Why Moshe Felt Responsible for the Epidemic that Claimed 24,000

Open up your source sheets because this is going to be a text a text a textbased class today in baser hashem next class which is Thursday morning we're going to be learning a sika a talk a shir that was presented by the labav on shabas parish pinas to shin ladal that's summer of 1974 Before the Reb, the labreb brilliantly, brilliantly dissects and analyzes a rashi in paras. At the surface, we all read through the rashi. It's a nice rashi. Seems like a simple rashi. But when you begin to analyze on a granular level every word of rashi, the phrasiology of rashi, the choice of words of rashi, a new world emerges. It also develops into a discussion on intermarriage and our relationship to intermarriage. a paradoxical approach which addresses two opposite points about intermarriage especially in our generation as we will see in this talk of the labba which is published in the sikis volume 18 paras and being studied this week in project so let's begin but before I get into the sika in order to be able for you to appreciate it so let's we have to have context Next. So, if you open up your source sheet, there's a source sheet here with a few sukim and rashis that we're going to learn and then we're going to get into the sikh. If you didn't open your source sheet yet, if you go to zoom, you can go to the chat and you could click on the link there. You can go to the yeshiva.net ty hiva.net. And over there, you'll see the Monday class, the wolf and the shepherd. It has the source sheets above the video. of view source sheets are below the video download. You can also open volume 18 or you can go to project they have it as well their website let's remember context source number one olive base context context what happened at the end of paras we learned that after that whole story where bam is summoned to curse the Jewish people and he Essentially, he ends up blessing the Jewish people and his curses are transformed in some of the most poetic and eloquent blessings about the Jewish people. The nation of Israel begins surrendering to albino. The nation begins surrendering to promiscuity with the daughters with the women of Midian. And they ultimately follow their gods. They engage in the idolatry known as p And this is a a mass event meaning it consumes not just a few Jews but as we will see tens and tens of thousands of Jews who are lured in to the trap of promiscuity of adultery and of idolatry. Particularly there is a Jewish leader his name is Zim Zimri and he has public relations with a Midionite princess called Kazby Pinas kills them both. There's a massive plague that breaks out among the people. The plague consumes the pandemic consumes 24,000 Jews. In Pinas we learn about the portion of we learn about Pinas being rewarded becoming a khen a priest after the story and then the continues and I quote source one. It happens after the plague after the pandemic. God tells Moshe and Ela remember Aaron already passed away. So the successor for Aaron was Alazer, the high priest. And he tells them, it's time to count the Jewish people. I want to count everyone who's suitable to go out into the army. This means everyone from 20 and older after the plague. This happens after the plague. And that's what happens. The next section is Mosha and Elazar conduct the senses of the Jewish people says Rashi source number two. A listen to the words of Rashi. This is the key. If you want to understand this, I'm going to give you a metaphor. There was a shepherd The wolves killed some of the flock. Laid dominion on Assaurus. So the shepherd counts the flock to ascertain the number of those that remained and survived. Rashi is explaining why the count. There was a flock, many sheep, many goats, many cattle. the wolves, the a pack of wolves infiltrated and killed some of them. And the shepherd counts those that remained. And of course, Rashid doesn't have to explain what his point is. There was a pack of wolves that came into the Jewish people called the flock and killed many of them. There was a pandemic. There was a plague that comes from the wolves. And the shepherd, the one who's responsible, the one who takes care of the sheep, of course, counts those that remain. So God tells him, "Count them." There's another interpretation. When they left Egypt 40 years earlier, when they left Egypt and they were entrusted to Mosha, they were given to him with a reckoning after they left Egypt, there was a count, a census. Now that Mosher Rabenu is nearing death in Paris Pinas, God is going to tell him that he's going to pass away and he ordains Joshua Yeshua as a successor. So now he's returning the sheep. He returns them also with a reckoning. You got them with a reckoning. You got them with a senses. You give them back with a census. This is the rashi and paras that the labb is going to take apart dissect and teach us in this shir that we're going to learn today. Now in order to get context, let's see one more thing. Source number three. This is the first rashi in Safa Bidbar. The opening of Bameidbar happens. The opening of Amida. God tells M to count the Jewish people on the first day of the month of one month after the sanctuary was constructed. This is of course a year after the Exodus of Egypt. But it doesn't say why. So Rashi says Because the Jews are precious. They're loved by God. He's always counting them. You know, when you have something very valuable, you're always counting it. Make sure it's safe. It's intact. Because he loves the Jewish people. He's always counting them. So when they went out of Egypt, there's a count. He counts them. when they fell because of the sin of the golden calf. He counts them again. He wants to know the number of those who survived. That's a second count. Now when he comes to bring his he wants to dwell his presence among the Jewish people counts them again. And therefore so on the first day of Niss the sanctuary was erected and one month later the first day of year he counts them again. This is how Rashi explains the beginning of Bidbar. Why there is frequent counting of the Jewish people in Kish? They left Egypt just a few months later after the sin of the golden calf. There's counting again. Just a few months later after they put up the Mishka, there's a third count. What do you need all these counts for? When you love something, you don't stop counting it. We're going to learn one more rashi and then we're going to start source number five. This is Rashi. Exodus 30 source number five. Remember in that story in Paris Kisa, God tells Mosha to take a half a shekele from every Jew who's suitable to go into the army and to use that half shekele for the work of the construction of the Mishk of the tabernacle of the sanctuary. And this was a way to count the Jews. He didn't want him to count the Jews through counting their bodies but through counting the half shekels. So Rashi says from here we learn from here we can deduce that Mosha and Aaron were commanded to take a reckoning a senses of the Jewish people when they began to contribute the money to build a sanctuary after the story of the golden calf. Story of the golden calf happened of course on the 17th of Thomas. That's why we fasted yesterday. That's the day that the lus were broken. One day after they created the golden calf and then as Rashi explains Yim Kipper a few months later Mosha came down with the second tablets. The Jews were atoned and he told them to build the Mishkan to donate money for the sanctuary and to build it. And six months later it went up on the first day of Nissan. But we see from here that when they begin to contribute money, they begin to have there's a count of the Jewish people after the golden calf. Why? Because there was a pandemic, there was a plague says that after they created the golden calf, God caused a plague to afflict the nation and many died. Marshall, I'm going to give you a metaphor. A parable is there was a flock that was very dear to the one who owned it and a plague, a pandemic came and affected the flock. As soon as the pandemic seized, the owner of the flock told the shepherd, I beg of you, please count my sheep. So we could know how many are left after the pandemic. He did this to show that the flock was so dear to him. So rashi say after they made a golden calf and there was a pandemic God wants to count them just like if there was a flock of sheep and other cattle other animals and a pandemic came and destroyed many of them killed many of them. So the owner who loves them so much tells the shepherd please do me a favor count them. I want to know how many are left. Now if you heard everything we learned now cuz we learned a few rashies. I hope in your mind you're already developing some questions. What is going on here? When you think and you realize that every word in Nashi is particular you should already be thinking certain questions. I hope we have learned enough time that you think that way. The first big question of course is Rashi here gives a metaphor and Rashi and Paris Kisa gives a metaphor but the metaphors are very different but let's see okay so let's now begin the actual it's in Yiddish I'll translate if anybody has questions feel free to ask and let's begin the journey um the first section the first chapter you're going to understand very well because we already learned the sources inside. So this is volume 18. If you go to your source sheets, you go to your source sheets, scroll down, you see the first source sheets are just different rashies quot being quoted. And then you scroll down and you come to page 326 326. It says, and we begin alchea.net at t h e s h iiva.ne ne the you'll see the class on the top it's called the shepherd and the wolf and on top of the video view source sheets or below the video you can download source sheets and print them out you may want to print them out or at least download them on your computer so for the next class Thursday morning you'll be able to have them ready and I also hope you'll be able to review this on your own in the interim in between the classes and on chabas al is [Music] on the words in the this week and it happens after the plague. Rashi adds the word etc. The reason he adds etc is because he wants to tell you that I'm not just explaining those three words but also what happens after those three words etc. What happens? Hashem tells to count the Jewish people and explains as we just learned and laid the minion on the metaphor of a shepherd where wolves infiltrated the flock and they killed some of the sheep. So the shepherd counts them to know the survivors, the number of the survivors. Now what is bothering rash? Why does he have to give this metaphor? So the way you learn it literally and indeed there are commentators of Rashi that explain it this way as he brings in footnote too. to dominion is which means when you read the it says and it happened after the plague that God told Misha and Elaza to count the Jewish people from the language. It's obvious that the is not just telling you the sequence of events chronologically. First there was a plague and then afterwards he told them to count the Jewish people because it says and it happened after the plague that he told them to count the Jewish people. It sounds like that it's because of the plague. It didn't just happen after the plague. It happened as a result of the plague. In the aftermath of the plague, he wanted them to count the Jewish people. And the question is, what's the connection between the two? There was a terrible plague. 24,000 Jews were killed. Okay. So, why do we have to count them? So, Rashi gives us a metaphor. It's like a shepherd and the wolves came in. They infiltrated and they killed many of the sheep. So, now the shepherd wants to count what's left after so many Jews lives were lost and taken. We want to count the rest. That's what it seems. Rashi is coming to explain to us what's the connection between the mafa and the count as he says in two star footnote tu with a star you could say even more than this rashi is bothered why does it saya and it happened after the pandemic it could have just said and god told ma to count the Jewish people now the fact that the terra wants us to know that it happens after the pandemic it could have just said the pandemic tell the story of pinas and the whole story of the plague and then afterwards continue the next parish count the Jewish people and we would already understand that they happened in sequence because usually we consider when one story is written after another story that they happen in that chronological order unless it's clearly that unless it's explicitly stated that it's not in chronological order but usually we assume it's a chronological order. So why does the to even have to say even if it wants us to know the chronological order, we would have understood that it happened afterwards because it's written right afterwards. The fact that the has to say explicitly it happened after the plague means the wants us to know that this happened because of the plague. This is connected to the plague. So it actually explains what the connection is. But if this is what's bothering him, why now? There's something offer because this count is not really something that's new and astounding that needs an explanation. Oh, You're telling me that we don't understand why after the plague God wants account. So Rashi gives us this whole metaphor. But one second, he already explained the beginning of a midbar. God loves the Jewish people and therefore whenever there's any alteration in their state, whenever something happens, positive or negative, he's counting them. They leave Egypt, he counts them. They die after the sin of the golden calf, he counts them. He builds the Mishk, he counts them. In other words, whenever there's a change in their status, he's counting them. Rashi said that before when they fell in the golden calf, he counted them in order to know the survivors. So, it's clear here too. Why do you have to explain it again? There was a there was a plague. In other words, there was a major change in their status. Many Jews died just like by the sin of the golden calf. So, therefore, afterwards, Hashem says to count them. as even if you say Rashi thinks that you may not remember what he wrote a few portions ago in the beginning of Bidbar fine we already went frombar to pin it's been a while it's been a few weeks so you don't remember what he wrote over there so he needs to remind the student why we're being counted again he could have just said three words lay dominion on isam God told Mosha to count the Jewish people in order to ascertain the number of survivors. Why does he want to ascertain the number of survivors? And this will already jog your memory to remember because he cares about you. And he it's very every life is precious. And when a life is lost, it's precious. And when there's lives that are remaining, they're very precious. And he wants to know how many Jewish lives there are. as he said in the beginning of Midbar. But here suddenly Rashi goes into this whole long explanation with a metaphor with a shepherd and wolves and flock seems unnecessary. So what does this tell us that Rashi was not bothered by this question? If this was the question that was bothering him, why is there a census? Now this he already answered beautifully in the beginning of a midbar. And if he wants to remind us what he answered then he could do it very briefly. Something else is bothering Rashi. Whenever you give a metaphor, a parable, an allegory, it's for one reason, in order to explain to the people that which may be otherwise difficult to grasp. So I want to convey an idea. It's difficult for you to grasp the idea. So I convey it through metaphor and allegory and this helps you grasp the idea. Whenever our sages or rash give us a mushel, it's because there's something that's difficult to wrap our brains around. So they give us metaphors. What's the metaphor here trying to explain that Mishenu cared about the Jewish people and when so many Jews were lost in a plague he wanted to know how many were left. So Rashi has to give us this whole metaphor that there was a shepherd who had flock and a pack of wolves infiltrated one night and they started to kill the flock and the shepherd now wants to know how many survived. So he takes a count. Wonderful metaphor. But the Reb says, "What's why do we need the metaphor? Why can't Rashi just get straight to the point? The point itself is self understood. Mosher Rabenu was a Jewish leader. He was the shepherd of the Jewish people. It's very clear by now that for 40 years he's been leading them. He has been sacrificing himself, putting out his neck for his flock time and time and time again. He has led them through thick and thin, through difficult and tranquil times. Now it's 40 years later and there's a terrible pandemic. So he could say Moshe the shepherd of the Jewish people cares about the flock and he wants to know how many survived. But Rashi gives a metaphor. This means that there's something that is not understood in the story without the illustration of the metaphor. I need a parable base. Here comes a serious question. This you should be asking yourself. Is the metaphor really the right match for the story? What happens in the metaphor? Who counts the flock, the shepherd? Who is the shepherd here in the story? Mohereno counted base. One second. Something is off here in the metaphor. What did they actually say in the metaphor? The wolves infiltrated the sheep. They killed them. The shepherd counts them to know how many survived. But one second. In our story, that's not what happens. It's not that Mosha himself wants to know how many survived and therefore he counts them. It's God who is not the shepherd. He is the owner of the sheep. He is the master. He is the owner of the flock. He is the one who arranges the reckoning, the senses. It's not like in the metaphor where the shepherd does it on his own. Now, if you want to squeeze it a little bit, you can say God is telling Mosha to conduct a census because he knows that it's important to Mosha. He's telling Mosha, "Go take a census. I know how much it's important to you." Just as in the metaphor, the shepherd wants to know the number. So, God is just telling Mosha to do something for himself. But one second, Rashi could have just changed the metaphor a little bit and instead of saying that the shepherd does the count, he could have said the owner of the flock does the count and then it would match perfectly with the story where Hashem, not Moshe, is the one who commands and instructs to do the count. Furthermore, wow. If you look at the source of Rash, if you go to Medish and you go to Medishbar, as he brings in the footnotes five and six, the exact source, they bring the same metaphor, but not about a shepherd, about the owner of the flock. They say that there was a wolf that fell into the flock and the owner when he saw there's a death toll, he felt that he has to count them. And that would work perfectly with the story. The owner, Hashem, is the one who arranges the senses comes Rashi and he changes the mushall. He changes the metaphor and instead of talking about the owner of the flock, he talks about the shepherd, which actually is a mismatch with the story because the story is about God doing God commanding the count, not the shepherd commanding the count. What is even more astounding is [Music] Wow. Do you remember the rashi we learned in the beginning of this class in Paris? Rashi explains over there why Hashem wanted to count the Jews after the pandemic that occurs in the aftermath of the golden calf. So Rashi says in parishes he gives us another allegory another parable that there was flock there were sheep cherished by their owner and there was a pandemic. So the owner tells the shepherd please I beg you count my sheep so I know how many survived. So over there, Rashi indeed gives us a metaphor about the owner of the flock conducting the reckoning and the senses which matches perfectly with the story where Hashem the owner is the one commanding Moshe to do the count. But here in Paris, Rashi chooses to change that metaphor slightly. This is what I meant to you. I was hoping you would ask this question on your own. When you read two rashes very similar in theme in both rashies in paris and paras he gives a metaphor of sheep being killed but over there it's the owner who wants to know the numbers that remained and in pinnus it's the shepherd who wants to know the numbers that remained why this change especially when in both stories it's the owner it's god who wants to know how many shepherds remain Hey, once we're comparing these two rashes, we have some other changes. What happened in Paris after they sinned with the golden calf? What's the cause of death? De is a pandemic. That's the cause of death. Here in Pinus, it also says there was a mafa. There was a pandemic. Rashi says what's the cause of death? A pack of wolves. Wolves that infiltrated into the flock. Why this change? Just like the first change we spoke about over there, it actually speaks about the owner. Here he speaks about the shepherd there it's a pandemic and here it's about wolves besiv over there when he speaks about why the Jews were counted after the sin of the golden calf he starts off it's like sheep that were beloved by their owner and therefore he asked the shepherd to count them after the pandemic here he doesn't mention a word about love. He just says after the plague, Hashem wants them counted. Why? Because the shepherd wants to know how many remained over here. He doesn't mention the word love. Why giml in the midrashim is the rash is in all the midrashim which represent the source of rashi the language that's used is the wolf fell in above the flock or they came into the flock into the sign and killed them. Rashi changes the word. He says into the into the ad means into the flock into the place where the flock are. But he doesn't use the word. He says what is going on here. So when we start analyzing this rash granular we see well so the first the first wanted to know why this whole rash is even necessary in we already know this message why mosh is counting them. In the second SIF, he gets into all these questions. First of all, why we need a metaphor? If if you're giving a metaphor, you're giving me the wrong metaphor. You're giving me a metaphor of a shepherd. Here, it's not the shepherd, it's the owner. Furthermore, in Medish, it really says that it's the owner and Rashi changes that. Furthermore, in a previous Rashis, Rashi also says it was the owner and here he changes to the shepherd. And then there's another three changes. Over there, it's a pandemic. Here it's a pack of wolves. Over there, he says there was love. Here he doesn't mention the love over there. He says they came into the sheep. He just says they came into the ad to the flock. So when we analyze this rash and we compare it with another rashi we have abundant qu we have many many questions. Then Rashi gives us a second interpretation. [Music] Rashi adds a whole second interpretation why Misha counts them because he's about to die. So it's time to give back the flock with a reckoning just as he received them 40 years ago with a reckoning. He says this is a second interpretation. We understand why this is the second interpretation and not the first because this interpretation doesn't explain the sequence why it happens after the plague. Why it says which intimates that it was connected to the plague. According to this, it's not connected to the plague. It's just connected to the fact that Mosha is soon going to pass away. So I understand why Rashi feels that this is the second best interpretation. It's not the primary interpretation. Great. But the Reb says why does he even need a second interpretation? What's missing in the first interpretation that compels Rashi to bring a second interpretation? Rashi doesn't bring every possible interpretation in apostic. Rashi states many times I am here to explain the literal meaning of the sukim of the verses. If something is understood, let's move on what is per what is perplexing? What is problematic about the first interpretation that forces and compels Rashi to bring a second one even as a second one and not a primary one? dollar in them. Now we begin the explanation. The explanation is going to have various rungs, various levels as we will see. But the labavat is going to open us up to a much deeper and subtle understanding of what Rashi is teaching us. Rashi is the from what's bothering Rashi here is not just why the sequence, why a census after the plague. As we said before, that's not a problem. The answer to that is already very clear once you learned Rashi and Bidbar that God calms the Jews constantly whenever there's a change in their status. And we learned already in parasa after they fell in the golden calf, he ordered a census. So it's very clear why now after a major p plague, he orders a census. That's not a question. So we wouldn't need Rashi to give us this whole metaphor even if he wants to remind us the answer. As we said in chapter in Al if he could have done it briefly Rashi is bothered by another major question just on the words and it was after the plague and now we have to go back to the story so we'll right away understand what's bothering Rash. What's bothering Rashi? Let's remember what happens after the Jewish people are lured into the trap of the daughters the women of Mav and Midon. They engage in promiscuity and harlotry and nus they become sucked into the idolatry of what happens there's a plague there's a major plague but something else also happens as she touched this up. Wow. If you go back to the end of Bulock and you remember the story, what happens over there? It's not just there's a plague that kills 24,000 Jews. There's a whole other story that happens. There's a huge amount of Jews who public publicly with witnesses and with ample warning engaged in idolatry. A huge amount of Jews. And that's why Mosher Rabenu turns to the judges of the Jewish people at the end of Balok and he says, "I want every judge to kill his men. Those who became engaged in idolatry." What does it mean every judge kill his men? So Rashi explains there were 88,000 Jewish judges. That's what Rashi says at the end of Bulock. He quotes the Gar Sanhedrin. There were 88,000 Jewish judges. Each of them each of them judged and brought to the courts at least two. That's why it says each of you should kill his men in the plural. Here you go. Isa. So he says every judge was responsible to execute and give the death penalty to two people when it was proven with witnesses and ample word warning that there was indeed idolatry. If each judge was responsible to execute two and there were 88,000 judges is 10,000. So 8 * 10,000 is 80,000 plus 8,000 is 88,000. Each one killed two. So, how many Jews were killed by the death penalty through the courts? That's 80,000 80,000 twice because each each one 88,000 twice. So, how many are you dealing with? 80,000 plus 80,000 is 160 plus 8 and 8 is another 16. So, you're dealing with 176. 76,000 Jews according to Rashi received the death penalty for the idolatry and adultery at that point. That's what he says in Bulock. Each judge killed two and there were 88,000 judges. That's why he says here back to the back to the text, how many Jews were killed? More than 170,000. Wow. More than 170,000. If this is the case, this means that the number of Jews who died in the plague was significantly lower than the number of Jews executed by the courts. Right? How many Jews died in the plague? 24,000. How many Jews died by the hand of the courts? More than 170,000. 88,000 twice. Again, there's 88,000 judges. You understand? Each one executes two. That's 80,000 plus 80,000 160,000. So, it's 176. It's more than 170,000. Alisa is a minion for minion for Whoa. If this is the case, now there's a huge question. The says after the plague, God says, count the rest of the Jews that remained. One second. The greatest number of fatalities, the greatest loss didn't happen from the plague. That claimed 24,000. It happened from the death penalties executed by the court, which claimed more than 170,000 Jews. Which means more than seven times the number of the Jews who died in the plague. More than seven times the number of Jews who died in the plague was the number of Jews who died through the courts. More than seven times. This is 24 thou. This is 24,000 and this is 176,000. You can't compare. Mind staggeringly a mind staggeringly larger number. So when the Torah the Titan should say after the plague and after the death penalty of the judges God said count the remainders but that's the main reason you have to count the remainders. The greatest loss came not from the pandemic it came from the death penalty that was given and the ignores that says after the plague we want to know how many were left over. One second. According to the calculation, first and foremost, tell me how many were left over after the death penalty which claimed so many more lives. This is what's bothering Rashi. Something is off here. And for this, Rashi needs to give us a metaphor. He's not trying to explain to us why they were counted generally that we know why they were counted. He's trying to explain to us a specific issue here about how this count is defined by God. I want to know those who were lost in the plague. That's what you want to know. What about all those who were lost in the in the death penalty that was given by the court. Hey Ah here we will see the meticulousness the precision in the words of Rash there's a major difference between a shepherd who counts the flock to know how many survived after a loss versus the owner who ch who who wants to know how many were lost. What's the difference? for say lay the minion on. Fore Iche. Explain in a moment. Wow. Okay. Let's see. Let's see this insight. You have to tune in here. When an owner of a sheep when an owner of sheep experiences a situation where many of his flock die and he comes and he says I really want to know how many are left over. What's the point? The point is he cherishes every sheep that's alive. Every living creature that belongs to him that's part of his flag that's alive. He cherishes it. Like Rashi said earlier, the owner wants account because this is demonstrating that he cares for them, he loves them, he cherishes them. In other words, I want to know how many sheep I have. It's irrelevant if the reason of the death was because of the shepherd's negligence or because of an act of nature. That's irrelevant. It's relevant maybe if he should keep the shepherd or fire the shepherd. It's relevant for that. But in terms of the count, whatever the reason is, every sheep that's alive, I want to know what I have left. They're precious to me. I care about them. I cared about those that are gone. And now I want to know what I'm left with. So you'll tell me, "But the shepherd wasn't guilty." He was guilty. He wasn't guilty. It was an accident. It was not an accident. It was act that an act that he could have avoided, act he couldn't avoid. It's irrelevant. I'm counting because I want to know what's left because of my special affection to this flock. So I want to know who is still here in my flock. That's when the owner is doing the count. When the shepherd is doing the count, they're not his. Why is he doing the count by him? It's not so much in order to demonstrate his cure for the flock. No. It's because of his vocation. It's because of his work. It's because of his mission statement as a shepherd. His job is to ensure the safety and the security of every single member of the flock. And therefore, he has to count how many are there. So he should know exactly what his responsibility is at the moment in order to make sure that those that he still has left are secure and safe and that the same tragedy, the same accident, the same catastrophe that claimed the lives of so many flock the first time will not happen again. And therefore he needs to have a number. So the number could give him a calculation and an understanding. He needs a reckoning to know how many sheep he has to take care of. How many cattle he has to take care of? How many goats he has to take care of? Whatever the type of animal, type of mammal it is. He has to know what is going on. This is part of his responsibility. This is what I'm responsible for. This is the number. Now, I must make sure that this catastrophe doesn't happen again. If this is the case, when will this count be relevant? When he feels guilty in what he did. If he feels that there was some form of negligence, something that he the shepherd could have done to avoid the catastrophe, then he wants to take responsibility and say this is not happening again on my watch. But if something happened that it's very clear that the shepherd could have not avoided it, then there's no need for him to count the number of survivors because it's not like something was missing in his work. His work was impeccable. His work was perfect. He did whatever he can. It's not like he was lacking. He was wanting. He's not found wanting. He wasn't found negligent. Not willingly and not unwillingly. He doesn't have lessons to learn. If it was his fault, there's lessons to learn. Shepherd, you weren't doing a good job. Get your act together. Make sure this doesn't happen again. So, first and foremost, you got to know who do you have? How many sheep do you have? How large is your flock? Why do you have to know the number? So that you should get your act together. But if the shepherd knows, I did everything. I have my act together. There was nothing I could have done. Sometimes situations happen, there's nothing you could have done. You could blame yourself from today till tomorrow. A Jewish shepherd probably blames himself, but there was nothing you could have done. The owner will still count because the owner is busy. He's thinking about how many sheep I have. It's irrelevant why they died. I care about them. I want to know the number. You can't compare a living creature to money. But if you lose money, you count the money that's left over. It's irrelevant if you were guilty or not guilty. It's irrelevant if it was an accident or it was negligence. You want to know how much money you have left over. That makes sense. But for the shepherd, who's not the owner, what he wants to know is what am I supposed to do differently? Therefore, he has to know the number. If he couldn't have done anything differently then the count is not so necessary. Once we establish this point now the rashies will read in a whole new way. You see now why in the first rash he speaks about a plague and here he speaks about a pack of wolves. What's the difference? What's the difference between a pandemic and a pack of wolves that infiltrate the flock? What's the difference? for does forch. by now. Let's see. Rashi, a shepherd cannot avoid a pandemic. There's nothing he can do. A pandemic spreads to the flock. There's nothing the shepherd can do. What is he supposed to do? Sheep die. One by one. They fall because of the plague. But if a pack of wolves are approaching, of course, there's something he can do. That is his that is his function. That's why he was hired. Get your act together. Prepare a stick and drive away the wolves. Scare them off. That's why you got to be a trained shepherd to know how to deal with the wild animals. That's that's your function. So when a pack of wolves infiltrate and kill the sheep, there's guilt. There's responsibility. I have to take a pandemic. The shepherd can't take responsibility. So Rashi speaks about the owner of the sheep who arranges the senses. His love for the sheep has nothing to do with how they died. Because of the shepherd, not because of the shepherd. So when he arranges account, it's even when there's a pandemic where the shepherd was not guilty. And that's why Rashi uses over there the metaphor of the owner and the metaphor of a pandemic. And we'll soon see why over there the shepherd is not guilty. Here in paras pinas he speaks about a shepherd who does the count because wolves infiltrated who in such a case the shepherd feels I did not do my job. I have to learn my lesson. I have to really up my game. I am not a shepherd. I'm not doing my job. I now have to know what to do. And therefore he has to start all over again. take account of what's going on and make sure that he's in control. This won't happen again. Now it becomes perfectly clear why the P says is moving the so now we understand what was bothering why the count is only following the pandemic and not the execution of more than 170,000 Jews which is a much greater later number it should say after that loss and Rashi has to give a metaphor to answer this and what's the metaphor the parable of a shepherd Salem that up. Violet lay on his thin B lay on Venus for the sauce. was. Wow. This brings it all together. the more than 170,000 Jews who were killed and were given the death penalty through the judges of the Jewish people. This was after a judicial process. They weren't just killed. They weren't just executed. You had to have courts that sat and judged every individual. And there was a court that went through the testimony and investigated and scrutinized the witnesses and ensured that this Jew unfortunately indeed warrants the death penalty and therefore they killed these 170,000 people. Moshe couldn't feel guilty that he is responsible for their death because of his negligence and therefore feel that he has to count those that survived from it because he's guilty and those who did not survive. They did a horrible crime and they were killed by the law by the process of law and order of the courts. So Mosha didn't feel that he was negligent in any way. But the 24,000 Jews who died because of the pandemic here Moshe felt he was at fault because actually he says at the end of Balok that when Jews were dying and Jews were being killed the tribe of Shim came to their leader Zimri and said stand up for us because they were all involved in the promiscuity and the adultery. So that's when Zimry came to Mosa and he said, "Am I allowed to be with a Midionite woman? And if not, who allowed you to marry the daughter of Israel? She was a Midionite woman." And at that moment, Misha didn't know what to say. He forgot the Pinas. Remember the if somebody is engaged in adultery at that moment with a non-Jewish woman, you can kill them. and Pinas went and killed Zimry. Mosha himself forgot the and when Pinas did what he did right away the pandemic stopped. Now why did Mosha forget the So Rashi says because God wanted Pinas to rise to the occasion and receive the reward that he deserved. That's true. But that's what God knew. Mosha himself felt that he did not live up to his job as a shepherd. He lost the opportunity. Yes, he forgot, but that came from negligence. If he would have been a real shepherd, he would have been in tune with what his responsibility was at that moment, and therefore, he would have stopped the plague earlier, not have to wait for Pinas to take matters into his own hands. So, Mosha felt that there was a certain amount of negligence on his part as a shepherd that allowed this pandemic to claim 24,000 lives. Moisha felt yeah his verdict was delayed. His actions were delayed. He did not stand up to the situation. He had to wait for Pinas to take matters into his own hands. Especially that Zimra screamed at him who allowed you to marry Sapira. So he was the one on the defensive and he remained somewhat paralyzed so to speak. He he he didn't have a response and that's why it says Misha was crying. Everybody was crying. Nobody knew what to do. It was Pinas who rose up from the community and he took he took the situation and he brought it under his control and he put an end to the mafa. But Mosha felt therefore that he was somewhat negligent. Again, we know the truth that God arranged it this way because he wanted Pinas to get what he has to get. But Mosha from his side, from his perspective felt, I did not do I failed my people. At least I failed then. I failed them somewhat. I was not on top of my game as a shepherd. Ah, so now we understand why the PK says after the plague, God told Mosha to count the Jewish people. And the question is why after the plague? The plague was 24,000. Should have been after all the Jews who were killed more than 170,000. So that actually says no, the count here came from the shepherd because of the plague. Why? Sashi says, "I'll give you a metaphor and you'll understand everything." There was a shepherd who saw a pack of wolves infiltrate and then the shepherd said, "I want to count those that survived." Number one, we understand that this is a senses that comes from the shepherd's desire to count them. In other words, from Moshe. And why? Because he feels guilty for the wolves that infiltrated and he could have stood up and he did not. That's why he gives the metaphor of the wolves. He could have avoided the deaths or at least minimized the deaths. And this is what Misha felt. And that's why he felt that he needs to count the Jewish people because something went wrong on his side. He did not live up to his responsibility. If he would have been in control, if he would have done his job, there would have been no deaths in the pandemic or at least it would have claimed much less. And that's why it says, it's the struck his heart so deeply and felt that I need to count these Jews who are there because I failed them so to speak or at least somewhat failed them. And that's the count that happens here. It's after the mafa the of the 170 more than 170,000 Jews that were killed this Mosha couldn't avoid and that's the difference between the two rashies. Where was Mosha when they made the golden calf? Mosha was on the mountain. He wasn't there. So when there was a pandemic that claimed the lives of the Jews who engaged in the golden calf, Moshe couldn't feel guilty. So therefore, Moshe as a shepherd to feel that I have to count them because I should have done something much differently and now I have to change my system. He doesn't have to change any systems. He is not the one who made the golden calf. He is not the one who observed it. He was not there when it happened. And therefore, you can't blame him for the results of the punishment, for the sin, including the pandemic. So what does Rashi say there? Why does God count the Jewish people? He says it's like the flock who are loved by their owner. It's not a census that comes from the shepherd. It's a census that comes from the owner. Why does he why does he count them? Because he loves them and he wants to know how many survived. And that's why he gives the example a flock which had a pandemic not pack of wolves infiltrated because if there was a pandemic the shepherd is not guilty. So why does God want them to be counted? Because he loves them. over here. It's the metaphor of a shepherd who experienced not a pandemic but a pack of wolves who infiltrated and therefore he feels that he did not do his job well and therefore he's compelled and motivated to count those sheep that remained because he really has to start over again and realize what he did wrong and say listen I have to change my whole system of how I was shephering them and that's what Mosha felt here and that's the count. So when God tells him to count, he's telling him, I know you want to count them as a shepherd. But in Parishis, it's a whole different story. God arranges the count as the owner, not as the shepherd because the shepherd is not guilty over there. He's on the mountain. And therefore, the metaphor is of a pandemic, which you're not guilty for. It's not wolves, it's a pandemic. And the one who arranges the count is not the not the shepherd, it's the owner, it's God. Why? Because he loves them. And because he loves them, he cares for each one. And he wants to know how many sheep do I have left over. Now you're thinking, one one second. Moshe is going to change his whole system of shephering. He's about to die. When does this happen? When does this happen? This happens in the 40th year. Mosha is about to pass away. Great question. Great question. That's going to continue. We still have a big continuation here with some other major questions. And of course, why would God not why would God not want to count them if a pack of wolves came in? Why is it only Mosha wants to count them? Good questions that you're asking. That's going to be the continuation of the Sikh. We're also going to deal with intermarriage, the very dual perspective on intermarriage. So, we're going to take a break here. I'm going to take some questions and we're going to continue this Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Everybody is invited. You could come on to the yeshiva.net or watch it on or come on to our Zoom our Zoom station as well. Just to announce a few important things. Number one, tonight 7:30m we have a special lecture with Kabad of Mount Clear of New Jersey and many Kabat centers of New Jersey titled Faith during a time of anxiety and everybody is invited. This is a time certainly of anxiety. So this is 7:30 tonight New York time. It's going to be streamed here on the yeshiva.net faith and times of that's Monday night 7:30 p.m. this evening. Tomorrow morning, Tuesday, 9:45, we have our para woman's class, 9:45 a.m. on the yeshiva.net. Important announcement. Tuesday night, we have our second live marriage workshop. It's not livereamed, it's live in my men and women with myself and Dr. Lamb, a marital therapist. The topic is how to communicate with your spouse. If you live in my or close to my welcome Tuesday evening, 8 to 10 p.m. If you want more information, you can email us at info@the yeshiva.net. That's this Tuesday 8:00 p.m. Next Thursday morning 7:30. We'll continue the Thursday night 10:00 p.m. with Coach Manakim. Divorce part three, how to deal with second marriages and bringing two families together. This is our divorce session part three live and interactive. That's this Thursday 10:00 p.m. on Coachman Zoom or also on the yeshiva.net. Let me stop for some questions. So the next Shia is tonight 7:30 p.m. Faith in times of anxiety. Yes, go ahead. Denal, one second. Let me make the volume a little higher so I can hear you. Go ahead. At this point of the It's still the still says it's Hashem that commands Moshe to count the people. It wasn't Mosha's initiative. Great question. Great question. So why does it say Hashem tells Moshe to count the Jewish people? It's not Mosha's initiative. It's the owner's initiative. It's not the shepherd's initiative, right? That's that's the of the of Rash is that even though the Pik says Hashem told Misha to do it, the reason Hashem told Mosha to do it was because he was telling Mosha to do something that he knew was relevant for Mosa to do. That's the of that. This was not a regular commandment where God was telling Moshe to do something that he wants. He was telling Mosha to do something that Mosherenu wants that Mosher Rabenu feels the need to do it. It's like almost like he's telling Mosha go ahead and do what you really want to do now which is count all the Jews that survive. That's the of that's why Rashi needs a metaphor. What does he need a metaphor for? If it's just to tell me that God loves us and he wants to know how many Jews survived. We already heard that. We heard that a few times in what's this whole metaphor and why does he change from the owner to the shepherd? Remember all the questions now get answered. The med says it was with the owner. Rashi changes with the shepherd. Rashi also changes from a pandemic to a pack of wolves. All of this is now clear because Rashi is being madish that Hashem was telling Moshe count the Jewish people because I know you want to count them. Why? Why would Moshe want to count them? So Rashi says I'll give you a metaphor. There was a shepherd and there were wolves that came in and the shepherd therefore feel felt that he shares responsibility in the catastrophe and therefore he needs to figure this out completely and he has to start all over again. You got to press control altdelete on my previous program and start all over again. That's what happens when crisis hits. We have to start over and therefore mosha counts the Jewish people. Okay, great question. Why wouldn't Moshe feel responsible by parish kisa just like he feels responsible here? So that's what the reb says that there's a big difference here. Mosher Rabenu was down on the earth with the people. He saw it happen. Zimry came over to him and challenged him and Mosha did not know what to say. There was a pandemic and Mosha was so to speak paralyzed. Paralyzed. He forgot what to do. He was overwhelmed. He was weeping. He was sobbing. And it was Pinas who came and said, "Misha, I learned from you what to do." And Mosha said, "Okay, so go do it. But by the agel it's a whole different situation. Moa is on the mountain when it happens. They build the calf. They worship the calf. They have an orgy. They dance around the calf. They engage in adultery and idolatry and murder around the calf. He's completely not present. That's why God says go down. So he is not directly connected to the results of the sin including the plague. So therefore, Mosha as a shepherd can't look in the mirror and say, you know, I failed my people. I did something wrong. Why didn't I drive away the wolves? There were no wolves. This was a pandemic. So that's why Rashi says over there, the count didn't come from Moshe as the shepherd. It came from Moshe as the messenger of God. God is the owner and he cares about the sheep. And he tells Mosha, "Let's count the Jewish people. I want to know who survived. It's irrelevant who was guilty whether you were guilty or not. It's irrelevant if you were negligent or not. But every single Jew that is alive is precious and every Jew that died is precious and therefore I want to know the number." So it's a whole different It's a whole different type of story. So this explains beautifully the rash here. Go through all the questions and you'll see how everything is answered. The first question of the Rebu was what's bothering Rashi? We know already why we count after a plague. We always count. When you love, you count. What's bothering Rashi is why the says the bigger loss was not the plague. The much bigger loss was the execution of 70 more than 170,000 people. That's not mentioned. That's what Rashi needs to give a metaphor. That's what Rashi needs to explain. It also explains why he has to give a metaphor with a shepherd and a pack of wolves. Without that metaphor, you would not understand the explanation because you have to understand here the mindset of the shepherd who observed a pack of wolves infiltrated into the flock versus a shepherd who observed a pandemic claiming the lives of the flock. We also understand why Rashi changes from the owner to the shepherd because the focus here is on the shepherd. Mosher Rabenu's feeling of responsibility. That's why the pusk says that the count doesn't come after the 170,000 were killed. after the plague where Mosha felt that there was like a pack of wolves that he could have avoided. That's why Rashi changes from the Medish. The Medus speaks about the owner doing the senses and Rashi says the shepherd doing the senses. That's why in Paris Kisa after the Ael Rashi speaks about the owner, not the shepherd. Here he speaks about the shepherd. Over there he speaks about the pandemic. Here he speaks about the wolves. Over there he speaks about the love. Here he just speaks about the shepherd. So when he Yeah, you're right. something that it's not his doing. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Now, somebody asks, why does Hashem then have to command Mosha to do the count? If Mosha feels responsible and he's doing the count on his own, why does Hashem tell him? The point is Moshe does not do things on his own. Moshe is a messenger. Like we learned already earlier, Aaron told the angel of death in Paras, Mosha doesn't do things on his own. So even if he feels responsible, God has to give him permission. Even when it came to the spies, Hashem said, "I'm giving you permission to send the spies. I'm not telling you to do it, but I'm giving you permission here." He tells him to do it, but Moshe has to get an initi has to get a commandment from Hashem that this is what he what what he what he should do. But it's Hashem telling Moshe to do something that is relevant to him. In other words, Moshe, I know that this is what you want to do. I know that this is what you need to do. So go ahead and go ahead and do it. That's the answer to your question. Somebody asks pandemic. Pan means all over. CO is all over the world. Hence, it's a pandemic. The Jews in the desert had local plagues that can more accurately be labeled epidemics. So therefore, I don't think the word pandemic is accurate because pandemic would mean it's all over the place. The corona virus spread from Wuhan, China to the entire world. So we call it a pandemic. But the plague in the desert should have been called epidemic, not pandemic. Thank you so much for that correction. Very good. I stand corrected. In the case of the pander, the owner is also the one who let the catastrophe happen to begin with. So if the counting was out of love, why not express that love by not allowing the epidemic to begin with? Well, there is a system. In other words, let's talk about the owner. The owner himself in the physical metaphor is bound by the certain laws of nature. And once the epidemic infiltrated into the flock, there was nothing that the shepherd could do. There was nothing that the owner could do. In this case, we're talking about the creator of the world, right? But he gives a person free choice. And because of a person has free choice, there's also the consequences of that free choice. So when the Jewish people create the golden calf, there's an epidemic, I use the word epidemic that follows them because of their choices. That's the system of creation where there's free choice and the owner himself created that system. So that's the answer to your question unless I didn't understand a deeper element in your question. You said that Moshe doesn't do things on his own. Doesn't it say that he added an extra day before Matra? Doesn't it say that he broke the lus? Doesn't the Gora say in Shabas 87 that Mosha did three things on his own? Okay, that's true. But those are mentioned specifically because they were unique. Usually Mosha follows the instructions of his master. Did Mosa ever realize that he really was not at fault and it's just God wanted Pinas to rise to the occasion? I don't know. You're saying Mosha is also responsible for the pandemic because it happened as a result of their moral failure and he was the leader. Of course, but you can't compare you can't compare it to the responsibility of a shepherd who's there in the field, in the jungle, in the wild, in the forest when the wolves come and he can drive them away to the shepherd who was summoned to the mountain and he was not there. It's a whole different story. You explained that Hashem orders the census after the plague, after the epidemic, not after the death penalty given by the court. That is really what's bothering Rashi here. And that's why Rashi has to explain the reason for that. It's because of the shepherds feeling responsible for the catastrophe. and therefore he needs to rethink his vocation and his work and that's why the count has taken place. So it's not about those who were executed, it's about those who died because of Mosha's own feeling of negligence. I got it. But perhaps the order to count the survivors of the plague, but not the survivors after the death penalty was administered because the order from Hashem was given after the plague, but before the court cases and execution by the 88,000 judges. such a huge number of court cases must have taken time after all. Interesting comment, but it's not that ca it's not that way because actually the court cases began right away immediately. So this happens after both of them. So it's clear that uh it should have it should have mentioned this as well. If 88,000 judges killed 176,000 idoltors, why does the Reb not just say 176,000? Why does he say more than 170,000? Um, uh, it's a good question. Look at the footnotes. Look at the footnotes. I think Rashi has a couple different hes there possibly. Right. Rashi and the Ramban. It's it's uh, it's the exact number. There's different versions. Look in the footnotes and you'll see. It's a good question because the Reb was very midic in these things. But uh look in the footnotes and you'll see I don't understand. Next question. Good questions everybody. Um doesn't God know the number before the golden calf and after? Why does he need a senses? Good question. Rashi says to demonstrate the love, to display it, to show that there's a love there. 24,000 Jews out of approximately 3 million is a small percentage, but more than 170,000 Jews is already a much much larger percentage. Indeed, that's the question. Why is that ignored? It's a very big question. Why are you ignoring such a large death toll as a result of death penalty? You can't ignore it. 24,000 you don't ignore. 24,000 are gone. Let's count those that remain. Got it? And what about 176,000 that are gone? We shouldn't count those that remain from them. Like why are you ignoring them? And that's why he has to explain this is a major question. Why are you ignoring this massive massive massive death toll? Doesn't make sense. That's what's bothering Rash. Okay, we'll take a break here. Kavra, I hope you could review it again inside and you could perhaps prepare the the second half of it which will continue Thursday morning. Wishing everybody a beautiful, safe, meaningful day. to be a day of of great news for for the Jewish people and for the world. A day of redemption, a day of gula for the klen, for the pratt. You speak about the system of the world created by God. But God can choose things. Why does he choose to allow an epidemic? I don't understand. the harsh punishment and then there's a rush of love afterwards. It seems disturbing to me. You create an epidemic. So many people die after the golden calf or after this story and then there's a rush of love. Well, I think maybe we have to look at the epidemic a little differently. You're looking at the epidemic as I'm going to punish you and destroy you, but I really love you guys. But what if it really should be understood a little bit differently? And that is that the people who died in the p in the epidemic really have nothing further to do in this world. and their continuous life in this world would be feutal for their souls and for their bodies. And the best thing that would happen for them is to continue their journey in the world of truth. In other words, it's not just a punishment to destroy, to take revenge, to crush, to show who's boss, but rather it's like we spoke about parl, if you remember, that sometimes a person doesn't have what to do anymore in this world. So the epidemic that claims this person's life is not a random mistake and it's not an act of vengeance. On the contrary, it's because this person will best fulfill their mission and reach their ultimate goodness and their own love and their own potential in a different plane of reality. So therefore to keep them in this world may seem rosy and loving but essentially the epidemic is not a destru it's a destructive force in the sense that from our perspective it's a destructive force but it's not the antithesis of love. It's exactly what this soul needs. Because if a person has fulfilled their mission in this world or can't continue to fulfill their mission in this world, keeping them here in a state of spiritual agony where they really have where they really have have nothing to do where they really can't achieve any of their goals, where their soul will just be hurting is much more painful. That's how I understand it. Yes, Byron. Oh, you don't want to say something? Okay, everybody have a beautiful day. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. I did want to ask something about last week's year. You can ask. Yeah. You Yeah, I wrote it on the chat. But um to get to BL, BL is um BL opens oneself up to Hakma. To get to BL, do we use HMA to get to BL or do we use Bina to get to BL? Great question. So we usema to get to BL. So how do we get to HMA? We need B to open ourselves up to HMA. I thought right. So is inside of us. Every person has inside of them. Their soul has. So when I let go and I allow to prevail, that is the bit. Well, what do we use to let go? Bina or hma? How do we let what what's what's the mechanism to well be bina recognizes beina recognizes the superiority of and therefore it lets go. It depends. Sometimes you're using bina and the bina recognizes that the best thing you can do is let go. Let run the show. Sometimes though our itself is just flowing. our itself is revealed. So there's really two states. One is I come to through bina my beina says okay bina let go and sometimes the is just there organically in a more manifest way and it's flowing. So there's really two states of consciousness. One is where I have to use my beina to get to the kma and one is where the kma is just naturally there. So, in your case yesterday, I'm not sure because I didn't I didn't have my X-ray attached to you to be able to feel from your heartbeat where you were.