Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider: Rav Kook on Modesty

[music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] >> I want to welcome everyone and a special thank you to Reb Poston and to the Yibaneh center and uh it's beautiful to be together and to learn together in Yerushalayim. And yasher koach for coming out this evening, Thursday night. It's a busy busy time here of Shabbos and uh to make the time to learn together, to be together is very very beautiful. So, I want to uh want to look at a topic tonight, which is a fascinating topic and uh it is the topic of in Hebrew [clears throat] it's tznius, tznius and uh in English we translate that as modesty. And uh what we're going to see tonight is actually a teaching that comes from a uh very special work of Reb Kook, Reb Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook the first Chief Rabbi here in Israel of Palestine. And there's a beautiful collection of uh of the what's called Midot HaRa'aya which are the character traits of uh that Reb Kook emphasized. It is a book that was compiled by his son Reb Tzvi Yehuda uh HaCohen Kook and um in it there are 18 different midot. So, it's a very nice collection, that magic number, that beautiful number 18 and Reb Kook goes through 18 different character traits, different personality traits, things that we are to think about, things that we are to work on in our own personal life and our community as well. And I I found it striking that one of the midot and uh that that Rav Kook highlights is the mida of tznius, of modesty. Um I would say it's not not obvious. When you think of midot, you think of maybe anava, humility, um ahava, love. Those are some of the midot that Rav Kook speaks about. And the importance of tznius in our lives, the importance of tznius in in our community, and to emphasize that and to think about what does that mean. Now, there there's a book that was written recently. It's called Reclaiming Dignity by Rabbi Manning, if that's a name that uh that you know, Rabbi Anthony Manning. He uh he's a teacher here in Yerushalayim. He lives in the Gush. And uh it's a book about this topic. It's about a uh I don't know, it's about a 500-600 page book. And it's a new book about tznius. And it seems and I happened to see him last week and I mentioned to him and he said to me, you know, in every generation, you know, every 20 years, every 30 years or so, we need to kind of look at this topic again and kind of how it applies and and how we think about it. He does point out in the uh in some of the articles early in the book that the word tznius for many people and maybe more so on the women's side, if you say the word tznius, and maybe I'll ask the group that's sitting here, that word tznius, what is the what's the sort of the gut reaction? What do you feel when you when you hear that word tznius? >> Over modesty. >> What? >> Over modesty. That's good. Mean No, I think I think you're right. I think you're right. And and that's what he talks about in the book, that the word tznius, that there is sort of like the gut reaction, that there's something maybe heavy-handed or directed to women, that there's, you know, that we have the obligation and that somehow, you know, things are there's something a little bit unfair about the tznius that's obligated towards the women. The man doesn't have tzniut in the same way. So, um so yes, I think that's that may be an important way just to begin and uh to kind of look at tzniut in a in a fresh light. And the way that Rav Kook is going to address it, and we'll see some uh some very beautiful sources, and we'll also make our way to a uh quite an astounding Gemara story and a God of the firm of the Gemara, and that will be our ending of the sheer. Okay, so let's begin. You don't have a source sheet in front of you, so we're not going to do a lot of reading inside, but I just want to begin with a few lines from Rav Kook. Um and I always like to always like to share some of the the language of Rav Kook as well. But we're just going to read a few lines, and uh and then we'll begin to open up to a uh to more of a discussion of uh of tzniut. So, he writes the following. This is again from his book called Midot HaRaya. It's actually the 15th um the 15th section of the book, the topic of modesty. Midat HaTzniut. When you think about tzniut, and again, I just asked the question a moment ago, what do we think about? What's our reaction to the word tzniut? Rav Kook says, Midat HaTzniut, when you think about the character trait and the notion of tzniut, gorem tovot rabot ba'olam. It's something that brings a lot of good to the world. That's how that's his opening line. When we think about tzniut, let's think about it in a very positive light, all the good that tzniut brings to the world. U'mitochach, and because of this, zocheh litol mipaneha dvarim shehayu tovim me'atzam There are times that tzniut, the principles of tzniut, the idea, the laws of tzniut, are going to override other laws because of its importance, that it's going to take precedence over other laws. We'll see what he means by that. And he does say, "K'vun shebe neyeytzer ha'adam there is a yetzer hara that that we all have, that both a man and a woman, what it means to be a human being, that we have a yetzer hara, that we have an evil inclination, v'chocho ha'chalash and because there are times that we're not strong and the and the yetzer hara is uh is able to overcome, is able to be victorious, yigremu lifrots b'midat atzniut. There are times that we can cross the line, that we can break through the gidarim, the fences that we are not to break through when it comes to modesty. And again, he ends the line, "Shehi kiyum shel olam this idea of tzniut, modesty, that this is a foundation of the world, of ha'ruchani, of the spiritual world, v'ha'chomri, and the physical world as well. Okay. So, that's the opening of Rav Kook, the importance that it's something that brings great good to the world, that it's something that often, or at times, it will override other commandments because of the importance of tzniut. And it's the very foundation, he says, of the world. Now, let's let's begin to sort of unpack this, to understand what Rav Kook is suggesting. But again, you see Rav Kook is uh is highlighting the beauty and the importance and how fundamental the idea of modesty is. One more sentence from Rav Kook. And here he's going to now give us an example. He just mentioned a moment ago that there are times that tzniut overrides certain laws, and here he's going to give an example of that. "Midat ha'avah v'yididut." Now, we have a beautiful midah, character trait, of being people that love one another. And yididut, anybody know what does the word yididut mean? Beautiful friendship. Now, it's one of the most beautiful qualities of of of humankind, certainly of a Jewish community, the friendship, the love that we share with one another. Endearment, very nice. The whole has seen money by the burning and no came. There are so many beautiful ways, expressions of the love that we express to one another. I am your way Leo Chavez and I mean him. We would think that it would be equal between the genders. Those are the talk about loving and expressing love and friendship to one another. We would think that we would not make a distinction between the way we express it towards a man or a man towards a woman. But that's not the case. I value karate Erica but because it is so essential because it's so yak car. What's yak car? Good. It's so dear. It's so precious. The idea of modesty of you need me that there are carrots. There are times that we push aside this me that this trait this character rustic of loving one another of Derek Harris of companionship of closeness me make a comment from its place and here he brings the following law. I'm not sure if you have heard this law or if you observe this law. We'll see on Shiloh all the Shalom Isha Isha. Yes. So he says that there is a the says that when you're giving when you are communicating let's say with another man. Let's say man to man that the man should not say to the other man, please send my regards to your wife. I don't know if you ever heard that. The says and I read it to you and he's again citing this it's found in Shulchan Aruch 21 6. And the Shalom feel I feel a sewer dish lower lot of Shalom in. The Alacha that you are not to send regards to another person's wife. A man is not to send regards to another person's wife. Which I would say is somewhat common that people do that. Please send my best to your wife. The Alacha says it should not be done. It should not be done. Now, the Alacha, just to read the end of this Alacha in Shulchan Shulchan Aruch, aval mutar lish'ol leba'ala ech shloma. You can ask the husband how is she. But that But that But that sending of regards Now, I'll I'll just I'll add the following. Now, maybe that sounds like isn't that like a bit over the top? Like, you know, sending regards like, you know, what you know, what what's the problem with that? How about if I put it this way? What if the language is please send my love to your wife? Which by the way, people say that as well. >> Yeah, but >> Right? >> It has different meanings. One for the wife and one for the man. I'm pretty sure that one's for the person who's saying >> Very good. So, that Okay, that's an excellent point, by the way. Well, again, if we put it into that context, we kind of like move it shift it a little bit, and I say to my friend, "Please send my love to your wife." Which by the way, doesn't It sounds harmless. It doesn't sound The Alacha says that should not be done. Now, what's the problem with that? The problem is Well, the husband is now Well, who's this guy, you know, sending his love to my wife? And I don't know, the wife receiving the love, you know, from that message of love from this fellow. And how about again, the the first party, his wife, right? He's sending, you know, she's standing next to her husband. The husband says to the other, "Please send my love to your wife." So, what's >> mean by his love for >> Exactly. Now, what is she right? What is she thinking? Like, what is this love that my husband's sending to this woman? So, now we begin to see, and I think this is And Rav Kook brings this example. There are many examples of this. On on on the one hand, it appears like kind of like a radical idea. Like like what is this? Like isn't this a bit, you know, over the top that I can't send regards? But I think we see that there that there may be an issue here. By the way, in this book that Rabbi Manning that Rabbi Manning wrote, he does bring some like more Again, that's the Shulchan Aruch from the 1500s. We move up to what's called the Aruch Hashulchan. The Aruch Hashulchan is is a bit more lenient and says that if the language isn't a language that expresses like an intimacy or love and it's just like a regards that that that that is, you know, that that would be acceptable. But we do see this sensitivity. And here Rav Kook is saying modesty, tznius, is so essential, is so fundamental that even when it comes to the idea of yedidut, of friendship, and of love, and closeness, and community, there are times that we take a step back. There are times that we that there are boundaries. And this, by the way, is one of Y'all take your question in a moment. This is one of the beautiful one of the beautiful aspects of of Jewish life and of Jewish community. Now, every community kind of addresses this in a different way. If you go more into the Chassidic or into the right-wing community, you'll see, for example, like at a kiddush on Shabbos, so they won't have the kiddush of the men and the women in the same place. And you'll see that even, you know, locally. There are shuls here. I say most shuls here do have it together, but there are shuls here that do not have it together. And there are shuls that have separate entrances. For men are coming in one door, women again, not that common in our community. But what's interesting is that the again, as we kind of move into what we might call the right-wing or Chassidic community, so this this idea of tznius is something that they that they take very they take very We take it seriously as well. They kind of, you know, this is something where they put even greater emphasis, I would say, a greater emphasis is placed on on the on the boundaries. And I'll give you just one or two other examples and I'll take your your question or your comment. So, in shul itself, we have the idea of mechitza, right? Mechitza is part of the idea of tznius, of modesty. And especially during tefillah, that in the davening, okay, what we're going to do at the kiddush, we'll do at the kiddush. But at least, right, while we're davening for the sake of concentration, what's interesting is that the other movements, as everybody here knows, that the Conservative Reform movement both both took took the position that we do not need a mechitza. That was one of the items, that was one of the issues where they broke away from some of the, you know, the traditional Orthodox structure of davening. There's something that Rabbi Soloveitchik in his day, it became a a real battle. It was one of the few things actually Rabbi Soloveitchik was very much a man of learning and of teaching Talmud, but this is something that he did get involved in and it took a very strong stance that an Orthodox shul, the very the very essence of an Orthodox shul is must have mechitza. And mechitza is modesty, right? That sense of modesty, that we're not sitting close to one another, we're not mingling with one another in tefillah, we're not looking at one another in tefillah. That's that's the halakha of tznius. And we see that how important that is. And again, our community, it's become, you know, that that standard. Nobody even questions that within an Orthodox setting. We have the idea of of of negiah, of not touching one another. Again, come, you know, the halakha deals with shaking hands and things of that nature. We have the idea of yichud, of not being alone, right? Not being alone with the opposite gender in a in a in a closed place. So, these all relate to these are all halakhot which we're familiar with that are all all all related to where they all are extensions of this idea of sneut in community, the importance of modesty in community. And we see what the what the what society looks like today without sneut, without modesty, without that sense of of the importance of of some of those barriers and boundaries and the sensitivity of of of the place of the genders. Okay, so that is that and again, I think that's where Rav Kook is saying we see sneut as something that is foundational to Jewish life, foundational to Jewish community, to the to marriages that are strong marriages. And again, the example that he brings in a marriage, do you want your husband or your wife kind of like even where it it start it's just like, you know, just that just a word of, you know, send my love. Okay, maybe we find something else, send send my best to your family. Right? Or maybe without the word love as Rav Herschel Schachter, as long as you maybe you can't just say send my but we're careful that no that no party should feel, right, that they're being slighted or there's some, you know, some breakdown within the the shalom bias, within the the love of the within the marriage. Yes, I'm sorry. Thank you for waiting. >> No, I I was just wondering if the halakha is for the reverse for women. >> So the halakha, yes, interesting. I have to double check that. I believe not. The halakha doesn't say it in the other direction. And I think here you have there is a greater and again, the halakha and I think we could kind of like talk about this as well. The halakha does put more emphasis on the yet and here we're talking about the yetzer hara of the man's yetzer hara towards towards women. And I think if we think about that, it's something that we it's it's quite the same, right? It's It's not quite the same. Even though we should be as as a man, we should consider we're we're a little embarrassed to say it, but it's not it's not quite the same. In other words, that that sense of yetzer hara we know that if you look at the world and we look at, you know, what men are are drawn to and it's not true on the it's it's it's not comparable on the other side. So, the the emphasis here, the man saying send my love to your wife, that is that's where the emphasis is. Is it true on the other side? The doesn't present it that way, but we can take that as a, you know, as as a as a as a model, you know, if that if that's true in that way, so the woman also, what's the language she's using? Please send my love to you. So, you know, maybe that's Yeah, maybe maybe that's not not the ideal. Okay, you have I want to share another gemara as well. And this is something that we we're we're close to to this Shabbat of Aloska. But think about last week's parsha, we have the parsha of sota. So here, again with Cook, we open we open with this idea of Cook that there are certain times that we see that modesty is so essential in creating shalom bayit of peace within the home and the community, it's so essential around that we push aside certain Now, one of the things that going back thinking about the story of the sota of the sota. So, the sota is a woman who there's some jealousy, some possibility that she has been alone with another man. And the says, again, we don't have it today without the Migdash, but the says you bring her to the Migdash and she drinks the water, the sota. She drinks the water of the sota and with that water, miraculously, it's really like a wondrous, you know, one of the it really stands out in the Torah is like a a wonder, a miracle that somehow this water that you're able to detect and to know what if she was guilty or not guilty. What's placed in the water that she drinks? What is it? Just It's not just a cup of cold water that you can get fresh water here in the Ivana Center. So, the Gamara says the following. There are a number of items, but one of the items is the name of God is placed in the water itself. The name of God. The name of God is written on parchment and it's then erased and it's placed inside it's mixed in the water. And thinking about and thinking about the the miraculous nature of the water. So, you now have the name the Yud Kay Vav Kay, the name of God that's placed inside the water. So, maybe that's part of the this miraculous potion that it has this power. So, I want to read to you What's that? >> The name of Hashem's name is erased, but it's not put into the water. >> No, it's scraped. It's >> It's That's right. >> That's right. The ink is scraped off and placed inside the water itself. So, this is Yeah, exactly. So, the Gamara says the Gamara in Chulin 141A says the following. Va'amar Mar says Mar Gadol Shalom, how important it is, how essential it is that there be peace. Shebayn Ish L'Ishto, that we want to do everything possible that there's Shalom Bayis in order that there's peace between a husband and wife. Sharay Amrah Torah, that the Torah tells us Shmo Shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu that the name of God, the Holy One blessed be He, Shinikhtav Bikdusha, it's written in a holy way and it's considered to be one of the greatest transgressions to erase the name of God, to take a Torah scroll and to erase the name of God. It says Yimcheh Al Hamayim that you are to take it and place it in the water. That you can erase it, you can destroy the name of God for the sake of Shalom Bayis. And here this we come back to this idea, this beautiful idea of Rav Kook, that there are times that for the sake of tznius, and here we see the sake of modest for the sake of modesty, for the sake of shalom bayis, that there's healthy family life and healthy community between husband and wife, that God says you can take my name, do whatever is, you know, is necessary in order that there is peace in the community, in order that there is peace within within a a marital relationship. So here again, we come back to that this beautiful opening of Cook that tzniut is something that is one of the foundational principles of Jewish life. I don't think we necessarily think about it that way. We think about it's kind of like a nice, you know, a secondary idea. So this is maybe one of the novelties or one of the ways to appreciate tzniut in a different light. How fundamental it is, how important it is. And that's why our community is, you know, baruch Hashem, that they look a certain way. That families and children and grandparents and with grandchildren that we have beautiful communities based on these ideas of of tzniut. So ask the following question. Where do we Where do we see tzniut? A source for tzniut in the Torah itself. Any Any where in the Torah that stands out? Again, here we're talking about is such a, you know, basic as Rav Cook puts it is in part of his 18 most important principles, midot, character traits. Where do we see it in the Torah? Where is it commanded in Is it Is it ever commanded in the Torah? >> I don't think it's commanded precisely there. >> Okay. >> But there is a point where a man is told what he can wear and not wear. >> Okay. Okay, good. That's good. Good, that nice. Nice, very nice. Nice example, very good. And that's something that Bilam that he takes note of. He name at all my name. And the parshas say that they didn't face one another, that there was tzniut, a beautiful example. So here I want to share an example that I think is a very very important one. And it's one that appears in one of the most important places in the entire Torah, and it's something that a Jew recites every single day. And what am I referring to? I'm referring to Kriyat Shema. I'm referring to reciting the Shema. That in the Shema itself that we have this halakha. Not just like a nice idea, but a halakha, a law that relates to tzniut. Now, what am I referring to? Anybody know before I read it? So So the What? Very nice. Very nice. Excellent. So here the Gemara asks the following question. There's a Gemara in Brakhot, it's Yud Bet, Amud Aleph, 12A, and asks a very simple question. So we have the first paragraph of the Shema, we have the second paragraph of the Shema, and we have a third paragraph, the parashah which is known as the parashah of tzitzit. So the Gemara asks the question, which we should all ask, we probably never asked this question, and I'll just read it the way the Gemara says it. Parashat Tzitzit Mibnei Makiva Ua. Why did the rabbis put this paragraph, this passage, in Kriyat Shema? Good question, right? I don't know if you've ever thought about it. We say the Shema all the time. What is Why that paragraph? Now, by the way, they're choosing a paragraph from the entire Torah. Kriyat Shema is the rabbis saying that these are the paragraphs to recite on a daily basis. The Torah itself doesn't doesn't identify this is what we should say daily. It's the sages, the rabbis are are identifying this is what a Jew should say every single day. So we're familiar with the idea of Shema, right? That we should declare our belief in God, Ve'ahavta, our love of God, Ve'haya im Shamoa, which speaks about keeping the commandments, Kar Ve'Onesh, reward and and punishment. So when we get to the third paragraph, Tzitzit, so why that paragraph? What's in that paragraph that the rabbis saw it as being so essential. That that's That's the By the way, the Gamara is not sure of the answer. The The Gamara itself is asking, "Why?" Parshat Tzitzit mipnei ma kiva ua kava kavua Why did they establish this to be one of the parshiot that are Yes, Rabbi? >> Remember leaving Egypt. >> Okay, good. So, the That's one. Okay, excellent. Ex- So, the the Gamara says that there are six different things within this paragraph that the rabbis saw as being essential and that the rabbis say the sages Chazal wanted a Jew to recite these things every single day to make mention of them every single day. That's what the Gamara says. So, actually it's not It's not like a one-word answer that there's one theme. Even though you mentioned one, the Gamara is going to mention that theme, but it says that there are six themes in that paragraph that when the rabbis saw that paragraph, they said, "Oh, we got to we got to put this one in Shema." There are six ideas here that everyone should take note of every day. So, I'll read the six, but the one but there is the one that I that we're highlighting for today. So, it says there there's the mitzvah Tzitzit. The rabbis want to remind us the importance of Tzitzit Yetziat Mitzrayim. Rabbi Posen just said that, the importance of remembering every day Yetziat Mitzrayim and it's in that paragraph and therefore we need to say it every day. Ol Mitzvot, accepting upon ourselves mitzvot, which is found in the paragraph. V'dat Minim, that we should not follow the opinions of heretics. And then here hur aveira, that we should not be drawn that we should not have thoughts of aveira. Now, what is that referring to? That's referring to this area of tznius. Now, what's the language? Where is that in that paragraph? And you said it before. Lo taturu acharei levavchem v'acharei eineichem. You should not be drawn. And the emphasis on those words enaychem after your eyes. It's interesting there's a term in all of our posting. There's a term that is very popular like in the Jewish community in the Orthodox world that I didn't hear growing up. In the last like 5-10 years. You say yeah, very good. We're Yeah, shmi what I was shmirat enayim. Has anybody ever heard that term? Shmirat enayim. I never heard Did you ever hear that growing up? No. It's become a It's become a popular term in the in the Orthodox community. And what shmirat enayim? That's really based on this verse. Lo taturu acharei levavchem ve'acharei enaychem. Not be drawn after your eyes. And what does it mean? Not to be looking at things that are inappropriate. Right? We're looking at the internet. We're on our phones. We're on buses. We're opening magazines. There is There is stuff coming at us left and right. And I understand why for the first time the Jewish community is talking about shmirat enayim. Now we were We lived a much more wholesome life, right? In the 50s and the 60s. Maybe by the 60s it wasn't so wholesome. In the 70s >> [laughter] >> By the 70s But look at where we are today. Look at where we are today in this area of modesty. Again, if you bring a group of people together and talk about modesty, they you know, what do you What are you talking about? Like what what How does that term even have have relevance? How does that fit into like culture and society today? So as I said, this is a This is a term that a lot of There are a lot of sheet worm There are a lot of rabbis. There are a lot of books that are being written about this topic in particular. It's a topic that relates to tsniut of modesty. Modesty of Yes, of how we dress, how a man dresses, how a woman dresses, how we see one another, how when we come together as a community how we come together as a community, and again, some of the major issues of of of internet and what we look at and things of that nature. So, this idea, which is really amazing, that the rabbis say that the reason why we say every single day, this is the Gemara, the reason why we say that third paragraph of the Shema every day is to highlight, among other things, you see it mitzrayim all mitzvot, but lo ta'turu acharei levavchem va'acharei eineichem. It's a reminder every single day that we have to be very careful in this area, in the area of tzniut. It's such an essential part of our own spiritual lives, our own spiritual lives, of our communal lives, of our marriages, of our family, of raising children. This is an essential piece. Now, how we go about it and how communities do it, there's a lot of discussion, a lot of different ways of doing it, and there's certainly a place for that larger discussion, but as an idea, as a fundamental principle, and again, as Rav Kook, and I found it surprising actually when I saw this from Rav Kook, I just I found it surprising that he chose this as in his limited number of midot to include it, but as as I began to think about it and learn about it, I realized that it really is. And Rav Kook, and not only Rav Kook, it's not his not a not a novel idea from Rav Kook, but the importance of tzniut in in our community, in our communal life, again, personally and um and in our community as well. Okay. So, that is um that's a that's the introduction to to tzniut. I want to I want to share the following Gemara, and this will kind of like bring us bring us to a close to our class, and I know people are smelling the the chicken and the rice and so, we'll we'll make our way there soon. So, very very interesting by the way that the that this mitzvah of the importance of guarding our eyes and sneuth and modesty that it's found in this section of tzitzit. Now, tzitzit interesting it's it's a man's mitzvah. It's not a woman's mitzvah, which by the way says to me something that we touched on a little bit earlier that this area in particular is something that men need a little bit more a little bit more guidance, maybe a little a little bit more uh a little bit more emphasis that men this is something and we you see that in halakha. The halakha really puts a tremendous amount of emphasis on the obligation of a man and uh and some of the challenges that a man faces in this area of observing the laws of sneuth. So, it's interesting it's in the section about tzitzit. Now, where where are the tzitzit found? Tzitzit are part of our clothing. So, the idea that mod- this idea of modesty of lo taturu al avot avot avot avot avot avot avot that relates to clothing and that's one of one of the important parts like one of the fundamental parts of sneuth and maybe where it begins or or certainly it's an element of sneuth when we think about when we think about our dress and the unique way that Jews dress and it's a very very beautiful it was a very beautiful it's a very beautiful thing. You know, I'm I I basically you know, I'm I'm more of a rabbi and a writer and I'm not I'm like not really in like you know, in the business world or out much. I'm like in my house in the office I work at the O U. So, I don't really have a lot of exposure. I'm like you know, in my little in my little world. It happened to be that I had to had to be in a law office for good things that this this just a couple of days ago and um the women coming in like the lawyers I was like oh my gosh like the way they were dressed I like I just wasn't like I haven't really you know I haven't really seen that and so it it's it it is very much a it is very much a challenge and tzitzit what's interesting in tzitzit is supposed to be a garment that is to remind us and especially for women as well, not that they're wearing them, but for men, again, maybe the emphasis on men, the importance of of >> [snorts] >> of a reminder around the idea of tznius, of modesty. So, I want to share with you the following the following story the following story. So, this is a story that appears in Gemara Menachos daf mem dalet 44a. And um I usually would just share it, you know, just kind of share it not in the text itself, but the text is really it's such a great text of the So, you'll just be have a little patience, but I want to just read and translate because the language of the Gemara here is is really very beautiful as well. So, this is the area of Gemara which is called the aggadata, which are the stories of the Gemara, and the stories are are very very significant. Talking about Rav Kook, Rav Kook felt that we haven't put enough emphasis on studying the stories of the Talmud, that we've kind of like pushed pushed them aside, and he says it's time for us to come back to as he says his words, we're back in the land of Israel, and philosophy and spirituality has become that much more important. We have to come back to the spiritual ideas where a lot of them are found more in the aggadic text of the Gemara. Okay, here we go. The Gemara says I'm ready Nassan says Rabbi Natan ein lecha kol mitzvah kallah shekatuvah baTorah she'ein matan schar ba'olam hazeh. There's not a single commandment, even the easiest of the commandments, the lightest, what he calls a mitzvah kallah, that one does not receive reward in this world. That is, whatever mitzvah you do, you're going to see some benefit in this world. That's That's Rabbi Nassan, what he says. Ule'olam haba, when we come to the next world, eini yode'a kama. There's like no no no amount that we can put on the reward that we're going to receive. We're going to receive reward in this world and I can't even begin to tell you, says Rabbi Natan. I can't even begin to tell you the reward that we're going to receive in the next world for any mitzvah that you do in this world. And he says, "Let's learn this mitzvah of tzitzit. Let's learn this and we'll see this in the mitzvah of tzitzit." Now, by the way, he calls the mitzvah of tzitzit a mitzvah kallah. It's an easy mitzvah. I'll ask you a question. Why is that considered an easy mitzvah? >> It doesn't cost much. >> Doesn't cost much, good. Now, that's what the meforshim say, it doesn't cost What does tefillin cost today? A good pair of tefillin, what are they going for? What do you say? >> Over a thousand. >> At least now, much more than that. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, they're they're right. >> On average, 800 to 1,200. >> Yeah, yeah, I'd say a little bit more. They're like they're going more for around 2,000, a really good If you want the the Cadillac of tefillin, they're 3,000 or so. So, yeah, a pair of tzitzit is it's I don't know, $5, $10. So, it's mitzvah kallah. Some of the meforshim say it's also mitzvah kallah, it's an easy one because what do you have to do? I mean >> Put it on. >> Put it on. I'm wearing it right now. Not a lot of effort, right? It's It's an easy mitzvah. Okay. So, it's an easy mitzvah and even this mitzvah says the Gemara you're going to see reward in this world and tremendous reward in the world to come. Here is the story. Maiseh b'adam echad. The story is about a particular person, Shaya Zahir, b'mitzvah tzitzit. This person This was his mitzvah that he loved doing. He was a he was careful in this mitzvah. Have you seen this, by the way? This is the first time I've ever seen this, that people here in Israel, not a lot necessarily, are walking around without a kippah, but they're wearing tzitzit. Have you ever seen that? >> Yes. >> I've never seen that in my life till like the last year or two. People wearing tzitzit without a kippah. >> It's from the war. >> It's from the war. You are absolutely right. It's from the war. Tzitzit >> scripture kippah off cuz they were religious. >> Correct. They didn't take their kippah off. They weren't religious, but what did they choose to do? What are they choosing to do? Tzitzit. >> The soldiers wear it. >> That's right. Army. >> Because they um they were doing these tzitzit making things. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I find that I just find that amazing cuz I always think about tzitzit as Actually, I don't think about it as as a mitzvah kallah. I remember in high school that was always the issue like the rabbi would say, "How are you doing today?" He was checking if you were wearing tzitzit. Um so, it was always like a pressure like to wear tzitzit. So, um you know, just seeing people What's that? People So, people wearing tzitzit Again, I don't see it all the time, but it just amazes me you're not wearing a kippah, but tzitzit. So, yeah, I think it's it's post-war, post-October 7th this whole idea of connecting to tzitzit. >> There's a one deraisah and one >> That That's true. Yeah, that very good. Very good. >> One is deraisah. >> One is from the Torah, tzitzit. Kippah is just it's a minag, but that You're You're right. But it's But it it it it for the most part people either you know, you're not wearing tzitzit if you're not like, you know, wearing kippah usually. But okay. So, it's a beautiful thing. So, the story begins with a man that was his mitzvah. He's very careful about this mitzvah. Shamash Yisrael b'karkhei hayam. He heard about a prostitute that lived across the seas. Shin otela dalet me'ot zuvim b'sakhara. She takes 400 gold pieces to be with her, intimacy with her. Shigerla arba me'ot zuvim. So, she he sent her the 400 b'kavalah zman and he made an appointment to be with her. U'kh'she higia zmano, when the time came, ba, he came. V'yashav al hapetakh. He was sitting at the entrance waiting to go in to be with the prostitute. Nikhn'sa shifkata. So, her the prostitute's maid or her assistant came to the door v'amrah lah and she calls out, "O to Adam, that man, you know that guy that sent you the 400 gold pieces? Ba, he's come. He's here. [clears throat] The Yashav and he's at the front door." Amrah, she said, the prostitute said, "Yichanes, have the man come in." Nichnas, the man now enters the room with the prostitute. Hitzia lo zayin mitot shesh shel kesef ve'achat shel zahav. She set up in the room seven beds. There were six beds that were made of silver, I guess maybe the base of the bed, and one which was a gold bed. Uvein kol achat ve'achat, and between each of the beds, sulam shel kesef, there was a ladder, a little ladder, and I guess these beds were sort of higher from one another that you would kind of go from bed to bed to make your way to the top bed. Ve'elyona shel zahav, the upper bed, the top bed, was the golden bed. Alta, yeah, Alta, she went up, ve'yashva al gabei elyona. She went up and she sat on the upper bed, on that seventh seventh heaven, that seventh bed on top. Kish'shehi aruma, and she was naked, sitting naked on the top of the bed. Va'af hu alah, and he also went up leshev arum kenegda, that he also to sit naked and to be with her. As he was going up, he was taking off his clothing, and he was taking off his Now, remember, he had the mitzvah of tzitzit. He was That's the mitzvah that he loved, and he had tzitzit on, and he was taking off his tzitzit. Ba'u dalet tzitzitotav, so the four corners of his garment, the tzitzit lo al panav, and it hit him on his face. It was as he was taking off his tzitzit, it kind of it like it smacked his face. Nishmat, at that moment the man then went down, vayashav lo al gabei karka. He then went and sat on the on the ground. Va'afi, and she also from the very top bed, nishmata, she came down, vayashva al gabei karka, and she sat down on the floor. So they're now sitting next to one another. Guess they're both naked or he's just he's just right, I don't know about him, but they're just about she is, he's just about naked. They're sitting next to one another on the floor. Amra lo. So now she says to him, "Gapa shel Romei, I swear in the name of the king of Rome, she'ani menichatka, I'm not letting you out of this room achshevet tomarli, until you tell me ma mum ra'iti vi, what blemish did you find something unattractive about me that you didn't go through with the act, that you didn't make it up to the upper bed?" So amar la, he said to her, "Ha'avoda, avoda means I swear, I swear by the service in the Beit Hamikdash, shelo ra'iti isha yafeh kamotach, I've never seen a woman as gorgeous, as beautiful as you. Ela mitzvah achat, that there's one mitzvah tzivani Hashem that God commanded me, v'tzitzit shema, there's one mitzvah that I love, and it's the mitzvah of tzitzit. Ukhtiva, and now he gives like a little dvar Torah to her. He says, "And it says in the parsha of tzitzit, ani Hashem Elokeichem shtei famim. It says ani Hashem Elokeichem two times, right at the very end. Ani Hashem Elokeichem asher hotze'itichem me'eretz Mitzrayim, ani Hashem Elokeichem emet. >> So it says it two times, why? One time to teach us that in the end, in the future, God is going to punish us if we've sinned, and one time to tell us that God is going to pay us great reward if we do the commandments, if we observe the commandments. And he said at this moment, "Need me like I saw the four tzitzit, I saw them as four witnesses that are going to give testimony on my behalf, and I want to do the right thing at this moment. Okay." So she hears the Torah, what does she do next? She says to him, "I'm not letting you out of this room until you tell me your name. I want to know your name. I want to know what city you come from. I want to know your rabbi's name as well. I want to know which base matters, I want to know which shul you dive in in. You're not leaving here until you give me your name, your rabbi's name, the city you live in, and the base matters, the study hall that you study in. He wrote it down, and he gave it to her. Okay, we have just another paragraph or two. So what does she do next? She is now ready to change her life to give up a life of prostitution. She is just absolutely inspired by this person. She got up, she split up all of her belongings, she gives away a third of her wealth to the mouth. The commentary say that she has to pay off a lot of taxes that she hadn't paid, and she's paying the paying the government. I want to know your name, I want to know what city you come from. >> that she hadn't paid, and she's paying the, uh, paying the government. Ushlish l'aniyim, she gives a third to poor people. She's doing teshuvah. She's giving money now to the impoverished of the community. Ushlish natlah b'yadah, but she holds onto a third of her money. Chuts me'otan [snorts] mitzvot. And she holds onto one other thing. This is key. She holds onto the sheets, to the bed sheets. She's old. She holds onto all of her money and the sheets from her bed with her. Okay. We're coming out to the end. Last paragraph. Ubath, this is the Gemara in Menachos, 44A, if you want to, if you, if you don't believe me. Ubath l'beit midrasha. Now she comes to the beit midrash. She has that petek, she has that piece of paper with all the information. And now she shows up at the study hall, where, now by the way, this guy was in a study hall. He was a yeshiva student. So, I don't know. He was somehow, he wasn't the perfect yeshiva student that he was meeting up with this prostitute. But now we find out he was a yeshiva student. Ubath l'beit midrasha. She now comes to the beit midrash shel Rebbi Chiya. Rebbi Chiya is the rabbi. He's very well known in the Gemara, Rebbi Chiya. He's the rabbi of that beit midrash. Amrah lo, and she says to him, "Rebbi, tziva alai yasuni giyoret." What does the word giyoret mean? A convert. I'm ready to convert to Judaism. Tziva elai, teach me the Torah, v'yasuni giyoret, and make me a convert. I want to be a convert. So, amrah lo, the rabbi says, "Biti, my daughter, shema enacha natata b'echad min hatalmidim." Is there a student here that you maybe have your eyes on, that you're interested in converting for that reason? Now by the way, that's a very interesting line in the Gemara, because this is something I teach in a, a conversion class, actually. It's here on, on Tuesday night that I teach. many converts come to Judaism because they've met somebody else and they now want to convert. It wasn't that they had a great epiphany one day that they want to become a Jew. The epiphany was that I fell in love with this guy who was Jewish or this girl who's Jewish and now how do I find my way, you know, to a to a conversion? There's a famous convert, Ivanka Trump. You know that name? Of course. She met a young man, his name was Jared Kushner. And okay, so he she met a Jewish guy now wanted to find a way to become Jewish. So that's very often and again that's halakhically that's always like a very sensitive point because the question is are you really sincere about your Judaism, about conversion or you just want a way to marry, you know, properly in Orthodox way? By the way, her conversion was was done by Rabbi Hershel Schachter who's considered to be one of the Gedolim in in America. He was the head of the Beth Din of the Beth Din of of her conversion. So that's just interesting point. Okay. So So So yeah, so he says the Rabbi says are you here cuz you just met somebody and you want to convert for this for this fellow? So the Gemara says "Hotzi tav miyada." She took out that piece of paper with the name of the student, right? "Venatata lo." And she gives it to the Rabbi. Now the Gemara it actually have to like fill it in a bit cuz the Gemara doesn't like spell this out, but the Rabbi accepts her. I mean, he he is aware of the fact that she did meet this guy but sees that she and this is by by the way a very important source in the Gemara that even if you meet somebody, but if you're sincere about it, if you really are embracing Judaism fully that that is acceptable as well. And that's what happens here as well. So she says, "Yes, I met this guy but I'm sincere. I'm sincere about learning about Judaism and becoming a Jew. And then the rabbi says after they study together it doesn't say how long if it took a year, year and a half to you, whatever it was. You can go and take your Mecca. You can go and take what you've invested in. Go and take that man and um and she enters the fold. And here's the last line of the Gemara. The Gemara says and here this such a beautiful line. Those bedsheets. Now remember she took the bedsheets, the sheets from her bed with her that she had seen that she used in a prohibited way, in a very lowly way. She had seen she put out the same bed the sheets that it had that it was done properly that it that was done to consummate the marriage. That's the last line of the Gemara. Those bedsheets that were used improperly for so long, those are the same one maybe that's what she had in mind that she wanted to to use ultimately to use this in a in a holy way in a sacred way. That's the Gemara, fascinating fascinating Gemara. And actually just one last line of the Gemara and it says the Gemara says you see the reward that one receives in this world. Now as he did a mitzvah kallah, he did a very simple mitzvah of tzitzit but he received a great reward. What was his great reward? What what's the great reward? That he that he got her. Yeah, that's right. That it all worked out in the end. That he in Yeah, what's the reward? >> Connected to Hashem. >> Okay, good. Okay, good. So you could say that. Or but I think the Gemara wants to point out that when you do the right thing, when you do mitzvot that there's going to be the there's going to be great benefit in this world as well. So it's for every mitzvah you do, not only is there going to be tremendous benefit in the world to come but things are going to work out for the best. And you know what? Things worked out for the best with this with this man. Right? He refrained from that act. The tzitzit were helpful in that is wearing tzitzit. And there was reward. The things worked out beautifully in his life. He spent the rest of his life with this woman. "Will they all come about any of the common?" And the Gemara ends, "And the reward for the next world is beyond." Um and one of the lessons that I take from this Gemara, and I'll end with this, and we can open up if anybody has any comments, is that when it comes, you know, there are certain mitzvot that we don't necessarily see the reward, the benefit in this world. Certain mitzvot we do. Certain mitzvot it's less obvious. I don't know if we Let's say keeping kosher. I'm not sure how much we see, like, the reward or benefit for that mitzvah. You could maybe argue that there are certain things. But, again, certain mitzvot are less obvious. Certain mitzvot we can really point to the benefits. I think the Gemara is ends with this idea because it it it does relate to the idea of coming back to where we started with tznius, with modesty. That modesty, when we personally in our communities live with that heightened sense of tznius, we're going to have There's great benefit. There's great reward that we're going to see. Not just Something that we just have to like buy in and hope there's going to be a reward in the next world. When we live that way, husband and wife within community, modesty, tznius, respect, sensitivity, that's something that's going to pay off in a major way. It's going to impact in a major way in our community. And as I said earlier, it's one of the one of the beautiful aspects of Jewish life, of Jewish communal life, of communities that are careful about tznius, marriages are stronger, the way children are raised, the way that they're nurtured, the beauty of community coming together, the strength of of bein adam l'chavero, of shalom bayit. It's not perfect. I don't know if anything can be perfect. But, it's something that we're very very very very proud of. It's one of the beautiful beautiful aspects of uh uh of Jewish of Jewish life. So, these are a few ideas and based on Rav Kook and taking us to this Gemara of uh this beautiful principle of tzniut and modesty. Okay, we'll stop here. >> [music] [music] [music and singing]