Tzav - The Bells In Our Heart

[Music] there was once a simple farmer who lived in a small village he always dreamed of visiting the big city but being a simple farmer never had a penny to his name he had no way to get there one day he found a gold coin laying in the street he picked it up and ran straight to the train station and bought himself a ticket on the next train to the big city the first night in the city he was awoken by the sound of a loud bell ringing curious he climbs out of bed and followed the sound until it led him to a tall Bell Tower intrigued he climbed the tower and found a bell ringer the simpleton turned to the man and asked him what's the point of this Bell we ring this Bell the man responded whenever there's a f fire it saves our town from burning to the ground wow the farmer thought to himself that's exactly what my town needs so he runs back home and excitedly tells his neighbors and friends about the cuttingedge firefighting device that he had discovered in the big city he turned to them and he said you know how every time there's a fire in our town it burns down the entire Village well fear no more my friends for I have discovered the solution simply build a tower install a bell and every time a fire breaks out just ring that Bell I assure you my fellow friends no fire will will burn this town again so a few days later a fire broke out and the simpleton climbed up the tower with Glee he enthusiastically rang the bell yet the fire raged on he rang it and ring it yet yet the fire kept on burning he kept on ringing until the village went up and smoked and the fire had nothing left to burn shocked and confused he raced back to the big city went back to the bell ringer and demanded an explanation the difference between the two of us the bell ringer told him is that when we ring the bell we use it as a battlecry to awaken the town and everyone goes running to the river to fetch water to put out the fire when you ring the bell you merely ring it hoping the Bell itself will Manch Ally put out the fire we put our faith in teamwork while you put your faith in that shiny little loud Bell we says the dub Magid often make the same mistake we put our trust in the external tools of Yiddish guite of Judaism hoping that they will magically win our battles for us while we neglect the internal work those tools require in order to function you can can clap Al says the from today until tomorrow but thinking that striking one's chest is in it of itself the cause of hashem's forgiveness is foolish we speed through SOS thinking that merely uttering the words will appease Hashem we light the Mana and jump into the Mikvah and kiss the mza and wave our cup paros and run off to the rest of the day naively satisfied that we rang the bell when the Tyra discusses carbonos sacrifices in this week's para it's easy to look at it the same way one big miracle bell ringing we bring an animal Slaughter it wave some of the body parts burn it and voila we've achieved atonement we put a quarter into the gumball machine and out comes kapara this says the could not be further from the truth a carbon much like most mitzvos is an external motion that Hashem instructed us to go through in order to arouse our pineus our inner soul we take an animal and right before we Slaughter it we must pause and think to ourselves this animal should be me as we pick up its bloody parts and oozing fat we are to vividly imagine it is our flesh and our blood the carbon is there to inspire change to ignite a renewed passion pass and reverence it is not a miraculous Bell the purpose of saying SOS and clapping Al and waving kaparos isn't to complete a checklist of prer rashash requirements it is to arouse our sleeping soul to chuva it is to jolt us into action we kiss a safer to a safer that fell on the floor not because the safer needs love it is an action that arouses with in US heighten affection for the Tyra that moments ago lay degrading on the floor when we kiss the mizza or a safer Torah or Le Mana or DAV Marv or do practically any of the 613 mitsos we are not merely pushing buttons that ensure that Hashem doesn't get upset at us we are going through the actions that bring our souls ever closer to its creator in heaven ever wonder why Jews Shuckle why is it that when you walk into almost any sh in the entire world you are met with a sea of swaying shuckling people why is that is it a way of us combating ADHD during a very long ding is it because the majority of us have way too much caffeine going through our veins the answer is that in Mish B Zion it describes the Nish as a n hasem our souls are hashem's candles just as candles flicker and dance so do we when we learn and Davin we Shuckle it is our bodies aligning with our soul it is the flame inside of us dancing ever higher this para mentions that in the bikash there was always a fire burning in fact it was one of the Miracles that took place in the B mikdash constantly the fire remained flame even amidst a downpour of rain no amount of rain could put it out so there are those that ask why did Hashem choose to create a miracle that the rain would not put out the fire and then simply create a miracle that the rain would avoid the bis mikush altogether why didn't Hashem just arrange that every time it rained over yam directly on top of the base of Mikus would be a beautiful sunny cloudless bay soim z the alter from kelm answers that represents Bounty it represents blessing and BR it is telling us that even when life is great and one is firing on all cylinders and he's checking all the boxes and one's life is filled with BR what hasem craves the most is one's Nish he wants that fire one could be at every Minion saying all the words one could be doing every Mitzvah with Precision Hashem wants the fire he wants the fire in the Rain the Masters sum up this idea the best much like each and every Jew has a body and a soul so do every Mitzvah has a body and a soul to take care of the body is something but to take care of the soul is a completely different level it is the real level will we live our lives endlessly ringing bells or we or will we ring the bell to awaken our namos and serve Hashem with a flickering dancing soul on fire [Music]