end, we started with the beginning of Tazria, skip into the end of Metzora. Concept of purity and impurity, as we know, have their main application relation to the holy space of the Mikdash. To enter its precincts, one has to be pure or purified. The chief exception is of a woman's issue of menstrual blood from which you have to be purified not only to enter the temple but also to resume relations with her husband. In general pure and impure are not categories applying to life as a whole. They're not ethical terms like good and bad, right or wrong, which apply to secular as well as sacred space and time. They only exist because Hashem stipulated that they exist. So as for example, Shabbos only exists because Hashem ordered it. You cannot tell that a certain day was Shabbos because of the quality of the light or the air or the temperature. So too the concept of impurity is not like the idea of uncleanness which could have physical manifestations or measurements. Tumah and Taharah are spiritual categories brought into being by Hashem's command. Concepts of holiness and purity, the two organizing principles of the priestly mind, are about the intense and vigilant preparation we must make before entering Hashem's space. Hashem is that which is not mortal, finite, and physical. Whatever inescapably reminds us of our physicality and mortality, whether it be birth or death or a skin disease or the flow of blood or the unusual discharge of bodily fluid or contact with the carcass of a repulsive animal, they all convey tumah. A state from which we must be cleansed before entering the domain of the holy. There's nothing intrinsically defiling about our physicality. To the contrary, the Torah asks us to seek Hashem within the physical world, to sanctify rather than forswear physical pleasures such as eating and drinking in the marital bond. There's nothing ascetic or otherworldly about the Torah's ethic. Rather, we have to ensure that we have divested ourselves of all lingering traces of that which reminds us of mortality and physicality, our vulnerability to disease, decay, and death. Not because we can escape them, nor that we should deny them, but simply to remind ourselves that Hashem utterly transcends all such accidents and attributes of materiality. In the Beit Hamikdash, we are in the presence of radical transcendence. So the way to remember the presence of radical transcendence is anything that means the opposite. It's the reminder or mark of mortality, fragility, how temporary we are, of death, or any corollary of it, that is what is not allowed. A woman's nidda cycle, that monthly cycle, is a reminder, unfortunately, sadly, of certainly for those who want to conceive. The endometrial lining of the uterus prepares to receive a fertilized egg. And if or when it doesn't, it sheds that endometrial lining. That's the source of a flow which renders a woman a nidda. That means to say that her body is designed monthly to be prepared to conceive. The default is that it's a factory. It's a manufacturing plant. It's a laboratory. It's ready to receive. It's ready to conceive. It is ready to produce a beautiful, healthy child, a neshama, a tzelem Elokim. And when that didn't take place, intentionally or unintentionally, by choice or with disappointment, that shedding of that lining, of the endometrial lining, that causes that status of nidda represents the opposite of conception or birth. It represents that, so to say, death of possibility, that death of potential. And therefore, that's a corollary of death, loss of potential. So, an actual course, corpse, is the of the av hatuma. That is the primary driver of impurity. But corollary of it, loss of potential, failure, mortality, all of these things, says Rabbi Sacks, that was what this is all about. I want to share with you, I got from his great grandchild, but you may know, one of my favorites to quote, not in the parashiyot so much, but often elsewhere, is the Menachem Zion, Rabbi Menachem ben Zion Sacks. Rabbi Menachem ben Zion Sacks, the great grandfather of the great Rabbi Sacks in Passaic, Rosh Yeshiva of Londers, and my friends the Landys. And they produced a they reproduced Menachem Zion. There's an old original version of his sefer, but they actually added more of his divrei Torah and material and printed it and reprinted it and I highly recommend it. I'm very grateful to them for it. I believe they're working on a translation as well, which they should because his Divrei Torah are outstanding. He doesn't need my endorsement, but they are amazing. So, he begins our parsha with "Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe lemor, daber el benei Yisrael lemor, ish ki yazria zera l'zachar." Now, on perek bet, pasuk bet. So, we started out with "And God spoke to Moshe saying, 'Speak to the Jewish people saying what word there is redundant and seems extraneous.'" Read with a critical eye. What word jumps out at you? The word lemor. God spoke to Moshe lemor, "Speak to the Jewish people lemor." Why the two lemor? Hamei d'lomar nishnei skan pamayim. The word lemor appears here twice. Achas el Moshe lemor v'achas el benei Yisrael lemor. God spoke to Moshe saying, "He spoke to the Jewish people saying why do we need it twice? L'havdil sheb'chol hanu ge'ulah u'mitzva yesod zeh. She'll tell us mishpacha shebut l'ya, Torah s'doras habayim sh'lo yuchal sh'lo pegumim. Lo maspik lemor pa'am achas al y'dei Moshe, Harav Verabbi Yeshaya Koldor. Kein l'chadosh she'ein b'cho Moshe. V'avita Moshe sh'apik amos. Rabeinu b'doro k'Moshe b'doro. El hachova mutel es al kol benei Yisrael she'yirasham es b'kirbo lemor b'phumbei u'verabim l'hastir u'l'hachzik es kol hamon ha'am lo l'avor al mitzva zu. Says Rav Nachman Tzion, Rav Nachman Tzion Zacks, the son-in-law of the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank. He moved to America. He was a rav in Chicago for many years, the Nachman Tzion. He writes, "This is a foundational mitzvah, the sanctity of a home, which is the sanctity of the community, which is the sanctity of our people. The strength, the sanctity, the holiness, the neshama, the soul of our people is the observance of the laws of taharas hamishpacha, of these laws of isha kisa zria v'al yado zachar, of these laws of conception, of these laws of separation, of these laws of mikvah and family purity. This is the source of everything about our physical, spiritual health. And therefore, it has to be repeated and it has to be reinforced. It's up to a moshe, it's up to leaders to talk about it, but the laymore is b'nei Yisrael. It's also critical within a home, from a mother to her daughters, from a father to her sons, in the senior year of high school, in seminary, in yeshiva, in chasan and kallah classes, to reinforce and reinforce and reinforce how critically important this mitzvah is. Not as some punishment, now is not the time. I can elaborate on how this mitzvah is the greatest gift from Hashem. The The insight, our creator, the one who designed us also knows how we work, and he understood that he understood that separation is good for us. He He understood that it restores that sense of longing and craving and yearning, which restores connection, which is the core of all of intimacy. In a world that once had a spike in the divorce rate at the seven year because of the seven year itch, that has now been reduced far from seven years to far fewer and less because of the world we're living in, which is filled with all of its enticement and opportunity and challenges, so Hashem created a program called taharas hamishpacha because we understood that distance makes the heart grow fonder and much more than just the heart. And therefore, the laws of family purity and how beautiful and what that's done for the Jewish people and how elevated it took a base, mundane, physical, animal urge and it put it in a context of holiness and sanctity and intimacy and emotional closeness and of unique, exclusive relationship and turned it from something only physical to what we call the Hebrew word for it is das. We call the ultimate knowledge one can have of another is this intimacy. So, these laws, not only the details of which there are so many and there are many minutia to them, but also the themes and the essence and the ideas and the ideals, they're so important they have to be repeated and reinforced and says that's why first laymore for Mosha, the leaders have to speak and then laymore bene Yisrael because the people, the community also has to speak and it's not too late. There are people who didn't have the background, didn't have the education. If they've never been to mikvah, it doesn't matter what age, what stage of life they're in, if they're still married, they should go to mikvah. It doesn't matter. The blessing, the brocha that brings it brings tremendous tremendous brocha. Says the Rebbe that laymore and the Torah of the family says so shall the Torah of the family says the Rebbe that many people are reticent. They're hesitant. They don't want to speak about these laws. They don't think it's appropriate. There's stigma. They don't know the language to use. They're going to blush. It feels inappropriate. They're worried people will will don't want to hear it. That's why it needs the reinforcement and that's why the word laymore is repeated is repeated twice. Which brings us now to what is the rest of the parsha of Tazria and of Metzora. Essentially one theme carries those all the way through almost all the way through and that is now tzaraas. Tzaraas. Translate the word tzaraas. So, most people translate it as leprosy, but the Rebbe elaborates and many others, it can't be leprosy. Leprosy is a physical dermatological element, highly contagious. In fact, until 2020 when we suffered a plague, I don't want to say its name because we all still have PTSD from it. And we talked about people have to if you contracted it, what did you have to do? 14 days, it depend on the CDC and what they said that day, you had to do something called quarantine. Until 2020, the only time human beings use the word quarantine was parshas tazria and metzora. Or at least in my age. If you were my age or younger, the only time you ever use the word quarantine was you were teaching a parsha class or learning the parsha tazria or metzora. But before that, there were people who used the term quarantine and they were leper colonies. Leprosy. Before it was contained, people quarantined. So we know this can't be leprosy. Why? Because the reference points this out. The laws would then make no sense whatsoever. If it covers your entire body, you're pure. Only part of your body, then you're impure. They're paradoxical. They're illogical. They're not intuitive. And certainly they make no sense if you're talking about a contagious skin disease. So we're not talking about a dermatological skin disease. It's not something you could put a little cortisone cream on and recover from. This is something that requires much greater care because it's a spiritual malady. It expresses itself in the skin, but it comes from the symptoms are on the skin, but the illness is in the heart, the mind, the soul, and mostly on the lips of the person who contracts it. And so here we begin, perek gimmel pasuk aleph, bottom of page 608. Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, "Adam ki yihyeh bo besar ohr se'es o sapachas o baheres, veyibeh besaro la Excuse me, lenega tzara'as vehuvah el Aharon hakohen o el achad mibanav hakohanim. Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon saying, "If a person will have on his skin a se'es o sapachas o baheres." So complicated to translate those terms that ArtScroll doesn't even bother to try. If you look in the English, it just translates it as sapachas baheres or se'es. I don't If you look in the Rabbi Sacks, I don't know how he translates it. Then you got to go go in Rashi to understand what's the difference between the three. A tzara'at affliction on the skin of his flesh, he shall be brought to Aaron the Cohen or to one of his sons, the Kohanim. Interesting, it says v'huva, he is brought. He's not wheeled, he's not carried on a stretcher, he's not dragged against his will. What is v'huva? Rav Yerucham Levovitz, the great mashgiach of the Mir, I just I'm putting out an article today. I just wrote this last night. Contrast this with the Nazir. V'huva, you have the same. Adam ki yihyeh b'or basaro, zos toras ha-metzora, this is the laws of of the metzora. If you go to parshas Naso, you have the laws of the of the Nazir. When it comes to the laws of the Nazir, you have very similar language, but you have a major difference between the two. In fact, I'll just find my article. I'll read it to you from there. You have a big difference between the two. We have when it comes to the metzora, this is the law of the metzora on the day of his purification, v'huva, he shall be brought. When describing the purification, this is not yet the purification, the purification of the Nazir, Torah uses a very similar language. This is the law of the Nazir on the day of his abstinence is completed, he shall bring himself to the entrance of the Tent of the Meeting. So, why when it comes to the Nazir does it say he shall bring himself, and yet when it comes to the metzora, it's v'huva? Which is it? Is it v'huva, or is it does he bring himself, or is he brought? So, the great mashgiach of the Mir, Rav Yerucham, says, "You know what the difference is? The metzora couldn't help himself. Couldn't help herself. Wanted to gossip, slander, had some good juicy some good stuff. And it's a commodity, it's a social commodity. If you're the first to know, if you're the first to share, if you've got the inside scoop, if you're able to talk about the other person, wah, ooh, wah, they couldn't help themselves. They indulged. They gave in to their impulse. They couldn't control themselves. The who va, it brought them. Their impulse, their compulsive behavior brought them. The Nazir strives has aspirations for holiness. He brings himself. Why I included into the article is I wrote about technology. We're starting next Monday a technology a 30-day technology challenge. I spoke on Travis Segal about the addiction all of us suffer from. I shared with you the article that baby boomers even more than the young is those 60 and older who are the most addicted these days after their grandchildren teach them how to use their devices. They're becoming the most addicted to them. So all of us across all generations are struggling with it. We're starting a fantastic 30-day challenge with a daily challenge and daily idea and reinforcement for those who complete it raffles and prizes. It's going to be fantastic and fun partnering with guard your eyes and and Smicha's Chaver to do it. So my article was about this technology because the who va our phones are bringing us. Anything that we're compulsively drawn to. We want to go to sleep but we stay up a lot longer than we wanted watching and scrolling and typing and shopping and doing all kinds of things. We mean to spend time with our family but we can't put that thing down. We want to be fully present but we're absent present in our davening and at the park or whatever else we're doing because we are as much as we just celebrated Pesach and supposedly marked our freedom, in some ways we are entirely still enslaved. Enslaved. So how can we set ourselves? That was right on cue. How can we set ourselves? You think I set that up. How can we set ourselves free? How can we release ourselves from that bondage? So the who va this metsora is the who va. He's dragged and he's drawn. She compulsively just doing things she claims she doesn't want to be doing. And that's what the metsora has to be purified from. That's what began and that's what led to it all. So we're going to go through three sections. There's the tsara'at that appears where where? On the person, on their skin. Then we have nigei begadim. We have the tsara'as that appears on the clothing. Clothing can get tsara'as. I don't know if you saw which state was it that the governor just announced an investigation into Lululemon for some chemical in the clothing. Lululemon denies it. I don't know. I thought could could you have a better parsha? Tazria Metzora. Something in the clothing, there's negai'im on the clothing, tsara'as on the clothing and nigei begadim. Lululemon and whatever problems that Lululemon denies it. If this. So, that's why you shouldn't overspend on Lululemon. Unless they're prepared to send me some free things. In that case, they're the best company in the world. So, nigei begadim. And then the final category are tsara'as that appear appear where? On the house, on the home. So, on this, I got another incredible new safer, Halacha L'Maaseh Parsha, Reb Avraham Shmuel Shlita Zaltzman Ginzburg. Shlita should be healthy and well. So, he just put out Vayikra. I'm not sure if it's even available in stores yet, but I thank my dear brother, Reb Nachmanya, for sharing it with me. I I I left him a voice note. My biggest complaint is every You see how big Vayikra is? Every every essay is extraordinary, is incredible, and I don't know which one to learn, which one to share, which one to teach, which one to give over. They're all amazing. So, here he says, "K'siv b'Rambam, the Rambam in the sixth perek of Hilchos Mezuzah writes, 'Chayav adam l'zaber b'mezuzah she'b'cholas sakol tamid.' A person has to be mindful and careful about the mezuzah cuz it's an obligation on us constantly. V'chazman she'k'nas v'eitzavif k'vi chodesh chodesh u'mishpacha k'dushas Hashem Baruch Hu. V'yiskor avosav v'eimishasav v'yishki over b'veias man." Every time you walk through that threshold, every time you walk through that door, you stop, you pause. The Rambam doesn't talk about kissing, but he does say to touch the mezuzah, and you remember the values. You remember, "I'm walking into my house, this is what I'm bringing into my house. I'm going out of my house, this is what I'm taking with me into the street. These are the values. Sh'ma, these are the values, what's in the mezuzah." You remember your love. It wakes us up from our sleep. We break out of that mindlessness and that routine and those habits. And we should know there's nothing that endures or stands for all eternity like the rock of the world that is God. And now you're ready to go out in the street. Now you're ready to engage and encounter the world. Now you're ready to come into your home and to remember what's important and to get along, to have peace and have harmony. Hazal elaborate. Hazal say that anyone who walks through that door, and you want to know what the proper image, at least when it comes to a man, the beautiful, proper, iconic image is that you're walking in with tfillin on your head, on your arm, and tzitzis on your clothing, and a mezuzah on your doorpost. The image of a Jew is tfillin, tzitzis, and a mezuzah in from the door. Much kushala yakhta, such a person, we have a tradition that that person can't fail. Can't fail. Too spiritual to fail. Too holy to fail. Too high to fail. They can't fail. Hoisha metzkay rabim, because they have all these reminders. They're surrounded and they're immersed in reminders. These are the angels that are around us and that protect us. So you see it from the Ramak and the mitzvahs and the layers of Hashem. Torah gives us these mitzvahs and they are advice, reinforcements, angels. These are the three mitzvahs, tfillin, tzitzis, and mezuzah. Or that a person person who's strict with tzitzis and look at them and think about them and remember them. Person who's strict Tfillin were originally designed to be worn all day long. Some communities still do. We put them on in the morning for whatever technical reason. And the mezuzah, when you're walking through your doorpost, we have have signals. They're flashing lights at us all day long. Don't forget. Don't forget where you come from. Don't forget what you're here Don't forget what life is all about. Don't forget. Make active good choices. Don't just be a creature of rote and routine. Make choices. And what are these signals that are flashing at us? These reminders, these angels that are around us and reinforcing us. Fillin, sitsin, and mezuzah. So, opposite big dog they sell. So, that's what we find opposite the antithesis of these three that are supposed to be reminders. If we don't use them, if we're not reminded, if we abuse them, if we fail on them, nigay adam, nigay bigadam, nigay batam. We, human beings, have four names. We're referred to in four ways. Right, we have we have ish, we have enosh, we have gever. We have all kinds of words we can use to describe a person. And yet the Torah here employs the word adam. Adam is our original name. Is our original name. It's the name God gave us before the mistake and the failure, before the big fail that got us kicked out of the garden. We were called the original name we got was adam. And that's how this parsha begins. Adam key uh Adam We have the ability to imitate God. Imitatio Dei, if I impress you with my Latin. Imitatio Dei. We have the ability, we have the capacity, we were designed to imitate the almighty Adam adame. We're called Adam, man. Adam is the root of the same Adam le elyon. I can be compared, I imitate the almighty. So our very name Adam reflects we are supposed to cling and cleave and connect and imitate and be ambassadors of Hashem. Adam others the bus iron the holy bus iron says the word Adam comes from the letters aleph dam. I never saw this one before. Adam comes from Adamah. Adamah is a place of growth. Human beings are supposed to grow. Never be finished, never be done. Don't be stagnant. Don't be complacent. We're never finished. No matter what age, no matter what stage, we're always growth oriented. That's Adam from Adamah, number one. Number two is the shlah. Adam is from Adam le elyon. I can imitate God. I can walk in his ways. I can be like him. Number three, the bus iron. Adam aleph dam. Yesh ba Adam dam rozeach ki Adam hu ha nefesh. We have blood pulsing through our veins. What What animates us? What defines us as being awake and alive is the blood pulsating through our veins. That blood represents passion. And the passions what gets us into trouble. That drive, that temptation, that passion. Adam may be the dekas. When a person gets angry, their blood is flowing, they're fuming, they turn bright red, they're angry. And we know what anger leads to. Adam yesh lo koach le hamlich alufo shel olam al Adam. But that blood, which is the source of passion and can be of rage aleph dam. But if we place the alufo shel olam, the one and only almighty if the aleph is on the dam if our blood, if our passion, if our life force, if all of our blood flow, if our passions and our energy and our excitement is all directed to the aleph, the alufo shalom, shilo yada damstam, ragdam shashur ba'al alokus that God is flowing in our veins. What's flowing through our veins? Not drive and temptation and distraction and impulse and compulsive behavior. I've got God flowing through my veins. I've got a drive to connect to my creator, to fulfill my mission, my purpose, why I'm here, to represent him. Beshashem adom ashir adom ashem banela biyoser. And that's why adom is the highest name. Because adom is the highest name, first of all, represents our growth mindset. Number two, because adame layo we could be like God, I can imitate God. And number three, because aleph dam, I can have God flowing through my veins. I could take that passion, I could take that energy, I could take that drive, I can take that insatiable appetite, and I can direct it to the aleph, the alufo. So, that's what it means now. Niga'im are the opposite. When a person, their skin, their body, or their clothing, or their home is misdirected, then you get niga'im. They're blemished, they contaminate, they're compromised because of it. Now, is that a negative of us? He goes on and we don't really have time to say hakavana kinni niga'im im daika mitzad ma'alas adom v'lo mitzad chisa shalo. You could read tazria and say, man is pathetic. We can't control our temptation, our drive, we can't control our our power of speech. We're pathetic, we're lowly. So, Rav Shur, it's the opposite. Niga'im hi hanega nasis, hanega hanhaga nasis hanhaga imashkafa mi'alas hasheva. That God chooses to transcend the natural order to give us a spiritual malady that makes no sense and appears in no medical journal because it has nothing to do with skin. It's because he loves us. He believes in us. He's trying to direct us. He's trying to lift and elevate us. Hashem is trying to tell us what we're capable of us. He's holding us accountable cuz he knows we can do better and we can do more. We can be big. We can be huge. And therefore he invokes the Adam, which is the highest sense of self, who we could be. And he goes on and he has a lot more on this. I wish we had time to learn it together. A beautiful love sure, but alas we've got two parshas to cover. So let's move along. Parshas Gimmel Pasuk Base. Baruch Hashem Hashem the coin sees this. Oh, so. The team may also. The Menachem Tzion also has something to say here. Back to Menachem Tzion Zacks. And he says the following. It says when it came to the beginning of Vayikra Vayikra was all about sacrifices. It starts out Adam Ki Yakriv Mikem. Translate those words. It's the beginning of of of all of Sefer Vayikra. Adam Ki Yakriv Mikem. Translate the words. If someone from among you will bring a sacrifice. Look at the next pasuk. Adam Mikem. It doesn't say Inksiv Kan Ela Adam Ki Yevor Bisaro. It doesn't say Right? Look at this possuk, possuk based. Adam ki yev or b'saro. It doesn't say Adam ki yev mikam or b'saro. So, why when it came to a sacrifice does it say Adam mikam ki yakriv? Adam ki yakriv mikam? And here, it just says Adam ki yev or b'saro. It doesn't say Adam mikam. When do we use the word mikam and when do we omit the word mikam? You understand the question? Says Reb Nachman of Breslov in Likutei Moharan Adam ki yakriv mikam. You know what's in our kishkas? You know who we are and who we want to be? You want to be a person who draws close to Hashem. So, when we actualize that, when we manifest that, when we bring the carbon, we're revealing who we really are. That's what's inside us. That's what makes us tick. That's what we're all about. That's what's inside us all. Adam ki yakriv mikam. When you're bringing a carbon, you are bringing to the surface what was inside you all along. All you want is to be close to Hashem. All you want is to be your best self. That carbon is coming from you, from your kishkas, from piece of who you are. It's your identity. It's your best self. It is you. But if the opposite is true, when a person indulged in their worst self, when they abuse and misuse the power of speech to gossip, to slander, when we pursue temptation and compulsive behavior, and we lower ourself, and we live our worst self instead of our best self, that's not me, Ken. That's not who we really are. That's not what we're really about. We're going against our nature. We're going against our self-definition. We're going against our essence. It's coming from our environment. It's coming from something outside. It's coming from something foreign. Beautiful. A beautiful insight. And where is it coming from? So, note, the possuk said, if we have on our skin say sapachas baheras, I deem on the going by him. The Maggid asks, why do these nigaim come? So, the possuk midaber from malchios. This is an allusion to the exiles, when we are living among host countries. Say, zu Bavel. Sapachas is Madai. Baheras is Yavan. Vayabo b'saro l'nega tzara'as is Edom. The four exiles that we've lived through, and we're living through the last, are represented and hinted to in the four kinds of of uh symptoms of this disease called called tzara'as. going by him. What was the question coming from? We know this is not who you are. This is not what you're really about. This is not your best self. So, where's it coming from? Where's it coming from? Maybe you remember when you were a child, or maybe you find yourself having to tell your child, you know that conversation, right? You don't pick the child up for their misbehavior, but you say, this isn't you. This is It's like you. Where's this coming from? That that behavior, that reaction, that way you spoke, that thing that I found, the thing that you said, the thing you did, that's not you. That's not who you are. That's not like you. So, where's this coming from? Where's this coming from? What were you exposed to? What were you reading? What were you watching? Who were you hanging out with? Where's this coming from? Says the Maxim Zax, that's what the measure is asking. Because the behavior that leads to Zax, that's not like you. That's not who you are. It's not what you're about. So, where's this coming from? I think my nagging by him, where is this coming from? To which the measure is answered, you know where it's coming from? Who you're hanging out with. Who are you hanging out with? These four kingdoms. Bavel, Madai, Yavan, Edom, that's where it's coming from. These host nations with their foreign values, that's what are seeping in that leads to a sense of Zax. So, back to the original question. Why when it came to a carbon doesn't say me chem? When you're bringing a carbon, it's coming me chem. And yet it says over here, Adam or the Sarah, why doesn't say Adam me chem? Where's the word me chem here the way it was in Vayikra? Says the Maxim Zax, you know why it's missing? Cuz that's not me chem. When you speak lashon hara, when you engage in the behavior that leads to Zax, that's not who you are. We have to come up with another explanation. We have to find why you're behaving that way cuz that's not who you are. Bringing a carbon, kirvas Elokim, coming close to God, that's who you are. That's innately who we are. That's what we have to fulfill and realize within ourselves. That's who we are in our essence. That's me chem, that's in our kishkes. But this other behavior, misbehavior, that's not who we are. We got to get to the bottom of it. Perkier give me a plastic mem dalid. Oy. I see pissed off came in and went and nothing changed. Perkier give me a plastic mem dalid. Page 616. Ish saru yetamenu birosho nigo. Now the Torah is telling us, that the boldness at the front and the back of the head is a person with tsara'at is contaminated. The Torah shall declare him contaminated. His affliction is on his head. Here all of a sudden the Torah says where is this tsara'at? Bureau show It's on his head. Says Rabbi Nachman that a if a person has a blemish in their head that's the most dangerous place to have a blemish. Lorah tsara'at and here we're not just talking about you have the dermit- you have dandruff. We're not just talking about you got dandruff. You got eczema in your scalp. You got to fix it for that. What are we talking about? tsara'at means gum the tsara'at roughness. It means ro show your head is messed up. You're not thinking clearly. You're not focused. Your judgment is impaired. You have a bureau show. A bureau show means there's something going on. I can't help cuz I just saw this in the motion journal. Anytime I have to study suggest that red meat may help prevent against Alzheimer's. Okay, that was just my opportunity to bureau show bureau show Have a little red meat. Doesn't say kale helps you fight Alzheimer's. I'm just pointing out. Doesn't say that. That wasn't the study. That's not the headline. Headline is a good barbecue stick flash a little red meat grilled properly and that's good to avoid the bureau show But says Rabbi Nachman the most dangerous place to have a the most dangerous place to have this blemish this contamination this illness is in the head when you're not thinking clearly when you're not prioritizing properly when you're not focused. Person has to protect and preserve their memory, never to get for forget never to get to forgetfulness. Because the kind of list of time and the all of my bar. And what is the thing that we have to think about regularly? The world to come. Know that we are immortal. We're not mere mortals. Life is not just about this world. This whole world is a blink of the eye. This whole world is just to get to the world to come, eternity. How many congressmen are resigning this week? How many? Three? Two or three? I think a third has also been called on. I don't understand. They have positions of prominence and positions of power. They're the ones who are making policy. And all they had to do is have some decent judgment. Some decent judgment. And yet they can't. So many, too many. Why? Power. Rosh ego. Because when a person forgets that we're we're living we're playing the long game. We're not here for pleasure. We're not here for this world. We're not here for the moment. But we're playing the long game. We're trying to elevate. We're trying to live our best selves. We're trying to find meaning and purpose, which is the the ultimate source of pleasure, ironically. When you pursue hedonistic pleasure, then you destroy your life. How'd Tiger do in the Masters? He didn't play. When your life is the pursuit of pleasure, you sabotage your whole life upside down. Resign from Congress. Take time off from your career, even though you were the best ever in the game. But when you live for meaning and purpose, that's when you find the pleasure and the happiness. Jews don't live for happiness. We live for holiness. And therefore says Rabbi Nachman, it's in the head that we have to remember. We have to remember who we are, what we live for, what life is about. We have to overcome that urge, that impulse, that compulsive drive, even with the opportunity. Don't live for the here and now. Don't live for the pleasure of the moment. Play the long game of eternity and immortality, and what life is all about. There's a long essay here in this beautiful safer of the parsha based on this, but I wanted to bring it to your attention because that's these words in this pasuk. B'rosh niga, where was the niga? In his head. So many of our problems, the problem started where? It's in our head. We're not thinking clearly, we're not focused, we're not making good decisions, we don't have good judgement. And why do all those things happen? Because we don't remember. We don't remember. You know, come back to the red meat. You've heard me speak about this before. The studies that show how much we neglect and don't care about our future selves. We live for our present self at the expense of our future self. And so many studies show if you sleep less than 6 hours a night, your odds of memory loss, dementia, or Alzheimer's increase insanely. Okay, good. So start tonight sleeping at least 6 hours a night, right? What happens is the present self says, "Ah, that's for future self. But present self wants to stay up a little bit longer. I'm in the middle of doing something. I'm relaxing. I'm reading. I'm not ready to go to sleep. I'm scrolling." So the present self says, "Who's future self? I haven't met him. I haven't met her. I don't care about Present self wants to stay up." And that's b'rosh niga. That kind of thinking, where is that? It's b'rosh. Aizu chacham, haroeh es hanolad. The chacham, the wise person in the head is the person who sees what is going to be born, what is the outcome of what we do today. The wise one is the one who lives for their future self. Who lives in the present with an eye towards its impact in the future. That's what we need to be careful with. With that we move over to Parshas Metzora. Perek Gimmel Pasuk Beis. Vayidaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, "Zos tihiyeh toras hametzora beyom taharaso." This is the law of the metzora on the day he purifies. "Vehuvah el hakohen." This is the "vehuvah" that I told you earlier. Here the metzora is "vehuvah." He's brought to the kohen, as opposed to the nazir who goes to the kohen. Why is the nazir very similar language with a major difference? The nazir goes to the kohen and the metzora is brought to the kohen. Why? Because the metzora is brought by things. He's brought by sucked in by his phone, sucked in by the alcohol, sucked in by the drugs, sucked in by the potato chips. Do we want to live a life where we're brought in, sucked in, we have no control, it controls us? Or are we in control? That's the 3-day challenge. Reclaim control. Regain control. Can we regain control? So much of addiction, the 12-step of recovery is realizing you're out of control and that you can't control. Surrender, submit to a higher power, understand you have to turn to others for help, and regain that control. "Vehuvah el hakohen" is because the person has no control. So they have to be brought, as opposed to the nazir who has regained, who does have that control. Says our last Rav Nachman of Breslov zatzal of the day, in the brand new Nachman of Breslov I get no commission on, "Heyma al achitzecha al hashonah um matil malim kol dofi. Lifneiach amartem metzora amarti sheima "Vehuvah el hakohen." I would have thought, where should he go? The dermatologist. Go to the doctor. Go to the internist. Go to CVS and pick up your subscription uh your prescription. Why are you going to the kohen? You got a skin disease and you call the rabbi? Can I meet with you for a few minutes? What's going on over here? Because what went wrong? Where did this all start? This wasn't a physical malady, it was a spiritual one. It was a spiritual one. The parsha says "Vehuvah el hakohen" Ruval Aaron the Cohen. Here it says he's brought to the Cohen. The last parsha Tazria, we conveniently studied a minute ago, it says he's brought to Aaron the Cohen. Why are we invoking Aaron's name? Aaron's not going to be alive in every generation to be the one to check every single person with with tzaraas. Says Rebbe Nachman of Breslov actually know why? Because how did this person get tzaraas to begin with? What did they violate? What did they do? They spoke. You know why a lot of people speak lashon hara? It's not lashon hara because it's true. I'm just telling you something that's true. They make the mistake of thinking that it's not lashon hara or rechilus, gossip, slander. We have different terms representing the different types of speech. It's true. Just telling you something that's true. They broke up. He got fired, cheated, this, that. I'm just telling you something that's true. It's just true. Aaron Aaron cared more about harmony than truth. Aaron, who was the ohev shalom v'rodef shalom, how Mishnah Pirkei Avot tells us, how did he bring about that peace? How was Aaron such a peacemaker? Reuben and Shimon were in a big fight. They weren't talking. So Aaron goes to Reuben and he says, "Reuben, Shimon can't take it anymore. He just wants peace. He just wants to reconnect. He's nervous to come over to you. You go to be the first to him. Shimon, Reuben wants peace. He just He just doesn't know how to talk. He's come over to you." Did he tell the truth? Sort of. He served the greater truth, the truth of peace and harmony. Says Rebbe Nachman of Breslov actually we invoke v'huval Aaron a Cohen. Why? Midas ha'isha l'shana l'shana osmet dacha shalom. Aaron was willing to bend the truth to serve a higher truth to create harmony and peace. K'dei l'lamdeinu she'hakadosh baruch hu ma'aniv al sheker shel Aaron. Hamashkin shalom bein Yisrael al emes shel holech rachil hamapitz sin'ah b'kerev achim. God would prefer God would prefer the bent truth of Aharon that brings peace and harmony than the absolute truth of the gossiper who is creating and sowing division among our people. And that's why we invoke Aharon HaKohen to remind us about Aharon Kohen. Today is the yahrzeit of the Kasha Glover. Who is the Kasha Glover? Kasha Glover, Rabbi Yitzchak Freemer. Rabbi Yitzchak Freemer was the Rav of Kasha Glover. Then he was recruited to become the Rosh Yeshiva of Chachmei Lublin, the Mashgiach of Yeshiva. He was the Rosh Yeshiva of Chachmei Lublin when the Nazis came to power. He suffered in the Warsaw Ghetto where he was deported to Majdanek. Hashem Yikom Damo. He was killed in Majdanek. Great Talmid Chacham. We have several of his farm. The Hilchos Lashon Hara of Rabbi Yitzchak Freemer. Hashem Yikom Damo. Today is his yahrzeit. Today is his yahrzeit. So you got to learn the Torah of the person whose yahrzeit it is. So his Eretz Tzvi, the name of his sefer is Eretz Tzvi. Eretz Tzvi. Rabbi Yitzchak Freemer. He writes those tiyot Torah Shematza. Yesh Lomar Mashkaza B'Chovos HaLevavos. Rabbeinu Bachya Chovos HaLevavos writes in Shaar HaKniah, "HaMedaber Lashon HaRa L'Chavero Noten Torah Mitzvos U'Mitzvos L'Chavero." You want a disincentive to not speak Lashon Hara or incentive to not speak? He has a tradition Rabbeinu Bachya in Chovos HaLevavos that if you gossip about someone else, all your Torah learning and all your good deeds get taken out of your account and are credited to the person that you gossiped about. You think you're hurting or harming harming the person you slandered or gossiped? You've just enriched them. All your Torah, all your good deeds go to them instead of you. We say in Shmiras HaLashon May the Shaar HaZeh and the Chofetz Chaim in Shmiras HaLashon brings an allusion to this from a pasuk in Koheles. "Lama Yitztof Elo KeMa Kolech U'Chalom Ma'aseh Yadacha Ma'aseh Torah SheYesh Bach Atah Ma'avidah." "SheMachmas Lashon Hara Ma'avid At Torah SheLo." "V'Akein" So now the possuk tells us ki acher o so shaba de shuva this individual who got slandered is repenting and repairing they've done shuva and this is their rehabilitation mar zero torah so if you get it right if you come back from what you did wrong if you take responsibility and apologize you get your torah back and that says the says the that's why this process of purification begins with the introduction of zos tia torah samatsora shume zocher batoraso venase shalom this is the torah of the metsora cuz if the metsora purifies in this way he'll get his torah back like that zos tia torah samatsora if he does it right if he's sincere and genuine if he takes responsibility and apologizes if he purifies properly zos tia torah samatsora he gets his torah back thank you dalet possuk dalet we have here two birds the purification process includes corner state by he takes two pure birds and eight cedar which means they crimson thread and hyssop and he has two birds that he's working with over here back in the nazo pasha of shore shlita and he says the following he says the following somewhere in here about these two birds why two why two birds oh here it is kush borch boras mishmar dibor how many lips do we have two two lips how much of us are their walls the two lips are walls on our flesh we speak by waving the two lips yish base for signs a base cohos Sfas Emes writes, When we speak, we use our lips and our teeth, tongue. The two lips are Moshe and Aaron. When to speak and when to be silent. Where do you see Aaron's Sfas Emes? Last week's Aaron today is Yom HaShoah. We spoke about it last night at the Yom HaShoah program. Incredible speaker. She was extraordinary. Aaron represents the Sfas Emes. Sometimes we speak, sometimes we're silent. Two, we find double when it comes to speech. Sfas Emes writes, So the Sfas Emes writes, We made mistakes in both directions. We were silent when sometimes we should have spoken, given compliments. And we speak when sometimes we should be silent. When we're gossiping, slandering, when we're knocking people down. These two birds, Rav Shur quotes the Sfas Emes, The living bird, what was the point of bringing it, including it, if you're not going to shecht it? The one that you shecht is the bird that chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp. Why do you have to Why did you become a metzora? Why do you need to purify? Cuz just like the bird goes chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp, you chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp. And that's when you get into trouble. When you're not talking things of substance, when you're talking about people instead of ideas, chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp, then you get into trouble. So, you've got to shush the bird who just like the bird you chirp, chirp, chirp. It's people that what about the one that lives that you let go? He calls it over second and he bought they should be lost and I would be going and told him. That represents the positive power of speech, the good speaking that you could have and should have done. The good positive we should have been. So, that's why you always see two cuff lines, two lips, two abilities to speak. Sometimes we should speak, sometimes we should be silent. Two birds in the rehabilitation process. Sometimes you have to know what to say and sometimes you have to stay silent or sometimes there's two birds because there's two consequences. This for what we spoke when we use the negative power of speech, but there's also what we could have said positive instead. We were using the power of speech negatively, but what could we have used it for positively instead? We'll end with to finish more. Should be able to tell. He says Below you tell them now I'm again bottom. Very good person of love. Very end of the partial the third of the types of of tumor. You see something on your house, something like an infection has appeared in the house. The coin says clear the house out. Empty the house before the coin comes to look so that everything in the house won't be contaminated and only after it's emptied, that's when the coin comes to look. Rashi quotes because if you don't, the coin comes and sees that it's a problem and you have to shut down the house, quarantine the house, everything inside it becomes impure. And the Torah cares about you and your property and therefore in order to protect and preserve it says empty the house before the coin comes and before the coin can diagnose the house. Hello to you all and then tell me fine. So, he indeed of all of arrows. This individual who has this manifestation of tumor on the house is saying some time that he should be on a short dinner. Short dinner. Which is by the way next weekend if you haven't signed up or put in your journal entry, please do. We need your help. To make our budget for this year our dinner needs to do well. We have wonderful honorees. You know the guy who gets up every week and says turn your ringer off and offers to do it for you. He's our honoree. He and his wife, David and Joyce, together with the Marcuses, please come. So this individual though whose house spread with tzaraas, so how I did that? Smooth. This individual whose house spread with tzaraas, he's not being honored at the sure dinner. He was over aveira. He gossiped, he slandered, or one of the other many things for which tzaraas comes. So why are we so working to preserve his property? Why are we coming to help or advocate for him? Lama makpid at Torah kokha mamono afilu aklei cheresh lo. Even his earthen ware vessels, which are not worth much, we're still trying to protect them. Why? Yish lomar, says Rashi Rebbi Meir dinei kohen shlucho d'Rachmana. The kohen is an agent of Hashem. The Mark Edition says, K'sheha kohen shliach Hashem ba l'veiso v'eino nichnas l'bayis ad sheyifnei kol hakelim v'zehu mara kama Kadosh Baruchu doeg al mamono. D'var zeh nosein chizuk gadol l'baal habayis she'afilu b'zeh itzarach l'heicharev mi'aviroso, Kadosh Baruchu mar lo abba shedoeg ba'avuro. Picture the scene, says Rashi Rebbi Meir and Bam. The kohen arrives on the scene. This individual comes home and says, I got a problem. Chinese drywall. I got mold. I got a problem. My house is a problem. So he calls the spiritual Hatzalah hotline and he says to the kohen, "Need you to come." Kohen arrives, he shows up, and he says, "I don't want to come in until you empty the house." Guy says, "Well, what do you mean? I I I got mold, I got problems, I got negai'im. Take a look." Kohen says, "Listen, if it's takka a problem, it's going to be a big problem. And everything inside of it is going to be gone. But you know Hashem loves you and I love you and we care about you and we care about your property and we care about your things. So take a moment and take the time and first bring it out before I go in, at which case at that time there'll be no turning back. Why? Cuz even though this person made a mistake, and even though they need to get this punishment, in that moment, Hashem wants that individual to know Hashem loves you. And the coin who represents him loves you. And this is a powerful message. I often meet with people who've made terrible mistakes in their life. They've had indiscretions, they've shown poor judgment, they've made big mistakes with big consequences. And when they're shaking and hesitating and don't want to share or turn or tell me, I always say the same thing. I say, "I'm not here to judge you. I'm here to love you. I'm here to help you. It's my only role. That's my mission. The reality of what they've done and its consequence has done enough to knock them down. They don't need me to come in there fire and brimstone and tell them what a terrible mistake they made and what a bad person they are. As a coin, I'm not a coin, but as the equivalent of the coin, the a leader of a community, the representative of Hashem, our only job is to say, "No judgment. You can share. You can tell me. I have no judgment. I only want to help." So, the coin shows up and he says, "I'm not here to judge you. I'm not here to beat you up. I'm not here to tell you how terrible you are. I'm here to help. And the best way I can help you is first empty the house. I want you to know Hashem loves you and I love you, no matter what you've done. We can get you back." Parshat Ki Seitzei, when it comes to Hashavas Aveida, the loshon of achicha five times, shor achicha, hashev tashivenu achicha, lo karov achicha, adrosh achicha, chein ta'aseh l'churban achicha. HaYesod shel Hashavas Aveida is that every Jew you have to view as your brother. So, the coin shows up and he says, "Hey brother, I'm here to help you. What can I do, my brother? I have no judgment, brother. I just want to help you. That's why I'm here, and that's the message it sends, the fact that we wait. Even though this person made a mistake and did wrong, the fact that we that we wait. Okay, there's a lot more. But, we'll stop here. We're on tomorrow for sheer and back to normal as well. Please stay for all safer till then. Our brothers in Israel and we around the world need it for good things and good results. We'll finish all safer till then in just a few minutes. If you please take a moment to stay. Have a great day. Okay.