Bircat HaTorah and There is No Measure...with Rabbi Kalman Flaks

Heat. [music] Heat. [singing] [music] [singing] My birthday [music and singing] [music and singing] to >> [singing] >> to I [singing] do the >> [singing] >> Okay, everybody. Welcome again. We'll sing a little bit at the end of this year. Um, so we're going to as always dedicate our Torah study for the protection of the whole Jewish people. See only Yeshu to all of Am is also a anonymous partial donor. So she should be blessed and uh and we should have a beautiful night of uh deepening our connection with Fila together. So tonight, please God, our plan is to study uh really it's part two of Birkasa Torah. We went through in depth the three brahas of birkas tora and now I want to kind of go through all that other stuff all those sukim and the mishna and the gamarra and really just try to figure it first off just on a shot level what are we actually saying what does it mean why are we saying it and hopefully we can even go a bit deeper that's the plan with hashem's help Okay. Hashem. So after we say the brah of the Torah in your sitters, you're going to see three things. First, okay. The second is a Mishna from PA and the third passage is a Brya, a gam shabas. Okay. So most people have been saying this stuff their whole lives and don't really know why and really what's flying. And as a case study this shabas I was you know preparing the shir and I got up to this idea of the these are the things that have no sheir and one of them is the rayon. So I was going to yes I'm talking 25 year old guys who have been studying Torah who've been saying to Torah for a long time and I was asking them not to quiz them not to be smart but I actually was trying to figure out the what do we mean there's no sheer to the something we say every single day for many many years and most people said what [laughter] what's the like you know like the corba the the the sacrifice we bring in the va mdash they're like great question stump me and it's just a great case example of like there's a lot of stuff we say and we don't really know what we're saying so the beautiful thing about is that we're going to try to understand what we're we're going to know what we're saying by the end of the nightm so let's jump in so first of all the minog is a a mishna and a gamarra after we thank God for the Torah. We do Torah. We do a Mishna and Gomorra. That's not a coincidence. Okay. What's the concept behind that? We're trying to connect to all three different facets of Torah to [clears throat] Mishna and to Gumarra. And this actually corresponds very well to the concept in the Garra in Kubas that ideally a person should thrice his day split his day into thirds. A third of the day learning, a third of the day learning Mishna and a third of the day learning. It's interesting. I've been learning. That's exactly the Rambam says that's how we should split up our day at least in the beginning. Morning seder kish. Throw in a little na'vi. Spice it up. Afternoon seder mishna. Night seder. Gamorra. That's the ideal way we should break down our learning. Now does anyone actually do that? Not that I know of. Maybe. Yeah. Maybe Zman's a little bit. >> Gammorra concludes that >> and you can learn Gamarra and within Gamarra is everything. Okay. If you if you learn the Rambam itself though the Rambam literally says that's ideally how we should do it in that order and in the end of the day once you know everything by heart you know you're holding in all of Mishnai so then you dedicate yourself most fully to Gumar that's how the Rambam >> question when you say the Torah is it important that you learn something right away just like when you say >> exactly that's all exactly is and in the same way when you say a shak so you immediately drink the drink. So the idea here explains toos in the bra that the reason for this custom of saying these three things and is to immediately say the braha and then do it not wait not hesitate okay he actually concludes that it's not necessary that you don't have to do that but nonetheless the min evolved in uh it's found in the amun in the goa And the even Ashkenazim do this custom of this P this Mishna and this. It's not Makave. If you did another Mishna that's okay. >> You didn't learn it all. >> If you didn't learn yet learn it all. That's a big problem. You need to make sure you learn something after. >> No. But if you say you learned it an hour later. ah say it's okay too because it's not really comparable to a blessing even though we learned one opinion that says is in fact is in fact a most opinions assume it's not that type of it's a different type of it's a general thankfulness and so you're not obligated to immediately follow it up with Torah but nonetheless our min to be here is to follow up the braha with immediately jumping into Torah. So, thank you for reminding me to to say that. Um, but but then the question is, okay, but why these specific Toras? Okay, so our first thing we said is no, because we want to tap in and connect ourselves to all the different facets of Torah. So you could argue and say well okay maybe we should do kabala maybe we should do some maybe we should do some but I guess you know we had to draw the line somewhere. So the basic breakdown was Mishna Gomorra and we're connecting ourselves to all the different facets of Torah with these three parts. Yeah. >> Uh you know part of you know every day it's it's just a uh it's a calling blessing. nothing else. It doesn't go into the otherard. >> Don't do >> but then right after that doesn't say the you can pass pass pass up the and we'll explore for ourselves. It could be you're right. It could be that has a different custom. Not sure. I was under the impression that they also do pass it off. Let's see. Um, right. So, that's that's that they say a whole bunch of other stuff. Interesting. Okay. So, we can look into it if maybe doesn't have this custom. I'm not sure. Again, it is mentioned by toos. was usually with Ashkanazim. So it wouldn't be shocking but uh we'll have to double check that as far do all of it. Okay. So so good. So we have the basic structure but that still leaves another question which is okay. But the so we want to do a little Torah. Yeah. But why of all Toras do we choose? In other words, if I were to ask you guys forget everything you knew. You need to pick one passage, one story that encompasses Torah. You just thank God for Torah. Now, pick your favorite Torah. The Torah that you connect to the both the best. What do you What do you guys say? >> The blessing. >> Now, you're already giving me the answer. I'm not interested in I'm imagine. Pretend >> pretend for a second like you don't know what's given in this in in in the you need one Torah that to you is like the the essence of Torah. What might come to your head? >> It's a good idea. I like that. >> That's a good one. >> Sarah, right? I wouldn't have necessarily jumped to say you know but for some reason the min developed specifically to say so what's that all about? Why would why would that be the first Torah that we connect when we're trying to kind of what encompass Torah to say in one passage? What is Torah all about? Why is that? Why? Why of all things? Yeah. So, let's jump into that. What do you guys think? Any ideas off the bat? Why is Birkatim a microcosm of all of Torah? That's another go. I would have chosen that, but that's not what what the min is. The min is so why do you guys think? Yeah, >> because we're saying, so this is a bra from the coin >> since we're blessing God. So we want to you want to squeeze another bra in there. Okay. >> It's a braha. It comes to us. We're not blessing God. >> So we're saying a braha and then Torah in its essence is a braha that God is giving us. Okay. Who speaks in that language? The Mishnab. That's the language of the Mishnab. He says since these are words of braha. So you want to start our Torah with words of blessings. Yaf. Another illusion. I thought I I found was uh say for hamig if I'm not mistaken he writes that there's 60 words in kohanim and there's 60 mto really depends how you count it but one way of counting is there's 60 mat so the 60 words are reminding us one day we should be going to learn all of shas they kind of encompass all of shass within Another explanation. Another explanation I found is if you look at these verses, there's three words is five words is seven words. 357. What does that remind us of? There are different days when we have beer where we have creas. We have days of when Ezra is mak and three alias. There are days when there's five aliyah and there's days when there's seven aliyah like chabas. So to we have the private way of connecting to Torah and we have a communal way of connecting to Torah. My only flaw with that explanation is that but we also have days of four and we also have days of six. But okay, that was one explanation. Another explanation I saw which I liked is that there's three pukim. What's the minimum amount of sukim you need in order to fulfill your obligation of creator? Three. You have to break it into three. In the same way that the balor has to do three. So we have to do minimally three pukim. Very nice. Um for me the answer that made the most sense is the following. Now, of course, we could go in depth maybe well a little bit taste on the meaning behind Birkatim, but the truth is I'm saving it for a whole different year on its own of what what does beim really mean? So, we'll give a taster. But before we even go into the words, what are we saying when we say we're thanking God for Torah and this is Torah? Torah is maybe what we're saying is we are well not literally not everyone here is actually giving the biranim but we are after all we're a kingdom of priests every Jew is and especially Jew who's privileged enough to be connected to our tradition has to take upon himself to be a Cohen. And what does it mean to be a Cohen? Essentially, what does it mean? We're It means we're a teacher. We're an inspirer. We have to teach the world. We have to sh spread God's light to the world. We have to take God's light and shine it to the to the world. And how are we going to shine that light to the world? Through studying and practicing Torah. Torah is our way of shining God's light into the world. So by us saying we're basically saying that the Torah is giving us the vessels to be the says that a coen you should seek Torah from his mouth because he is compared to an angel. So we see that a a cohen is at its ba basic level is meant to be someone who's going to inspire the the Jewish people and the world. So we're and that's our mission by studying Torah. We're going to change the world and spread these values to the world. And maybe that's why we start off our day saying kohanim to remind ourselves that we are all kohanim and cohanets. We want to be by the way there's another illusion. We've said this in a previous year. What other illusion do we have to remind us that we are all kohanim after the ba mikdash we don't have corbanas going on all the time unfortunately but kazal instituted that we have to do before we eat bread and when we wake up in the morning. And we gave the explanation of the rasha that why do we wash our hands as we begin our day to remind us that we are all kohanim that we are all h doing the avoides every time we sit down to have a holy meal we are doing the holy aid we're not bringing sacrifices but we're eating with kadusha that's we have salt on the table so we wash our hands because we are now I don't think it was a coincidence the b was destroyed we don't have that same hierer hierarchy like we once said. So Hashem says every single Jew you are a coen and when we wake up and say we're reminding ourselves that okay not technically but in many ways we are now taking on the role to be those and when we by studying Torah and God is kind of shining his light upon us and through the light of Torah we're going to get that and we're going to we're going to shine upon the world that of Hashem his famous Torah six Torah of goes on and on about how saying how do you get there's some people they walk down the street and they're just shining and what's their learning Torah someone really learned Torah then he's shining that light into the world would always say sometimes you see a yeshiva bakar and uh everyone's running they love hanging out with this another guy he's he's learning in the same base med but everyone's running the other way he says what's the difference the guy who you were running towards he was learning for the whole Jewish people he was learning for you so you feel connected to him the other guy was just learning for himself so he wasn't doing is so you don't feel that Torah has to be to receive it and then to spread it to the world let it flow through and go so maybe that's one reason that I thought of as to why we start off with kanim because that is the essence that encapsulates Torah. You with me? By the way, amazingly enough, I'm sure you guys know that just a two-minute drive from here, the most ancient document of Judaism that has ever been found uh from 600 B.CE was found just by Ketf Benhan. A scroll 1979, right? Gabi Barai finds a scroll. And what is the most ancient document that we've ever found? Unbelievable. That's what Hashem arranged should be the most ancient document that we find here in a scroll that had written on it. So a lot of brought us there. It's like our ancestors are waving to us. You know, you can walk to the grave after the shar if you wanted a walk away. So unbelievable. >> It's uh in Hin. Talk to the tour guides afterwards. We'll show you how to get there. Gary will show you. And uh maybe one day we'll do a tour there. You'll see. It's it's Ramsh right next to the Beagan Center. It's a five minute. >> Yeah. Yeah. One of the most important archaeological finds in uh world history. Just >> the center. Maybe one day we'll do a yan tour and I'll show you. It's a good idea. But unbelievable. Okay. Yahweh. So that's like I said, I'm gonna hold off on the actual meaning for a later shar. Let us get there. I'm also really connected to it. It's my bar mitzvah para. But I want to get to the varim part of our our because I think that's even less well known. So the Mishna that that is took upon themselves to say that encomp encompasses is that a word? >> Encompasses. >> Yeah. encompasses is the following Torque. Look inside. These are the matters that have no set amount. Okay. So what we're going to try to do is I'm just going to explain this Mishna base level and then we're going to ask ourselves by the end of it why is this the Mishna of all Mishnas that Kazal chose to insert here. Okay. So there's a mitzvah in the Torah when you are a farmer. You have a field. Don't take all of the agriculture for yourself, all the farming for yourself. Leave a corner for the poor person. Okay, that's so what does it mean? There's no shear from the Torah. There's no minimal amount. You could leave one little piece with one stock of corn or you could leave half the field. It's up to you. Okay? It's like Hashem saying, you want to be generous, be generous. You want to be stingy, be stingy. But the main thing is you have to leave a little bit for the poor person. Okay? Rabbitically, the rabbis say, "No, no, no, no. We don't trust people. They're all going to be too stingy." So, minimally 1/60th of your field you have to leave for to fulfill this mitzvah. But this M is saying biblically speaking, there's no minimal amount and there's no maximal amount. If you want, you can give half your field. Interestingly enough, by the way, what's the meaning behind this mitzvah? I'd say there's two ways of looking at this mitzvah of PA. The simplest level, what's the idea behind the mitzvah of PA? >> Providing for the poor, [snorts] >> charity, providing for the poor person, caring about them. Beautiful. On a secondary level, what else is the idea behind this mitzvah? Meaning, if it's just about charity, maybe the Torah should just tell you give one tenth of your field, take 20% of your corn and 10 to 20%. So maybe there's something more going on. So you could look at [clears throat] it, it's a question of amuna. It's reminding herself that whose field is it really? Hashem's field. It's not my field. And that act of of just holding myself back and not taking it all. It's like there's aidic custom to not eat the last slice of the last piece of that pizza. Leave a little bit. And the braha falls on that. Well, that's more of an act of self-control. But this is an act of saying it's really God's field. So that's why it doesn't even m I mean it matters. Obviously, it's encouraged to be more generous. But as long as you leave a little bit, that's showing that it's God's field. Maybe that's also the idea of the time. Pay us pay us. We're leaving a little bit of our hair and saying this we're not going to touch cuz it's God's face. Yeah. My my son's uh is coming up in about month from today. So we're we're thinking about yinyon pis we're trying to figure out uh what's the meaning behind the pis and my wife is very excited to have my my my alici to have some cute pism anyways. Okay, good. That's pay next. Uh, what else? Has noir bikurim is a mitzvah in the um, the first fruits you should bring to. Okay. What fruits are we referring to? You want any fruits? >> Shivamim. That's how the rabbis understand it. Okay. So, you you you plant your grapes, your dates, your olives. You got to bring them to the beta. We do when we're at the ba mdash. You got to do the wave. Okay. The wave of you thank you tell the whole story whole the whole pes. Okay. And then what do you do with the dates you bring? the and the grapes, you bring them to the cohen. Okay, that's the mitzvah. We [clears throat] don't have this mitzvah anymore nowadays because we don't have a B mikdash. [snorts] It's in there. So, cut that from the the video. Even the Spartan say it. Um, so okay. So, that we don't have a base of mdash. So we don't have to do we can't do that sadly. What can we do that's close to doing that? Go to the old city and go to and get a smoothie with a lot of fruits. Get make sure you get some dates in there and then say a big bra and it's like almost you could do you could wave it if you want and and then you can almost fulfill go to the kot wave it around and you know almost but the fruit of it's very holy but it's not quite buri okay but you really want to be you can give it to somebody else go to go find the cohen guy give him the smoothie he'll make his day but what's the idea behind bikurib What's the idea? [snorts] >> It all comes from >> recognizing that it's God. But it's not just recognizing that it's God. Recognizing it's God and because then if it was just recognizing God, it's >> giving the first before you >> giving your best, giving your first and giving it to the Cohen. It's not just giving it to God. You're connecting to the sadic. You're connecting to the teachers. You're giving to them and you're showing your connection to them. You're connecting to the B mikdash to the M the M of kadush you're also giving to Hashem correct same idea you could also say it's an Indian of gratitude and you remind yourself wow we're can have dates we can have grapes okay so there's a lot of beautiful concepts what do we mean in shir it has no shear so technically you could take one little grape. Take just one little grape and give it to the coen. Comes the rabbis and they say, "Okay, there's a minimal amount to give. We know it doesn't look so nice. You go to your cohen, you give them a half half a date, you know, but uh so there's a minimal amount, but but technically there's no minimal. And um I don't think there's a mini maximal either. You could bring it give as many fruits as you want. Okay, good. Next. What does mean the ti is related to the word? Okay, there's a mitzvah in the 1616. It's easy to remember. When you go up to the beta mdash three times a year, all your males are coming up to the bdash. Usually they bring the family. You can't come alone. You got to come with a corban. Okay. So, what type of corban? I mean, not what type of what type of corbin is either a cow or a sheep or a goat. Okay. But how much do you have to spend on the corban? It doesn't say. Be more, it could be less. So, that's one way which the Ramom learns. There's no shear. Or the way that I like it reading it a little bit better for me what it means is no shear. It means you could go up to the basa mdash for a second in and out or you can stay there all day hang out you know chill with bangir doings do do your you know do do all your holy work up in the base of mikdash and hang out all day there's no no too little no no too much technically you're even one second you fulfilled a mitzvah. Okay. So that's the two understanding of the mitzvah of going up to Harbayas aliaras. Okay. What's the meaning behind that mitzvah of going up to Harabas and the three holidays? What do you guys think? What's that all about? What's the value? What are we connecting to? >> Seeing the revelation of God. Seeing Hashem you're saying in le of a I would say even to be seen by Hashem just as important and to connect to the kadusha the week's para to connect next this might be a little bit more down practical for us today. What does it mean? There's no shar of it means when there's sodaka there's a maximum amount of saddaka which you're supposed to give and there's a minimal amount okay 10 to 20% of your funds for most people is micer now at least rabbitically that's the the normal protocol okay if you're really poor and you're exempt you're really really come to the rabbis they'll give you a now there are haters to give more than 20% maybe big yes maybe yes maybe no I think yes but in general for sodaka there is a there is a 10 to 20% exemption but when it comes to there's no she there's no you can you can give everything you can go all out give your whole body and soul to doing all day if you want is that what's right for you and your vote I don't know. You have to figure it out. You have to talk to you and your local therapist and your local rabbi. Should I be spending 80% of my time in the hospital visiting sick people or maybe I should do other mitzvah? I don't know. Everyone should have that conversation. But technically, you can give everything for that's what we mean. Yeah. And there's some people went all out and for example was known to go 99% in on on this is one of the stories in holy brother is that there's a man who unfortunately was suicidal and no one knew what to do with him. So they called hero and said could you it's very close to the end save his life. So started calling the guy calling calling calling. He wouldn't pick up just hang up every time. At a certain point, it was the coldest day of the year in New York. Goes to a a a toll to toe booth back in the day and he calls the guy up and he picks up and he's, "Oh, get away. I don't want to talk." And he says, "Listen, I'm freezing cold in this toll booth. If you don't come soon, I'm going to die. You're going to let an old man die." So guilted him into it. and he comes out in the freezing cold and they meet and get some coffee and Roshtomo convinces him to leave the cult he was in and he saves his life. So that that's that's a crazy story, but that you can do that if you want to go all out. Put your life on the line. You know, there's a lot of stories would do that. He once saw someone drowning in the in the water. He was a pretty good swimmer. He went all out. Very similar story. And uh and she was going to keep swimming and swimming and just and uh again swim. I'm going to die if you don't go back any further. So she felt bad and uh she let save his life. Save her life. And uh and and he saved and he saved her life. So he went all out. Okay. He also get went all out with which is again are you allowed to do that? You allowed to give all your money away? Fine. But in general okay and finally what do you mean there's no sheer? There's no set amount for Torah. So on the minimal side, there is a set amount. The rabbis did set, by the way, I may be violating a law right now because says you're not allowed to teach this law I'm about to teach you to an to someone who's not so learned, but I trust you guys from the fact that you came to this year tonight that you're all bigot. So I'm allowed to teach you this. Now you I'll explain why. Technically, you fulfill your mitzvah of learning Torah just by saying one passage of Schma every day. Okay? Technically, or this passage that we just learned, right? Now, why aren't you supposed to Thear says, "Why aren't you supposed to teach that to an amar?" Because he's going to just every day learn one thing, give himself a check, move on with his life. So, don't tell him, don't tell him that he all he has to really do is learn a little bit. Tell him he has to learn, you know, set the bar a little higher. Okay? But don't tell anybody. Okay, that's just between us. But what does So what does it mean? So there is a shear. There's a minimal amount. You have to learn a little bit in the day and learn a little bit at night. But what do we mean there's no shear? It means there's no shear on the maximal side. Okay? So you can learn all day and all night. No one's ever going to be like, "Stop learning. You can go learn forever and the sky's is the limit." Right? And of course about the big that's what they would do. They would learn non-stop. With that said, by the way, there is even though there's no technical shear, there is one particular case when I would I would cap the Torah, and that's if there's a mitzvah that can be done that no one else can do. So, in that particular situation, then stop learning. Right? Unless you can put it on your iPhone and do both at the same time, that's fine. But if there's, you know, someone's uh dying on the street over there, you're not going to you can't say, "Oh, I have my my micro right now. I can't go, you know, do do CPR." Like, obviously, if there's a mitzvah that no one else can do, you got to do the mitzvah. You can't say, "I'm not going to wear filling today because I'm learning, right?" So, if there's a mitzvah that needs to be done, then you got to got to do it. But generally speaking, Torah has no shear. Okay? Good. So that's the Mishna, the first Mishna in Pos. It's really nice. Why is this the Mishna of all Mishnas that Khazal I wouldn't say Kazal chose but that ami Israel took upon themselves to say as the right here right after we said Torah any ideas I'm not looking for any crazy Toras just simple idea why do you think this was the Mishna of all Mishnos that they chose there's a lot of Mishnas in Shas what's why this one if you don't know that's Okay. I also didn't know until I prepared this year. I don't think most people know. I think the is very simple. I heard this. This makes sense because we're talking about Torah because the end of the Mishna talks about the important that there's no shar to learning Torah. In other words, it's encouraging us learn as much Torah as you can. So, we're starting off our day after we thank God through Torah reminding ourselves, hey, common there's no shar [snorts] to Torah. By the way, along the way we also learn you should do you should have a you should do you know all these beautiful ideas. Yeah, RVuk gives a little bit of a fancy explanation that I've been alluding to that each one of these ideas the connects to the theim is connecting to the to the is connecting to the is serving hashem with your body is serving hem with your mind. Each of these is deeper ways of connecting to a kadesh. So that's a little bit of a fancier explanation. As simple as explanation, I think it's to remind us that there's no shar for learning Torah. So far so good. Yala. Yeah. How would it be that because there it says there is no minimal amount felt this was something we should be reminded of because if there's no minimal amount like you don't think of all the time [clears throat] and so you need that [cough] >> you need the reminding that [clears throat] >> of of all of these things. >> Yeah. At the end of the day, that's what all dabbing is. Davining is reminding us of our values, of what's important. And so they we chose to remind ourselves every day of these beautiful ideas, including the importance of learning Torah. The problem is that when once you do anything in life, it becomes a habit, which is great. But the problem is then you stop thinking about the meaning of what you're actually saying. Which is why we have this to remind us what we're saying and why we're saying it. Right? So now that we've been reminded every day we can actually remind ourselves hopefully. Okay, let's do it last. These are the matters that a person eats their fruits in this world. But the main aspect of the reward remains for the next word. [clears throat] Okay. So just like we did before, we're first just going to understand the meaning of this garra. In the end, we're going to ask ourselves like why did why is this the garra that we have to learn to begin our day. So the the gamarra is saying there are certain mitzvah which normally I guess the assumption of the garra is a mitzvah is for the next world. You're going to see the reward in the next world as the gammor and kaducian famously says we are not going to necessarily see the reward for mitzvah in this world. maybe, but don't bank on it. The primary reward for mitzvah is in the next world. That's that's the assumption of the Gumari. Why is that, by the way? Why shouldn't we see the rewards in this world? That's what the Gamarra says. you you're not going to see everyone who does a mitzvah immediately boom everything goes good for them and super happy. >> So one answer might be it would just be too easy. If every time you saw somebody put on situs boom like you know ice cream and start falling down from the heavens then it would be just too too easy. Uh that could be one thing. So there has to be an element of test of challenges of sadicler beautifully explained. You should learn it inside. It was one of my first um strive for truth I ever learned in high school. Has a beautiful mayar. The basic idea is like this that mitzvah don't have they're so spiritual. They're they're they're from that there's no currency in this world that could match a reward for them because they're spiritual entities. They're they're from Hashem. The only time we can we could really feel the true reward. so to speak to feel goodness of the mitzvah is in the next world. So what do we get? We get mitzvah we get some byproducts. You get to do another mitzvah. And as this gumar is asserting there might be some fruits but the tree itself the ickor of the reward it's just impossible for our physical bodies to feel that amazing delight that we're going to only be able to feel in the next world. That's that's how Ra Desler and others explain it. But nonetheless, with with that all that said, by the way, there's a big kasha on this. I don't know if we we'll have time tonight or maybe another night for this whole approach which is we have sukim in the Torah which do seem to indicate that there is reward for for things in this world like the whole second paragraph of the right and then you get all this stuff whole portions of the Torah which seem to completely contradict that kamarra that I just told you and we don't get reward in this world. So we got to kind of make sense out of that. But maybe we'll wait for our at the right time to to to try to explain that uh contradiction. But in any case, >> we shouldn't serve God. >> Don't serve God for the reward. Serve God because it's the right thing to do. But that's talking about reward in the next world. Okay, that's that's one way of reading it. We should serve God just because it's the right thing to do. But we assume that we are going to get rewarded in the next world. And this is certainly assuming that you are going to get rewarded in the next world. However, it's saying that there's certain mitzvah that are byproducts which are good for us in this world. Okay. And now we're going to run through some of those mitzvah. With that said, I have a theory. I didn't see this in this farm, but this is this is what I think. I think the mitzvah which are being listed here have tangible physical enjoy enjoyable aspects that we ourselves have experienced. And maybe that's why these are the examples which the Gmorrah is listing that besides for the real reward which is in the next world, we can actually see for ourselves reward like they're they're they're satisfactory. They bring us joy in this world. Besides that, it could be there's also some like metaphysical spiritual thing that happens that if you do this mitzvah, you get 10 10 mitzvah points and you know your car won't break down or whatever like random uh good things which happen for you. I'm not taking away from that. But I also think that these examples have within them good elements to them. So let's see if my theory is correct. Let's go through it. M honoring your parents. Honoring your parents is good for you in the next world, but it's also good for you in this world. Why would the Gumarra assert that it's good for you in this world? Where they get that from? The kibu is good for you in this world. So that >> have a long life. >> Good. So the first answer I would have given is because the Torah itself says that you're going to have long life if you do kibav. So therefore we see that it has a good byproduct even in this world right we see as of Russia he's a bad guy but he's got one good thing going for him what was that he was abba he was he would change his clothing the midrash says before he would serve as and therefore he gets a lot of good stuff he gets a lot of blessing in his life that's why what's the antithesis the the only one who could take down as Parenthetically, Yseph Rashi says, "Yeseph can take down Asaf." When Ysef is born and YaKob feels like, "Oh, now I could take down Asov." Because what does Yseph have going for him? He has kibbut and kibbutim. Kib, he protects his mama. He stands up to make sure that nobody can see Rael. And Kibav when Yakov sends him down to his brothers who don't like him very much, he says, "Hani, I'm ready to risk my life for Kibav." So Ysef can take down Asov because he's got he's got the super kiba. But the point is that kibbu has good good rewards not just in the next world but also in this world long life. My only problem with that theory is but there's another mitzvah which gives you long life. What's that? So why does if if that's the reason because you have so then also we should say gives you fruits in this world. Right? So my only theory is maybe we see the tangible positive results in this world. What do I mean? If you're nice, respectful to your parents, usually good. It's good. Yeah. You have a good relationship with them. They'll be nice to you. You like them. You have a good when you're nice to people, they're usually nice back to you. That's just how it works, right? Maybe they'll give you some money. Maybe they'll who knows all sorts of good things. It's good to have a good relationship with your parents. No, in this world too. So I think that maybe is why I don't know if you have you have the same tangible effect when you shoe away the mother bird >> maybe. But for most people you don't feel it as much as kib. So maybe that's why this is an example of something where you get the fruits. In addition, if you're respectful to your parents, who's going to see that? Your kids. So they'll be respectful to you. It'll be in the family. When you have family that respect one another, it's good. It's good for society and and unfortunately. Okay, let's go through the next one. Okay. Going with my theory that it's good for you in this world. Why is doing good for you in this world? >> Be nice to other people. They'll be nice to you. First of all, if you're nice to them, they'll be nice to you. Very good. What else? >> That thing that develops your personality, your sensitivity to other people and other people's needs. >> So, you're saying it develops you develops my per my my is to become a kind person. What else? >> You're you're it's me of God. God is, you know, >> I'm doing like God. >> Exactly. That was that was what I that was what I was going for that Hashem is a giver. That's why he created the world according to the cabala. So when we emulate Hashem feels good, feels nice. You know, everybody's I'm sure everyone here has experienced when you do something really nice, you feel good about yourself. Not always, usually. Right. I had a just the first thing that comes to my head. Last week I was walking home from shul. I was in a bit of a rush. I had to take my kid to Ghan and get the the kabura. So, and I see right next to my house, maybe you guys saw it, there's this weird bottles, all sorts of weird bottles and flags and all sorts of strange things. And that day the bottles had flown over, had like, you know, the air the the wind had blown them over. So, my natural intuition was like, I'm in a rush. I don't know what the deal is with these bottles anyway. I got to go. Yeah. I said, "Ah, it'll take two minutes." I started picking up the bottles. Why not be a nice guy? So, right then, the second guy, I've never met him, started screaming from the roof. So, I was like, "Oh, like I showed him my keeper, you know, tried to tried tried to make it feels good when you make a kid, you feel good about yourself and feels good to do, you know, that's what something I've learned. I used to direct the programs a lot of yeshivas and seminaries in the beginning it's hard for people sometimes if they're not used to it but usually once you start getting into the habit of it of doing you you enjoy it you like it it's fun because that's our nature so it's good for us a lot of times people give me all these praises about the the shabas meals that I host oh wow this that 40 at the end of the day I I like it's fun I like I like serving people food it's like it's a good it's good times, right? But that's that's okay to be selfish. But the key is to develop ourselves to become the types of people that enjoy doing good things, which isn't always easy. We have to kind of push ourselves in the beginning in particular to get into the habit. So it's good. It's good to do good. Yet what does that mean? Waking up early for and harvest. What about what happened to Ma? Does it get mentioned? So I think what it's saying is it's not talking about dabbing now it's talking about the olden days they would go from shu to the base maj waking up early to learn and staying late at night be the last guy in the base mish it feels good you ever you ever have that moment where you're learning alone and no one else around is learning you feel feel gishmach I remember when I was in in in high school I used to run away to go to the base madish and on Avenue L and and uh and uh Ocean Avenue and in Shabas afternoon just I get you know read my some some I felt great to be the only the only guy in the B feels good feels good to be in the so it's good of course in the natural world it's good in this world too okay doing maybe I shared with you guys last week I forget it's worth repeating the asks why is it that the only mitzvah in the Torah that we see such an emphasis So manyukim is we don't seekim about we don't see we don't see all sorts of but the only that we have the whole story with is so the holy schl says like this because why did as we were saying before to emulate what's the prime cuz what are we essentially? Guests. God created the world. We're guests in his world. And he gives us all sorts of cool things. He gives us water. He gives us tea. He gives us breath. He gives us feet, scooters. All sorts of cool things because he loves us. So he's being mach. And so when we're machim it's fun. We love it. That was he wanted to be like a and as a reward for that. What does that give him after he's children to emulate Hashem? God creates. So, Hashem also allows you to create. It's a good word. Anyway, so if you have the right guest, it's fun. It's enjoyable. You feel good about it. It also brings into your life. Like we just showed How does that how's that good for you? How does that make you feel good? What do you think? You >> take away some of the sickness of your >> good. So you take away his 160th of the sickness, but how does that make me feel good? I know it's good for the but how does it feel good for me? >> Maybe. >> What? >> It's like a vaccine maybe. >> I take a little bit of it so you won't get >> So it could be one shot as you walk in there and you see he's so sick and I'm not. I'm walking out with my two feet and I say borashem, you know, you walk away a little happier. Maybe that's one way of doing it. But on another level, you feel good about helping another person, about caring about them, about helping them out. And uh you know you feel good if you do a proper bikin. I know personally I have a much I don't I have an easier time with other mitzvah than like probably like a lot of people it's not always so easy but I used to kind of force myself when I back in the day when I had time I'd take my guitar and we sing some shabas songs and even if it wasn't fun in the beginning you always feel good about yourself at the end of it you feel good and you thank Hashem so feels good but says, what does mean? Anything you do for the could [snorts] be giving them money for the wedding. Um, according to the main mitzvah is to be at the at the wedding itself. Maybe according to some opinions even after the wedding is being fulfilling this mitzvah of how does make us happy? It's fun. No, it depends on the wedding, but I don't know. For me, you dance, you sing. Fun. No. So, >> but it does say kala. It doesn't say. >> Correct. So, the the primal mitzvah is to to make the kala happy. Many assume that it also applies to the >> happy wife is a happy life. >> Happy wife is a happy life. So, the primary mitzvah goes to the kala. Correct. Saying good words about the kala. But it could be also that being is included. The point is when you're being that's a very that's an easy one. When you're being you feel good about yourself. I remember once I was invited um to like we we hosted like a sh for this new couple. They didn't have any other family. So we did the shabas kala. And then they said, "Oh, it was nice. Maybe you'll come to the wedding also." Cuz the didn't have so many guys to dance with. So I said, "Sure, why not?" And I went and we danced and it was cool like dancing for a guy I never met before like you know doing a lash and then in the end that guy ended up being my boss and he gave me he got me he got me some jobs teaching Torah. So you see good things come to those who do good things. Okay mean >> escorting >> escorting the dead. Okay again we know this is good in the next world. What we're trying to figure out is why is it good for us here? How is it good to escort the dead to the next world? It's kind of sad. Funeral doesn't really make you, you know, it's kind of it's kind of [snorts] a downer. How how what's good about that? What do you think? But what good can come out of going to a funeral? >> Remind us of our purpose in this, >> right? Like Malik says, better the day of death than the day of jest. He said, right? So he's in other words it reminds us why why we're here what our purpose is refocuses us that's why there's a min some people have to go to the purim and uh brings us back to our purpose and at the end of the day we're leaving leaving leaving the ke breathing so you know so we have what to be thankful for okay it's a big big mitzvah so even if there's 100 people there every single person who goes to the leva it's a big for the m and up in the heavens, they appreciate it. So, it's a it's a big mitzvah. Uh it's a sh in the first place. How why don't we have to go to every single funeral in the world? Okay, we also have to do other mitzvah, but if there's one passing by, you certainly should drop everything and go to [clears throat] uh within reason, you should go to the to the to the funeral is a good one. What does mean >> we're doing right now? what we're doing right now. How is learning about file good for us in this world? How is that good for us? >> Better. >> Cuz anyway, we're dabbing, right? We're dabbing already. We're spending an hour and a half to two hours of our day in chabas, 3 hours. So, it could either be a dreadful experience. You're just waiting for it to be and saying a bunch of Chinese or you went to this year, you learned what the words mean and you're excited to dive in and now it's enjoyable, >> right? about it. So there's there's another it's it's a complex of the garumar which says that you're not allowed to be >> in Russ you have >> so there's different explanations as to what means you're not supposed to be in the sense of like being like oh I had an amazing ding I God definitely heard my prayer that's a negative but a positive the way that many explain it prayer and others say is what we're doing right now and others explain it's being but either way if you do it right it's an unbelievably joyous experience rabbi Arya Kaplan recounts how he used to have students who would come and rush through their davining so then they could go meditate and then he taught them that itself is a meditation it can be enjoyable and then instead of rushing through it they meditated and they made it enjoyable and That's my experience too. When you're you're jumping into it and you're excited about dabing, it's amazing. It's enjoyable. You want to just stick in that that that that for a long time. So you see the Paris in this world. Wrapping up making peace between friends and between men and women. How is that helpful for us? How does that bring joy to us? So happy wife, happy life, right? You bring but but if you're being make other people happy. So then all the more so you're going to find braha in your own life. If you're a peacemaker, you're that aron. You're the cohen like we were talking about before always seeking to make peace. So then peace is going to pursue you. Everyone's going to love you. You're the guy. You're the peace man. Okay? And peace pursues you. And finally the talah can I get kam and talmetra is more than everything. Talmetra is the primal piece of Torah which brings blessing to us not just in the next world but in this world. How so? How does Torah bring enjoyment to this world? I get it in the next world. He gets for every mitzvah. Every word of Torah is a mitzvah. Says the vilon. Sure. But how is it make our life better in this world? >> Makes us a better person in this world. >> It makes us a better person. That's good. What else? >> You feel like you're living with. You feel God's presence. You bring the into your life. Beautiful. Bringing your mind to God or God's mind into your mind. >> Bringing hem into your mind. Wow. Like in the s shalom. God's putting his face on you and kind of through Torah study bringing peace upon you and like the minds of Hashem and you are meeting so to speak. Beautiful. For me, I would just say in the simplest sense, the beautiful thing about Torah is that it always gives me a mitzvah at every no matter where I am. I'm waiting online on the roller coaster, whatever it is, I even I have an opportunity to connect to I can connect to I can connect to a mitzvah that's the most integral mitzvah every moment of my life. And so, what could be more enjoyable than that? Just look around. Look at look at you guys. There's some people who uh you know they're they they get old older or even when they're young and they're depressed. All they do all day is do watch meaningless movies and sports and they feel empty at the end of the day. But people who are spending their their free time learning to the end of the day you feel gush you feel good about yourself after you learn Torah. Not just in the next world but in this world too. There's per there's peros. Okay. So next week we're going to start off going a little bit deeper into this concept of what is tomato kula because this is a very interesting a controversial topic today that what is it does to kgula mean I don't have to do other mitzvah I don't have to do I don't have to go to the army all I have to do is learn Torah all day maybe or maybe it means something different what are the spiritual aspects of Torah or is it more the practical elements of Torah? So, our hour is up. So, we're going to save that for uh for next next next time. And uh I hope you guys enjoyed and I hope our is more and more beautiful. And let's end with a little niggan about to >> [singing] >> to [singing] shim. I [singing] never [singing] One last thing I forgot to say. And so why most likely do we say this specific garam? Because the gamarra ends off saying talking about tamora about the importance of learning Torah. So nothing too complex. Most likely the reason that this Gmorrah was chosen is because it also connects to many of the practical mitzvah that apply on a day-to-day level and also because it reminds us after we say of the importance of Torah study. So I think that's the [music and singing] [music] My birthday [singing] [music] is [singing] my sh [music] [singing]