Thought for the Week Korach & Gimmel Tammuz The Heart of the People, Rabbi Yaakov Winner - 5786

Hello, how are you? I hope everyone is I hope everyone is healthy, strong and happy physically and spiritually. Today is par today. Yesterday was the 32 years since the Reb had his. So we have to learn lessons from all of these things. the para and giml tambos etc. The hour is very very late and I'm not going to do justice and I hope you forgive me. Before we start as usual we'll give charity should come now. Then we'll say a prayer which is going to be related to what we're going to speak about today which is going to be about respect and I'm sure we spoken about this in the past because I believe it's something which has to be discussed and the more it's discussed the better it is. It's very interesting and I never looked into it how there are two blessings that come one after the other and that's the of asking Hashem your mercy should be aroused upon the righteous upon the pious upon the elders of your people the house of Israel and then it finishes off Hashem is blessed. The support and security of the righteous which would include how the righteous also have the power that they give us security. It comes from Hashem but it's a security that he takes care of the righteous of theim but also that theim are the protection. Right after the that we asking Hashem to have mercy on the righteous on the comes the return in mercy to Jerusalem to your city and dwell in it as promised and then we finishe you should rebuild. And obviously what's the main thing we're looking forward to in the bdashi the third mikdash. So it's very interesting that these two blessings the blessing concerning and the blessing concerning are the two blessings that are right next to each other. What is the connection? And that's what we're going to speak about today. the connection between and two mitzvah that are in this week's par about the B mdish and one of those two mitzvah after the story of Kak's rebellion and mutiny against Mosa and Aaron where he was from Ley but he also wanted to be a and the battle the the division the rebellion was with a misunderstanding of the breaking down of boundaries and borders. Each one has their role. There's a there's an a and there's and each one has to do their job. That's the bottom line. Following that, there's this there's how the Torah lifts up the and speaks how they're special, speaks about are special, speaks about the specific roles. Part of that comes that there's a mitzvah which is connected to and part of that mitzvah is outlining their duties but also how they're different than others. So for example there's two mitz from this one is called which that's in where it says So the told bring close to yourselves the brothers from the tribe of Ley. They're your assistants. And before the tent of testament what they have to do there later a couple of later we have the said the negative part of this commandment a negative commandment which is do not cancel the guarding of the mikto. The says you should be responsible for guarding the so there will not be any more divine anger towards because everyone will know exactly their role and Rashi makes it clear the one part of this mitzvah and what I'm gonna say is that the genesis of this talk without even saying anything major here is coming from the volume 14. There's a about the subject where he gets into two aspects of the mitzvah. One is what Rashi says over here straight away and he says over here in Alf he actually says that those words how you should carry the burden and he says over here Rashi says Which meaning to say that the commandment to guard the BD means that a layman or an impure person not a co or a ley cannot do those services. So it's off grounds to be able to get involved in aesh for regular or somebody who's rashi comes out from rashi over here that this mitzah of guarding what is the mitzah of guarding to prevent people that are impure to be able to do anything which is connected to they're not going to enter the bd and they're not going to do things that are connected to the service that the were supposed to That is what Rashi says. But the Rambam and the brings it down. And I'm going to read you the words from the mitzvah of mikd. So the ra the brings down obviously that what's going on over here is that it's about honoring, exalting, and beautifying the bas mikdash. Not because of any fear of something that's gonna happen, you know, like you have security and you have guardman, you have watchmen. So it's not because of fear like today everyone's very security conscious. No, it's not because of fear of an enemy. So we're taking out a negative component, but it's more just about emphasizing the positive. And this is the famous words that I wanted to mention before the Rambam is done also. And it's brought it shows in a greatness on the base of MD that it has guards. You can't compare a palace that has that has guards to a palace that doesn't have guards. So in other words, it's part of the whole ambience. It's part of the whole atmosphere. A person who walks in to the bish the idea and the persons who should get impacted by the the the whole environment the whole experience connected to that is this concept that it's a guarded place like like where there's a king in his palace and part of the glory and the grandeur is the idea of the royal guard that they're protecting what's a super precious not because they're scared someone is going to attack but because of the worthiness that this is so this is so precious that it warrants that it should be something which focus on this we look at this we celebrate this this is the most important thing so it comes out that there's two aspects to this md one is connected to a negative thing true not not not an attack security physically but still security spiritually meaning to say it shouldn't become impure that's one part of the mitzvah and therefore they have to prevent people that are not connected to the of the mdash to stay out clearly according to rashi but then there's another whole dimension to the mikdash I'm paraphrasing over here which is not about dealing with something negative but just accentuating the positive which is infinite. It's a whole different thing. We're dealing with something which is unparalleled of a different realm of a different dimension divinity itself. Now the reb that goes on it's a long and it's a very deep and he explains the differences in whether we look at the idea of the of the migdash the first way or if it's the second way and therefore if it's something which is a detail about like in the ga of the to bring out the point how like they're special because they have to prevent others that are not like them to go into the mikdash or it's not about the ga at all about it's about the idea what is the bdash it's about the house and because the house is special therefore there's also that are there see there at length now this got me thinking about respect about sadik on many many levels let's first start with a hashem In general, this talks that there could be two um motives, two uh motivations that cause a person to serve the it goes. One is the idea we say we're running away from fire. It's a matter of life and death. And you can imagine someone's running away from a fire. That's one level. It's very very powerful and it'll definitely have an effect on the person and it'll be very effective. But that's not really the higher level. The higher level is you're running to life. You're running to oxygen. You're running to the most precious of precious. So you can't compare the two levels. One is something which is connected to negativism or one is connected to something which is only positive like the famous story that theb told when he told theb you drag me out from the you dragged me out and the rebb told him I didn't drag you out but you elevated you I exalted you so it's the same thing over here whatever you want to talk about let's talk about our the person himself. You are a sanctuary. And what does that mean that you are a sanctuary? There's a part of you. You have to guard, keep it precious. It shouldn't become contaminated. It shouldn't become breached out of defenses. And if it's because you have to keep it safe, a safe space, start with that. That it should be a safe space. Just like imagine when we were going through co it was a crazy how the world was going around how distance you have one person to be from the other and how there were carriers and etc etc and we're thinking to ourselves could you imagine if these things existed when it came to a spiritual threat which you could argue the spiritual threat is much worse than a physical threat especially today for example with the talks about mental health or physical health and the damages of mental health that are so deep deep deep. So first of all we have a commandment. I am the mikdash. get my coin and my ley which could be my inner inner levels of my soul some sen consciousness and a ley consciousness to be on guard on one level protection protection that there shouldn't be damage impurity but what's more important cultivate a higher sense of beauty a higher sense of wonder sense of curiosity. Don't be so curious if the next one or the nicks didn't win. Be curious of why was about this and this this and this and so on and so forth. Fill your brain space with much much more loftier concepts with the himself. That's what it means to be in a B mikdash. We are in something which is beyond beyond the world. Totally beyond the world. And we're cherishing. We're savoring it. We're loving it every single second. As the writes, what the mitzah of the B mikdash is, every single aspect of the bd was designed in such a way that should it foster when the personal comes in there, it should foster a feeling of awe and reverence and respect. So the same thing we have to look at now is we have to work on those two dimensions of the idea of guarding the aspect of guard of guarding turning away from bad trying to make sure something is a safe space let it let it you know check it vet it on that level but more importantly it should be the idea of adding wonder and awe and reverence for what taka is warranted or on reverence the mater that idea. So that's on a personal level. Then there's in general just to talk like to make it on a social level which I think it's very important for communities to hear that it's very important. What does it mean that we have an example and I love this example and we've spoken about it many times and that's the guards of the Buckingham Palace. And what does it mean reverence? What's an example to explain reverence to something which is higher than you? And this is also by the way spoken about the rebba when he was in the presence of the fugba. When we talk about reverence and guards and it's not about protection for security but it's about because we now entered a higher realm then we feel our sense of insignificance but it's because we became part of something greater. Wow. That's what it means. Like for example we spoke about this many times idea what it says. Why Shabas? Why is Shabas do according to the answer is so beautiful? Because what happens on Shabas is the worlds get elevated. What does means doing mundane things when you're in the presence of God himself? When you're the presence of the king himself, the Gmorrah says you can't be you can't make a wrong twitch. You can't you can't blink your eye. You stand there at attention with a very serious face cuz you're in the presence of something so great and you love it the fact that you're in the presence of something great. You wouldn't want to have it either way. You feel chosen to be one of the royal guard. But if you have to scratch your nose whether rich or king, can I scratch my nose? Or like inhale exhale when the soldiers are standing there and they and then go exhale. Oh, now we could actually exhale. Otherwise, there's no permission to exhale because we're standing at attention. So, what's amazing I love when you have something from this modern world which brings out something which is really a concept according to today in the year 2026 in the secular calendar. If you go to London and there's those um the the royal guards of the Buckingham Palace, this is something people love to to to go there just to taunt them, to try to mock them, but they stand there at attention and they don't laugh. They will not laugh. And why? Because they are standing in the royal space in the presence of the king. When you're standing in front of the presence of the king, you can't make a twitch. Why? Not because you're protecting the royal guard over there because some terrorists are going to come over there, some anti-semites. No, because that's the way you stand in the presence of something which is far far greater than you. And the focus is on that thing. And I become enveloped in that thing. When I'm enveloped in that thing and completely surrounded by it, there's no room for me to bring attention to myself. Who am I? I lose myself in something higher than me and THEN I BECOME PART OF THAT WHICH IS HIGHER THAN ME. So that's why Shabas can't do because we're standing mish in front of the king face to face. So we do nothing else. The focus the attention is totally on the king himself. And this is what I meant before when they say about the Reb that in the years from 1941 to 1950 people who looked at the Reb as the Rebel conducted himself in the presence of his father-in-law if they in the same room it was like the Rebel was like invisible he didn't make a sound stood at attention see them that were older than the Reb by 10 years 20 years 30 years they wrote diaries and some of them have wrote they never saw another person standing stand with such reverence in front of a Reb as they saw how our Reb stood in the presence of the previous Reb while the previous Reb was alive in this planet Earth. And what's the idea of that? That BL that's the level of guarding where there's nothing else but what we're supposed to protect. That's what it's all about. That's the focus. And I'm basking in the glory of that and the holiness of that and the infinity of that. And every second that I'm in that aura, it's really an elevation for me. But there's no room for my own espous, my own expansion. So the word is respect. Now let's like I started speaking, let's take it down on a social level. We have to try to cultivate this to a certain degree for rabbis, for teachers. It's a lesson in life. It's a lesson in education. It's a lesson. It's a reflection of a community's values. It's a reflection of the priorities and of the culture of whatever community you're at. If someone comes to the door and you have five kids running around the house and we're not judging anybody over here, but the way you should if you could bring up that your children is the door opens up and it's a rabbi, Rabbi Silverstein. He could be a regular rebi of grade five or he could be the he could be the co whoever he is. He's a spiritual person. You tell your kind the rabbi is here. I have to hear what he has to say. that's treat educating children and in um educating them inculcating them with the mitzvah that he speaks about in this parish of these two mitzvah and by the way according to many commentaries the mitzah is also connected to how we're supposed to act in shul many the commentaries bring out that the system of that there's a sham and there's a gab there's a system it's because they're looking after the shul should be the best the most beautiful, the most all inspiring. It should have glory. It should have grandeur. It should have beauty. Someone should walk inside and say this is a whole different level. This is a whole different place. But the but but the value and the virtue especially going in the words of the mention from the Rambam and the is the higher idea is the idea of always having a sense of wonder and reverence for something which is greater and to and to and to and to foster in you a yearning an aspiration for something which is higher. So that's the mitzvah in this week. Now let's talk about the sadikim and by sadikim is meant to be the same thing. There's that says a day when a sadic passes like a day the mikt was destroyed. So actually there is such as and that's the same exact thing over here. first comes to Allah and then he says because and is really the same idea a divine revelation. Now let's be more specific. This year was 32 years since Gimu's 1994. The Reb on meat was 32 years after the previous Reb passed away. And the Reb made a whole talks talking about the idea that it's 32 years. What's 32 le? What's the le? So there's what the Reb spoke then. I don't want to get into it. Maybe we'll leave it for another week. But there's also a from the Reb, I forgot which volume. It's a maybe and the Reb gets into the idea of mel and mel is called less the heart of the Jews. Leave 32 Islamic B and the Reb in 1982 spoke about how the idea of the Ni is the like a melik is the now in the when the Reb spoke about this concept he said there's two models there's two modes of leadership there's a leadership of the mind a heart s sorry a head paradigm of leadership, a mind and then there's heart more of an emotional form of leadership. These two forms of leaderships, you guessed it, is your mind and heart. Your head and your life. What is the differences? So the brings out that the mind model is more like teaching, educating, controlling. So you're higher. You're a bit aloof just like the intellect is a bit aloof. The head is like removed from the body in a certain sense. Not I mean not remove literally but and from the head from the top it directs the body and it controls and it tells the body what to do. But the heart lib the heart is um circulating the blood throughout the whole body. Pump it. So the heart is pumping. The heart is throbbing. The heart is the emotions. The heart is the vitality, the life, the excitement, the passion. That's the bottom line. So the model of heart and the Reb explains this is what it means when we say the king's heart is involved. That mode of leadership means the the heart mode of leadership is more how the king is with the people. Hands on an emotional level with warmth with involvement engagement more engagement than disengagement. The mind relationship with the people is more like the judges, the academics, the ones that write the laws, etc. But they're not with the people like the blood which is pumping and it's hot and it's circulating throughout the whole body. It's there throughout the whole body. And the Reb goes on to say that there both of the real leaders like and Msiah are going to have both both dimensions. There's a ra dimension there's a melo dimension but in that he gets into the idea talking about more how the raam actually categorizes the mel as the king is the heart of the Jews. So right now it's 32 years since gimlamos. What does it mean? We have to we have to have like guards just like the BDS had guards there's what does it mean that we have to realize like we're standing in front of the king here is the king let us become infused by the king's presence by the king's vitality the king's heart is the heart of the people I will stand next to the king and be there in a state of self-nullification where I'm totally immersed in the king and the king's vitality and energy now becomes infused in my body because that's what the heart does. The heart is the heart is pumping and pumping up all over the entire body. But only when when there's no obstruction, there's no blockage like blocked. So that's the mission and it's on two levels again. There's one level where you know whether you're not so inspired about it, whether you're not so excited about it. First you have to realize that that's the way it is. That's the reality. tells you the reality is that the the melik is your heart. So the lowest level is a that's connected that nothing impure should go on. Think about not doing something that could that could that could become a blockage to your relationship with the sadic and with and with the same idea. Be careful that your relationship since the focus is on the heart. Make sure to keep the heart safe by doing cardiovascular exercises, not by eating things that are not damaging to the heart, etc. But then what's more important? Do everything that could foster it in a major way. Learn stories about the king. Learn about the king's personality. So it's not only there that like a king affects sometimes with the king makes a decree by the order of the king by the command of the king. So that's a level because you don't want to rebel. You don't want to have mutiny. You don't have something negative and because you realize that in the end that your life does come from the king. Therefore you can't damage the passage of the life force from the king. But that's connected to something negative. Much more is running not from the fire that you shouldn't die. What's much greater is when you're running to oxygen. When you appreciate life, what is life? What is life mean? What is life about everything? And it includes the greatest of heights. That's what we're talking about. That's what the discussion is about. That's what we're aiming for. And that's the aspiration. Which means I learn about the king. I study the king's personality. I appreciate his greatness. I love talking about the king and thinking about the king's greatness. And the more I learn about the greatness and appreciate the king and I have it in my consciousness, the more of the king is pumping through my veins, the king's heart becomes like my heart and I become elevated because now I'm like a limb of the king's body. That's that that his energy and his warmth and his vitality is pumping through my veins. So that's the lessons we take for we have to connect ourselves to the sadic to the spiritual energy source of energy and realize that it's like a lathe. It's a hands-on involvement. The heart is right there in every single part of the body working causing the circulation, the pumping of the blood and giving you the passion and everything about life. So that's the connection between giml and this week's par. We spoke about the mikdash and it sic compared to the mikdash as we mentioned before. And I just want to bring out a story that I just heard this week for the first time. And I saw a video. It was a minute video, but I was so blown away from the video. An outro miracle of the Reb. There's a in Brazil and his name is Rabbi Halpern. And now there's a video for a minute and he says the following. I was on for a couple of years and we didn't have children. So after a couple years, I told my wife, you know what? Come to the point. We were told by doctors that the problem is both from both sides. I I have defaults a def a defect that I can't have children and my wife was told that she has also defects that she can't have children. So after we were told that news and we tried for many years but that was the summation the conclusion of the doctor's analysis and report diagnosis. I decided to send my wife to the rebba to tell the rebba write it down we've been for so many years and we don't have any children and the doctor said like this like this he says my wife went into a private audience from New York she travel from to New York she gave that was the custom you used to read a letter to the you write down something give it to the rebre read it gave her note to the rebar of his desk put it into the drawer and then he said please go into the office. The Reba had an office of the secretariat right next door. Mosquito going to the office of the secretariat. There's four tickets waiting for you to fly to four different cities. Boston, Yale, Harvard, I don't know where exactly fly to four different cities and it been arranged four Jewish function gathering to speak for women and the Reb didn't say a word about the request for a blessing to have children. Anyways, she went and she went and those she did what the Reb told her to do. She she gave those talks about Judaism and then the video finishes off that Alpin says after she came back from doing what the Reb told her to do 8 days later my wife became pregnant. Now the reason why I find this story so amazing is because when he was saying the story I thought originally when the Reb said go to the office there's four tickets waiting for you. I thought what the way this story would go was there's four tickets waiting for you to four cities with this four doctors that are into fertility and they know things and they have methods that are different than the other doctors and I thought that the story is going to be she went to those doctors and it worked out because there's many stories like that with the Reb that the Reb sent sometimes to a different doctor. the Rebu but a doctor who had a different approach than all the other doctors and I was thinking that that was going to be the story and that the and the beauty of the story is not only the Reb knew which doctor to go to but the Reb had paid for the tickets see how the Reb cares for every that he took the cost of though the thing which going to bring them blessings for the benefit of of of those the office was going to pay for it the movement not themselves that's what I thought the story was going to But that would have meant a miracle. That's it's connected to nature and it shows the personal touch of the Reb that the Reb knows about different doctors that no one else knows about etc. Over here it was completely n the Reb ranged in other words you need a everything comes through. The Reb is the Reb who knows exactly what you meant to do. what's you need right now at this moment the portal is open the one thing that's needed that's going to make it happen is to you from a lady from Brazil travel to these four cities give an evening talk a lecture she in kite and then you'll become pregnant what's the point of the story when we talk about the rebba and it's kimlamos and we're talking about the idea of your heart. Your heart is the source of your vitality, is the source of your energy, is the source of your any force that you have, you know, and health, spiritual health and physical health. So, make sure your heart is in order as much as possible and from that everything else will flow. The spiritual health will be strong and then all the physical blessings will also come. Kachabas, Kachabas, Kachabas. Posting from my home, your man in Melbourne.