Thought for the Week Acharei Kedoshim A Matter of Life or Death, Rabbi Yaakov Winner - 5786

How are you? I hope everyone is hope everyone is healthy, strong and happy physically and spiritually. This is the month of as we mentioned before brings healing. So this is what we have to focus on and talk about physical healing, physical health, spiritual health which includes also mental health. First we'll start with as we spoke about many times brings Msiah Mashia should come now but also says something very interesting about that just like when it comes to physical health money is not an issue you give it all away to become healthy so too to become healthy spiritually through charity we could atone and cleanse our souls. So you wouldn't you shouldn't be thinking about limiting how much you give. You'd give it all away for physical health. So too concerning spiritual health, we're going to say a verse from which we say every day in the prayer. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. So we have to go in Hashem's ways. We should be healers and then Hashem will heal each of us and we'll heal the entire world. Okay. In this week's para this this week is Shabas. So both paras has many mitzvah has very very many that are connected to well-known mitzvah. We're going to focus on one of them which is a very very famous Pik and we're going to see and this is something an idea which I love very very much when we speak about the definition of being magnanimous and selfless and morals and ethics and good we have what the Jewish view is the Jewish perspective and this week's pure we'll see it in such a dominant demonstrated sorry demonstrative manner also with this p I believe we could have the answer to the secret of activism. So what am I talking about? The says you shall not this is you shall not go about gossiping among your people. You shall not stand over the blood of your friend anyem. So firstly just in general it's well known a lot of commentators talk about the justification in the beginning of the verse to the end of the verse that in the beginning of the verse it says you shall not go about gossiping and then it says you shouldn't stand by when you see someone's life is in danger someone's about to lose his life you're not allowed to stand by. We'll elaborate that soon. But what's the connection between these two things? Saving a life. As they say in English, it's a matter of life and death. So what's the connection between not being a gossiper and a man of life and death? So there's many many commentators speak about it. One one ver which is a famous ver is that it just shows shows you how one thing could lead to the next. Gossip could lead to murder, danger, violence. Sometimes you say something and you could cause a whole domino effects that could lead in the end to god forbid loss of life. That's one famous vert. There's another ver and the brings it down on the spot that you're not gossip which includes speaking bad about somebody else. But there is an exception. When with talking about somebody who is a a person who is a quarrelome person brings divisiveness and strife and actually might have an evil intent and harming another person even to the degree of committing murder. So then you could speak about that person in order to say to make sure that doesn't come to a situation of so then you be say then it's not talking about in such a case in other words that's true but you should remember that in a case you should never come to so then you're allowed to anyways now First I'm the basis of what I'm saying today is based on a rash it's I think and the over there talks on the rashi of and says to view his death when you are able to save him for instance when was drowning in the the or list him or if an animal abandons are coming upon him. So the Reb asks why is Rashi being in these examples over here in general? Why is the terra teaching us this idea of we know from other places that you you have to you not murder a person you have to save a person's life we don't help from other I don't want to get into it now there's a says talking about if one person is chasing another person to kill them there's what's the over here so basically I'm going to speak more the the the morals and theidas that we take out of it. The purpose of these is to talkus. But first I'll begin with the rash what the Reb says and then I'm going to bring out a bit of a a complexity over here and that is the reb that the P over here in general is not teaching us the concept that you have to save someone else's life but the PK is teaching us to what degree how far do you have to go to save another person's life that's the over here and The Reb actually chat and he makes a why in another place where this is brought down in the gor it says for example when you see somebody drowning in the river's list and rashi doesn't say oi that it's one of three things that are happening it's two out of the three things are happening the two out of the dangerous situation you think it's dangerous but wait there's more it's even more dangerous and that's the This I want to bring out a paradox. According to actual law, you're not allowed to put yourself in a danger to risk your life in order to save another person's life. But on the other hand, you are meant to push yourself. If you for sure could save that person's life, then you're meant to do it. Even if it involves danger, but it's not dangerous to your life. Even it involves great difficulties and great exertion and it will be very hard and that's the that even though we say on the one hand you're not allowed to put yourself into definite danger in order to save somebody else but we see clearly that the does say that it's says clearly How do we know that if we see somebody who's drowning in a river or an animal is already dragging him along or or bandits are he's being attacked by bandits, which by the way, one of the things that I see from the Gur which is which is amazing that that it doesn't just say um animal means he sees an animal that's running towards him. So if you have a rifle, you could shoot it. But I'm just saying from the Gmor's language, it's even more. It's like the animal is dragging that person, he's being dragged by the animal. But in any case, so so in other words, what Rashi is bringing out from the G that even though according to your life comes first, but still you have to push yourself to the furthest possibility even when it's going to be very dangerous, but it's not really a matter of life and death for your part. We can call it dangerous. People people have gone into dangerous situations. Danger doesn't always necessarily mean a matter of life and death. Now I'm going to go um we're going to speak about other issues connected over there. But first I want to get to the Reb's emphasis and then we'll add other things. The Reb in the end of the translates it to mean more in spiritual terms when a person's life is in danger spiritually. But before that, a general point that the Reb says over here and the emphasis on is that you see a person about to lose his life, in danger of losing his life. And the rebel in his chat, why was it? Why did they make that you should see it? Because That's a sign that you can help him. You know what? Maybe you can't dive into it yourself. Use your phone. Call somebody. Do whatever you can. This brought this divine providence. The fact that this situation that you were the one that saw what's going on, that means you can save this world. You can save the person. And that's the main message of the that's the main message of Rashi and that's the main message the takes from the V over here is that if divine providence brought it and everything is divine providence and nothing that does is for nothing and everything is ultimately tipping on his glory that means the very mere fact that you saw it that itself is a sign of empowerment. Why were you the one that saw it? Because God is sending you a message and the message is you could save that person. And that's by the way the main point of is if you see a person drowning and you see him being attacked by an animal or you're seeing him being attacked by bandits. So even though it's like some a dangerous situation, but you know that you could save him. That's the very key point. The fact is you know you could save him. You could scare away the bandits. You can cause a diversion. Whatever the story is. So you could ignore the situation and life will be easier for you so to speak. Or you could get involved. Get involved. But you know that you will succeed. That's very important according to Rashi. In other words, you know, in the case you know that you could save him, then you're obligated to save him regardless of the obstacles that are involved. That's the message of the and then the Reb gets into the spiritual things. But before we get to that, I want to just bring out a couple a couple of side points that's very interesting over here. First of all, there's a concept called a pious fool or a zealous fool. So it's very very interesting. The in talks about what is what does it mean to be there's what the GRA says in in which we just learned now that's the meaning of is to learn so it's an unbelievable connection that's one of the reasons why I decided to speak about it because it's in the that we're learning today and then there's a that adds to it but it's the same idea what does the Say what is a case of a foolish zealous person a foolish and says for example a woman is drowning in the river and he's going to say it's not it's not right for me it's an improper conduct for me to gaze at her and save her because she's dressed immodestly. She's in swimming gear, let's say, or maybe even less. And then he allows for her to drown. So he's worried about his piousness. And meanwhile, THAT PERSON LOSING THEIR LIFE. That's called he's he's considering he's being motivated by by his holiness. And this causes him in the end to cause that a person should shall lose his life. Now we look into the words who is says if you see a child drowning in a river he's wearing he says you know what I'm going to deal with my I'm going to put away my properly and then I'm going to save them. by the time he took off your thrill and you wrapped your thrill that person drowned. That kid drowned that's so he's busy with his thrill and he's worried about the respect for his thrill and meanwhile that person is losing his life. So this is the same message over here not only when we're talking about physical life but also spiritual life this applies very very much. Sometimes a person could think he's all abstract, theological, high level from the spiritual elite and he can't get involved in something which will mean a descent. You know, he'll have to get down and dirty. He'll deal with an animal. He'll deal with mud. He'll deal with bandits. He'll deal with getting, you know, etc. We say no don't be a put your spiritual elitism put your spiritual ascending on the on the on the spiritual ladder of success and save the other person's life. Okay. Now the the there's another point going back to the Reb's message which is not in the PK literally but what the Reb SAID BECAUSE YOU SAW IT THEREFORE THAT'S PROOF that you have to do it. This is connected with a very very famous verse. The Reb doesn't bring it in the s but I was thinking about it because the Reb spoke about it many times and it's mish famous. Everyone knows this. This is in the story of the migillas Esther. Esther Mal Esther is the queen and Mai tells her that she's going to have to go to the queen even though it's very dangerous because you don't go to the king unless the king calls you etc etc. See there I just want to get to the main verse and tells Esther if you are going to be silent at this moment relief and deliverance and salvation will come to the Jews from another place. you and your father's house will perish and then said and who knows perhaps for this reason you put into this position of royalty for just such an emergency for just such a position such a situation such a crisis. So this these words that applies to every single one of us for every single time that we see something but your intervention is warranted. Why did you see it? AS THE EXPLAINS THIS RASHI, WHY WAS IT THAT you saw what's going on? Because you're meant to be the responder. It's like we speak always about first responders. The beauty of the message of first responders, let's say at is because it's a matter of time. It could be mamish, a matter of life and death. And by YOU BEING THE FIRST RESPONDER, you saved the day. You saved the person. You saved the life. You're in a position that you COULD BE THE FIRST RESPONDER. And these words ring forever. And it's a call to all of us in everything that we see or notice where there's a situation where you could bring benefit. So you have to remember for this reason you were put into this position that you sought cuz you're meant to be the one that's going to save the day. And the Reb in this this is taken from a built from look over there there's a couple of pages in the built mug where the Reb immediately translates it to and this is what I meant when I said before that this is in a way an an aspect of Labavich activism and the whole idea is that we have to be the ones because it's a matter of life and death and our there are many fellow Jews that are drowning drowning in the anxiety drowning in tension drowning in situations of spiritual death god forbid we are the first responders all over the world and we're we're living with this idea of we can't stand by and watch the way this person is becoming alien alienated and disconnected and further and further away from his heritage, away from his true soul. And there's many levels as we're speaking about today. There's one level where every Jew is connected. So if he's disconnected, there's a disconnect in me. Number one. Number two, by the way, in this verse that says that the salvation will come from somewhere else, but you will perish. And then There's two messages here. One message is the fact that you were shown this thing. You're in this position. You're in this unique position. Like for example, you're the only one that has context that no one else has. You're the only one has a connection to certain Jews that no one else has. Because you have unique connections, you have to connect with those connections and bring them spiritual benefit, a matter of life and death. So that's number one. But the other message is another idea which is you're not doing anyone a favor. Hashem will find another way. The question is will you have the merit for your benefit to be the one that does the right thing? That's another emphasis from this p. And there's a famous story this past Sunday was birthday the fault of and actually there's a famous story it starts with a it's brought down in the writings of freed that it was a certain situation that the the fifth told the when he was younger to do some kind of mission and he came back and he told his father I took care of it I did them a favor etc and then the rever said you didn't do them a favor you did yourself a favor and then he told him the rebab told him a story that I'm with his father and it was it was tough I think the English year might be 1840 and there was a lot of anti-semitism ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra raging in the country and the rebab went to Petersburg and he met with with very you know um enlightened secular so to speak Jews wealthy and he told them that he'd like to make a delegation with he will go with them to some high um officials, ministers and discuss anti-semitism, what they could do about it. So one of the wealthy people who was like secular, non-observant, he stood up and he said, "Yum, what do you think? You think we're some uh with blocks were blocks of wood to be played like pawns in a chess game?" In other words, he felt that generally speaking, the Reb did not really discuss matters with these wealthy secular Jews, etc., etc. The Reb is a Reb. He lives in Labavich in a village. He's involved with his. He's involved with the world on his level. he's not, you know, reckoning with them in questions of leadership and guidance to the Jewish nation. So, they knew that that that the the the rabbis, so to speak, don't really consider their opinion, the perspectives of secular Jews concerning Judaism, of course. So, therefore, this wealthy secular person said, "Oh, now you're coming to us because you want to make a delegation to go speak to ministers. So I'm not the one to explain the Marash's methods and tactics, but yes, maybe if he wanted to make a delegation, he wanted to bring um a sample, so to speak, delegation which represents the the the large community, all Jews, not only religious Jews, just that all the Jews have an issue with anti-semitism. So that's why I imagine he wanted to engage also those that were from different um groups, different uh factors, different elements of the Jewish population. But this person was offended. He's offended now you come to us generally have nothing to do with us. So the man answered him. This is what told the freed a story that happened with the freed's grandfather that he answered them with this which was he told them the verse from the he said if you will stand up now and take a position and voice your opposition and displeasure and dissatisfaction with the situation of the anti-semitism against the Jews, then it'll be good for you. And if not, salvation, Hashem will find another way. Hashem always saves the Jewish people sooner or later. But the question is if you will have a merit to be part of it. And if not, I'm not sure. Don't put me on record but I think that ended if not which mean doesn't necessarily means physically even though sometimes it means physically because once you have the governments to start with anti-semitism they don't distinguish between the observant Jew and the non-observant Jew they kill Jews but definitely it means spiritually the more the person becomes alienated he becomes cut off spiritually on very many levels from his roots from who he truly is so again this teaches us and there's two aspects to it right from this p number one take a stand because you saw it that means you could do it that's the reb's emphasis and number two it's for your benefit because if God showed you this that means you're meant to do it and by doing this you'll bring yourself benefit and blessings to no Okay, one general point that still has to be said. I'm not going to elaborate now because it's a whole different subject I mentioned in the beginning of the sh today over here just it's another example. I find this a fascinating subject to talk about ethics and morality, communal obligations, charity, social justice. It's just a fascinating subject to think about what the definition of good is without the Torah and what the definition of good is with the Tory. People have no idea those that don't study to about our view and our perspectives. Like for example, I'm just going from one thing to the next, but really there's no time now. Like for example, let's say the people right now on the social medias are talking about how Judaism inherently in a certain sense is is is racist racist and for the rest of society cuz since we're chosen we look down at everybody else. And I feel like telling my friend, no matter how much you respect your people, Gentiles, we respect them more. And I'll tell you simply, mathematically, scientifically, you know why? Because I'm asking you a simple question. Do you believe that that person has a spark of God in him? No. So then your respect is limited. But if as a Jew the Tory says that Adam was created, he was created in the image of God. My friend, I respect every human being to no end because we're meant to because we SEE THE SPARK OF GOD IN EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING. And therefore, in a certain sense, by respecting the human being, you're respecting God. Yes, Jews have a different mission for whatever reason, but it doesn't take away by one about how we look at the rest of society. We don't look down at the rest of society. God forbid on the contrary. And not only on the contrary, we look at them more than you. Now the same thing is very important. Let's say we talk about a definition of good. If you go over to the average person and you say what is good? So most people when they say what do you believe in? Similar to what it says what you don't like don't to done to you don't do to another person or they're going to say the famous words live and let live. So according to Judaism, that's good. That's not good at all. You could be the most horrible, disgusting, evil, cruel person if you live by live and let live proof positive this. And this brings us to a famous concept. I don't know if I spoke about it before, but you can look it up. There's something in the world called bystander syndrome, I think it's called. It's based on a story that happened in the mid60s. Someone was murdered in New York City in front of apartment building and the person was crying for help and the people just peeked out of their windshield and they ignored the cries and the screams. I don't even know if they called the police. And there's a concept. It's called bystand bystander syndrome. People look at some a dangerous situation or they think it's dangerous, they they they they won't get involved. And here we see the view is if you don't, you're evil. You just transgressed a disa. And this is for example, let's go back to the definition of good. Good doesn't mean live and let live. Good means do good. You have to be an active dog gooder to be considered good. And that is the the definition of good. And this is an old of where it talks about different different mitzvah. It's about being a do good or do good. You have to do good to be considered good. It's a very especially important this year. saying the capital begin to understand what means good look in the mirror are you a good person if you're a person that's looking to do good then you're a good person as to bring about the ultimate example what it says about he's considered the ultimate example the sterling example the prime example the ultimate example the absolute example of kindness and what's the story he had a circumcision And he was in pain in the worst day of this post surgery so to speak of his circumcision and Hashem had mercy on him to send him angels to be guest so he could activate his do good or trait i.e. he was in more pain by the fact that he didn't have guests than the pain OF A SURGERY. HASHEM HAD MERCY on him and sent him yes. So he should be able to feel good, alleviate the pain that he wasn't able to activate his kindness. So what does it mean good? Number one, do good. And then this. That's who you are. You wake up in the morning. You're thinking, how could I do a favor? You're seeking out to help others. My mother used to say best from the always be from the givers instead of the takers. You're a person who you feel that this is your sense of a mission to bring benefit to others. At the very least don't stand by. That's exactly bystander. Don't be a bystander. And to what degree we learn out from this rashy? By the way, there's a joke that I just thought of right now. It's a famous joke. I don't know if I ever said it before, so I'll say it now quickly. There was once a Jew that was driving down Highway 66 and he sees a car on the side of the road that the front is open, steam is coming out of it, and there's a guy over there standing by his car and he's wearing the yamaka. So, the Jew stops his car, he goes over to the other car. Um, when he goes over to the other car, he ask him what's the problem and this and that and he helps the person. But while he's helping that other person, he notices that he's wearing a cross. So, first he's silent for a second. But but but but after he helps them, he asked him, "Can I ask you a question? It's very odd. You're wearing a cross and and and you're and you're carrying a yamaka." So the guy goes, "Oh, you mean this covering on my head? My mother always told me that if I'm ever I should always carry this on me having my glove compartment that in case I ever get stuck in the highway, I should put it on my head and it's guaranteed that somebody will stop and help me. It's a way to take a joke because it also brings out the truth about who we are. We're ready to always help. Go out of your way. So help we should live with this in the bring healing. bring be a healer, be a benefactory, a benefactor, be a good influencer like it says. And if we do our thing and constantly our do goodters, then will do the same thing to bring us the ultimate. Take it from