Rabbi Kalman Flaks: The Korban Tamid - Daily Burnt Offering

[music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music and singing] [singing] >> Okay, welcome everyone to another wonderful night here at Yibaneh. May our Torah be a protection for the whole Jewish people, wherever they are. Thank you to every person here for making time to learn Torah. And we are continuing our journey through the sitter. And we have finally graduated from Birchos Hashachar into that big middle section. You know that part where a lot of other people skip, not you guys. You say every word, I'm sure. But you've seen some people that are like don't know what's going on. There's all this stuff to say. So, we're journeying into the unknown. We're journeying into the the stuff that no one's quite sure what you can say, what you should what you have to say, what you don't have to say. And this week we are going to focus on Korban Hatamid. On the continual offering, as Hashem. So, we're going to start off with a little bit of halakha and try to understand should we say this? Do we have to this? Do we not have to say this? And if you have interesting halakhic questions relating to that, then to the best of our ability we're going to try to give some general meaning behind the Korban Tamid. And if we have time, we're going to jump into the words themselves. If not, we'll save that for next time. That's our plan. Sounds good? Everybody great with that? Amazing. As Hashem. Okay. So, Korban Tamid. What's that? It is a passage from uh Pinchas, Parshas Pinchas Chamishi, perek chof ches. 20th chapter of Bamidbar, which has to do with the sacrifice, the continual offering, the Korban Tamid, which Am Yisrael used to offer. We no longer offer the Korban Tamid. Right? We know that's one of the reasons why we fast. 17th day of Tammuz because we lost the ability to bring the Korban Tamid. And so we we fast to this very day. That was a tragic day in Jewish history when we were no longer able to bring that sacrifice, that communal sacrifice. Obviously, it was a big deal. Okay? But we don't have it anymore. So instead, we read it. We say it. But the thing is a lot of carbonos in that middle section. Which are the ones we have to say? Which are the ones we don't have to say? Okay? So in the first siman of the Shulchan Aruch, right at the beginning, the the Shulchan Aruch of Yosef Caro writes, "Tov lomar." It's a good thing to say the akedah, the man, the aseres hadibros, the olah, the mincha, the shlamim, the chatas, the ash- sham. These are good things to say. Okay? When you hear the word it's a good thing to say from the perspective of the Shulchan Aruch, do you do you think that you have to say it? So Larry's giving me a no. It's a good thing to say. Now, is it a bad thing to say? Oh, it's a good thing to say. It's a very good thing to say. But it's not an obligatory thing to say. Okay? That's what the Shulchan Aruch writes. And we'll see, hopefully we'll have time to go through that stuff too so that on those good days when you get there early and you have time to say them, you'll also know what it means. But what's interestingly missing from that list of the carbonos is the carbon tamid. It's not there. It's not in the doesn't say anything about it. It leaves the carbon tamid out when the Shulchan Aruch gives that list of good stuff to say, which we're concluding means nice but not necessary. If you have time, say it. Especially if you know what it means. All right, the Mishna Berurah writes that if you're going to say a bunch of stuff but you don't actually know what it means, probably better to learn something that actually you actually understand what it means. At least when it comes to that section, okay? Of the of the Ten Commandments, etc., etc. But, it's not in there. So, what about the Tamid? So, you have to keep going in the book. And in the 48th, I believe, section in the there it says not it's good, but it's not again. There are those who have the custom to say the Tamid. And he gives a rather light language, but other posts give give a little bit more of a stricter language, which is like you should say and that's like the language of the book. And other posts give and say a person talking if you have time, if it's possible, ideally when you're praying one should say the Tamid. So, between the book you know, the book of the book and the book of the book, the only thing which you really should say is the Tamid. This passage that we're going to learn today. Okay? As opposed to the other passages, which it's good to say, but you don't have to say it. So far, so good? Now, question number two. What happens if you came late? Right? You come late to praying. You want to make sure you get your enough to catch up to the book. Say it together if you want to with the minion. And so, we know that you have to say the basics of of of of the book. What's the basic book of the book sandwich? We have the book of the book at the beginning. The other book of the book is the other piece of bread. And then, what do we need in the middle? It's we need a book of the book and the book is the chosen book of the book because the book of the book the book of the book says that anyone who says it three times is a book of the book because of the important messages in the Ashrei and we'll get up to that at some point. So that's the minimum. But let's say you can already Yeah. How come you don't say you say two Ashreis in Shacharit and not one in Mincha, one in Shacharit, one in Mincha, one in Ma'ariv? So why not add an Ashrei at Ma'ariv and then uh It's a good question. Maybe is my guess. It has to do with the two following factors. One, there's a minhag not to say Tehillim at night. Maybe that's to do that. Two, Ma'ariv, as we'll see, the the davening is all corresponds to the korbanot. Okay? So Shacharit is course the timing of the korbanot. The Ma'ariv bracha staff above concludes the reason why you're supposed to daven 4 hours because the tamid korban korban tamid that we're we're we're learning about today was offered until the morning. 4 hours according to Rabbi Yehuda. And chatzot according to chachamim. And Mincha was after the tamid korban the afternoon. Um and what about Ma'ariv? There was no uh sacrifice at night. So Ma'ariv was originally optional. >> [clears throat] >> Okay? By the way, interestingly enough, who's the rabbi in the Gemara who helps us get to that conclusion that Ma'ariv is optional, who asked the question to Rabbi Yehoshua, is Ma'ariv optional or not? Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. He he's in the air. So Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai apparently wanted all of Am Yisrael to know that Ma'ariv was originally optional. And therefore there's a whole big argument in the Gemara between Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabban Gamliel about whether Ma'ariv is optional. And maybe for that reason it wasn't instituted to say Ashrei, which is to prepare you for the davening. However, nowadays, Am Yisrael has taken upon ourselves a custom to daven Ma'ariv. Without the Ashrei? At least us menfolk. Therefore, for menfolk, it's a chiyuv. It's a chiyuv based on the minhag of Am Yisrael. But we don't always repeat the Amidah. And that's why we don't repeat the Amidah because there's a difference. As Mincha and Shacharis are a different level of halachic chumlus, so to speak, and that's why they weren't metaken a chazaras hashatz. So, maybe that's why Ashrei wasn't done at at Maariv, or maybe there's a better explanation. We can look into it, but that's that's what I got for now. Okay? And that, by the way, is a perfect lead-in to this minhag of Tamid shel Shacharis. Basically, it turns out there's a very strong, very ancient custom to say Tamid shel Shacharis, to say these words, and then we'll explain soon why. But that is the minhag, and based on the minhag, it's very important and good to do. So important, in fact, that rules of Pninei Halacha, based on other poskim of Ramah, and writes, if you have to choose between Halukka and Tamid shel Shacharis and saying this korban thing that we're going to learn tonight, what wins? Tamid shel Shacharis. Not a shocker for some people. When I when I learned that, I was surprised. Obviously, the ideal would be to say everything, or as much as you can, and certainly the Halukka is very important. But indeed, some rabbis poskin that it's so important to say this korban Tamid that it takes precedence even to Az Yashir, even to Vayivarech David, even to the Halukkas. That's how important saying this Tamid shel Shacharis is. Yeah. Is that for the men and women? Good question. Good question. So, there are even some poskim who are stringent and say that women also should say the Tamid shel Shacharis, if possible. Maybe another day we'll discuss how we'll have a discussion back to what extent are women obligated in davening, you know, Shacharit, Shacharit and Mincha. It's very interesting halachic discussion, but if they're already davening Shacharit and they have time, right? You know, little kids who are you know, who they're obligated to take care of, it's a very praiseworthy and good thing for women to say this Tamid Shacharit. After all, they're part of the tzibbur, too, and this is a communal offering as we'll jump into. So, therefore, uh there are poskim right, women too should try to say the korban Tamid, okay? Great. Um Good. In fact, some poskim even say if you missed it, you came really late, you you had to skip it, after davening, if you can, go back and say it later. That's how important it is, okay? Now, that's what the Orach Chaim and the Griz writes. Um A few more halachic details. Some poskim bring down as brought down in the Mishna Berurah by the Magen Avraham of Avraham Gombiner, that when you say the korban Tamid, you should stand. What might be the rationale behind that? Why would there be an inyan of standing when saying the korban Tamid? Because the Kohanim were standing when they're bringing the sacrifices. So, it's like we're reenacting what they did. That's that's exactly the argument of the Magen Avraham. But other poskim are lenient and they say you don't have to do that because we're not actually bringing the sacrifice. After all, who actually was bringing the korban Tamid? Kohanim. As far as I know, I'm not a kohen. So, we're not actually bringing it. It's like we're bringing it, so we don't have to reenact it exactly, okay? And that's why a lot of them might say you don't have to. There are other poskim for the same reason, who say it's a good thing to do with the t board. Because after all, it's a communal offering. So, you want to do it with the t board if possible. And similarly, if a person's running early uh and they are up before dawn, they say you should wait to do the the tamid shel shacharit until the dawn time, until close towards netz, so sunrise, cuz that's when the the actual sacrifice was brought. If you're going to do it earlier, the sacrifice wasn't brought that early. So, it's a bit problematic to some of the commentaries. Okay? Beautiful. Um a few more things. Just Some say Shavei Tzion brings Shulchan Aruch that says you don't have to. Rav Ovadia Yosef, that's as we mentioned, um good. The Kaf Hachaim says you can sit. What about saying it before Mincha? Have you guys ever seen anybody saying the korban tamid before Mincha? What would be the rationale? There are There are those. You know, our Sephardi troops didn't didn't make it in today, but they'll tell you that they're Nusach Sephard and Nusach Sephardi Edot Hamizrach, uh you'll see it in the siddur, it says the korban tamid. What's the rationale behind saying the korban tamid before Mincha? Twice a day. Cuz tamid shel shacharit is tamid shel bein ha'arbaim. So, of course, it's a good thing to do, a good practice, to say the korban tamid uh before Mincha. So, that brings me to another question. So, if so, why is it that the minhag is not quite as strong to daven, to say korban tamid before Mincha as it is before shacharit? It's already mentioned in the morning book. So, maybe you already covered it in the in the morning. That's one explanation, exactly. And at the end of the day, this is a minhag. This is not a halacha that was nikva al yedei chazal. And the minhag for whatever reason developed to say it in shacharis. I don't know, people just take shacharis a bit more seriously. Maybe why why do people wear tefillin at at shacharis and not mincha? So, maybe it has something to do with that. We don't really know, but uh the minhag is not as strong to do it by mincha, but it's a probably a good thing to do. Probably if a person has time to say the korban tamid before mincha, um then that's a praiseworthy thing to do. Um and that is what the Rama writes. K'tsad an adam omer parshas tamid kodem ashrei she'al tfilas mincha, nagid tamid shel bein arbayim uminhag yafehu. The Rama himself writes this is a beautiful custom to do it before mincha in the Shulchan Aruch. Good. Okay, so that was a little bit of halachic background. Why? Where did this whole crazy idea come from of saying the korbanos? I mean, we can't bring korbanos anymore. So, where did this idea come from in the first place that we could just say it? So, it really goes back to the Gemara in Taanis. And it's mentioned in other places, it's in Megillah, too. Taanis daf chof zayin, amud beis. Here is what the Talmud teaches us. You ready? Amar Rabbi Yitzchak bar Nachmani amar Rabbi Asi, ilmalei ma'amados lo nikyemu shamayim va'aretz. If not for the ma'amados, the heaven and the earth would implode. It would not be able to exist if not for ma'amados. What's ma'amados? Ma'amados were shifts. Back in Talmudic times, the Gemara in Taanis tells us, just like nowadays we have jury duty, and everybody's got to do their shift once in a while, so they had shifts where different Yidden would come. There were 24 different shifts and come to Yerushalayim and represent the Jewish people and there were special prayers which were said and different segments of Kohanim who would bring the sacrifices during that time period. And they were the ones bringing the Tamid offering and it says if not for the Tamid this korban, the whole world would explode. If not for this continual offering. So, what's the obvious question? We don't have korbanot nowadays. So, shouldn't the whole world just kaboom? Right? The Gemara says, "You name it by your own mercy. I don't care about me. That's your issue." So, what? Who says sacrifices are so important? It actually goes back to Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu asked God, "How will I know that I will inherit the land of Israel? So, I'm Avraham, you want to tell him somebody is a hotty and a panicky hot? Maybe the Jewish people are going to sin and you're going to make another flood. You're going to destroy the world. So, Hashem said, "You know what? I have a proof that I'm never going to destroy the Jewish people. Take a the egg lamb mishuleshet and the egg mishuleshet. Take uh an animal and sacrifice it. Right? That's We're talking about the Brit bein habetarim. The covenant of the parts where Avraham brings sacrifices to God. And this sacrifice this Gemara is telling us is our continual connection to Hashem. This is our way of maintaining our endless connection to Hashem that can never be broken. No matter how low we go, korbanos connects us. But, wait a second. Avraham Avinu says Avraham Avinu according to the Gemara, "Teina with much better to make this guy. I mean, I get it when the time when we have a Beit Hamikdash. There's much ain't Beit Hamikdash kayama at the land. But, at the time when there's no Beit Hamikdash, what's going to be? What's going to be when we don't have a Beit Hamikdash? Ah, there you go. Five minutes say their carbonos. This month they're going to have a banana and eat a cream bun. At the time when you say the carbonot, it's like you actually brought the carbonot. Okay? And I forgive all of your sins. So this Gemara is giving us an amazing gem. It's telling us once upon a time we had carbonos. Right? The Gemara in a different place in Midrash and in the Torah teaches that when you went to bed at night in Yerushalayim, all your sins would be forgiven. The Tamid shel Shachar would get rid of the sins of the morning and the Tamid shel Arba'im would get rid of the sins of the afternoon. That's why at night we don't have a Tamid shel Shachar. So we have to say "Please God forgive our sins." Please God forgive our sins. We don't have those sacrifices. That was once upon a time, but we don' is telling us there's one way which we can still uh as if to ilu bring the carbonos and that is by saying the words of the carbonos. By saying the Tamid shel the the carbonos every day, we are as if bringing the korban and as if getting all of our sins erased. And that is the makor, that is the essential reason for the importance of saying these carbonos. Yeah? There's another similar Gemara in Menachot 110. Amorav Yonatan ilu talmidei chachamim ha'oskim ba'Torah bechol makom aleihem ki'ilu magishim li shemi. Ze'ev lomed Torah ba'Taharah, nos'ei ishah va'achar kach lomed Torah. a person who learns the laws of carbonos says agrees with him it's as if you learn the guilt offerings as as if you actually brought the guilt offerings. Okay, so same idea both of these gemaras are asserting that saying it and learning it it's like you're actually doing it. Like you're actually bringing the carbonos. Okay, this is based on a very very fundamental and important in Hoshea and the passage says we don't have cows nowadays. But by speaking it's like instead of our mouth. Okay, so so that's that's the the fundamental concept. Now, it is worth noting that both the in his safer maymarom point out it's like you brought the carbonos. It's not actually we didn't actually bring the carbon. In other words, when we had a beta migdash says the maymarom of Chalap we had a double whammy. The carbon brought purity and our it inspired us to pray with more sincerity. As the Ramban famously teaches and when you're going to see the carbon you're going to start thinking to yourself wow, that could have been me and I can't believe that little sheep's dying. Really I deserve to die and I need to do chuva and he's going to it's supposed to inspire a person to have a personal prayer experience. So it was a carbon and a prayer together which gets rid of even the even the uh remnant of sin. But writes the nowadays it gets rid of it but not fully. We're still waiting for the Mashiach to come, bring back the Beit Hamikdash, and fully wipe away the sins. Right? Teshuvah helps a lot, Yom Kippur helps, but it's not without korbanos, we're we're not 100% there, but by speaking saying these korbanos, it's like we're actually uh we're getting as as close as we can get. Yeah? You're good? All right. Now, why is that? How could it be that I'm just saying the korban, and it's like I actually brought a korban. How did How did that work? We just say I don't know. That's what the Gemara says. So, I trust it, the Gemara. And that that is that is true. But, let's think a little bit nonetheless. Why? Why would it be that speaking about the korbanos is like you're actually bringing a korban. How does that work? It enters the same feelings, maybe. I don't know. Good. So, let's start let's start with Aryeh Leib's answer. What's the goal of a korban? Transform you. To transform you, and what's the root of the word korban? To Bring close. Bring you close, karev, to bring you close to Hashem. But, Hashem is not a physical being. So, how do we bring ourselves close to Hashem? Through our yearning. Through our heart, through our thoughts, through our emotions. The korban is God's way of allowing us we do his ratzon, and we get close to him. But, we don't have korbanos anymore. But, what do we still have? We still have yearning. We still have our desire to get get close to him. And I think this is my angle at least that when I'm saying the korbanos, I'm expressing that same desire to get close to Hashem, that the yearning for purity. And so, to an extent, I can almost get to the same touch down that I can get with a korban. By the way, I read in Rav Schwab on prayer something so fundamental. Therefore, you have to feel when you're saying the korbanos like you're actually bringing the korbanos. And so often, I can only speak for myself. I'm sure you guys are much better than me. I just run through it. You know, you come late to davening, fast as possible, and I'm lucky I get to say it, and then to actually feel it, that's a whole different madrega. But hopefully after this year, you know, we'll understand that it's not just good enough to say the words. Even if I don't understand every single word that I'm saying, I have to understand my general perspective of why I'm saying the korban tamid is to gain closeness with say to do the ratzon of to be embraced by Hakadosh Baruchu. If I don't feel that, I'm missing out a fundamental element of korban tamid, of the korbanos. Okay? So far we're good? Beautiful. Okay. So now, let's philosophize just a little bit. Let's talk about I have a question for you guys. What is the most important pasuk in the Torah? Wake you up in the middle of the night, and I have to say, "Hey, Larry, tell me, you know, you have a guy you met him at the Kotel, and he doesn't know anything about Judaism, and he says, "Larry, what's like the most important verse in all of Judaism?" I don't know. What do you think? >> what a basic korban tamid Uh you guys just know too much. You guys know too much. You're supposed to say Shema Yisrael, Bereishit. You guys are talmidei chachamim. I can't sneak anything by you guys. Okay? So, in fact, this is a a midrash brought by the Anei Yakov. Nobody actually knows where the midrash is, but there's some sort of midrash out there. And the rabbis are in the basement midrash and they're asking, "What's the most important pasuk in the Torah?" And one of them said, "Like I suggest Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad." But one rabbi says, "You know what's the most important pasuk in the Torah? The most important verse in the Torah are these verses of taking two sheep ships and sacrificing them every single day." Wow. Why? Why is that the most important verse of the Torah? Love your friend as yourself is another After we have Kamogah Rabbi Akiva, that's that that that that'll work with the kiruv. Gave us a ah, but says the posting. It's very nice all the fluffy beautiful inspirational moments in life, but if it's not anchored in consistency, consistent service of Hashem, so then it it's it's it's it's not going to last. It's not real. So, ah Kevas Achas Esrei Bevocher Uvein Haarbaim. The Korban Tamid, lesson number one that we're reminding ourselves of every single day when we daven, is the fundamental importance of consistency in my avodas Hashem. Of finding ways to have anchoring myself that every day, no matter what my mood is, I'm still going to do this. All right? Sometimes I look around in shul and it's like a random you know, fast day or Shabbos morning at the Kotel in a long leining and I see people kind of like falling asleep and I say I I I'm sure that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is so proud of the Jewish people. Because when you come for the exciting dancing Friday night Carlebach minyan, okay, so it's a lot of fun. So, I'm very happy that you came. It's amazing. But the fact that you came on a leaning on a boring day day in day out, no matter what, you still came to the davening. You still came to the shiur. Right? You still came to your daf yomi. You still woke up for shacharis. You still made time for avodas Hashem. That that's the key. That's shows you're a committed person. That's the key to marriages, it's the key to relationships, and it's the key to a true relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu is to be able to just make commitments, jump into it, and be consistent. So, perhaps that's why that is the most important pasuk in the Torah according to that midrash. And that is one of the levels, one of the ideas that I think we have to remind ourselves every day when we say the korban tamid, the importance of consistency, rain or shine. On the other hand, I think there might be a the flip side. That the truth is, when you do something over and over and over again, what of course is the danger? It naturally will become robotic. Right? Everything with them, saying brachos. So, of course, it's only natural that it's going to become thoughtless. That's how Hashem created us. And so, that's the lesson number two. We have to take our tamid service of Hashem and bring fire into it. They're offering it up to Hakadosh Baruch Hu with fire. The boring daily the daily shacharis, the daily shma, the daily brachos, the daily I don't know going to work and doing the same thing every single day. For me, I've been doing the same tour at the Kotel Tunnels for like 10 years now. Sometimes it could be a little boring, you know? But that's that's it. Then I have to remember this teaching. You have to bring fire to the to the thing you're doing day in and day out and find a way to make it exciting away again. And how do you do that? But how do you make davening exciting again? How do you make learning exciting when you're doing it every day? Any any thoughts about how we can bring that fire into our consistent avodas Hashem? It's hard. It's hard. Definitely hard. There's no big majash for that kidush. So if you're going to learn Ah. about the korbanos, it's going to be like a new thing. Exactly. So I would say getting our brains involved, learning about it, automatically will bring a certain energy and newness and freshness into whatever we're doing. Whatever we're we could do it a thousand times, the more you learn about it, it'll bring some fire. And even if you were super excited at one point in your life, eventually it's going to go dry and you're going to need to go back again and learn it again. That's just the nature of life. You need to eat, you need to drink, you need to learn. Especially tfila, which is why I give this tfila sheer. A little bit for you guys, but mainly for me. So that I can learn about the davening and be uh excited about my tfila. So that's true with everything in life. Everything, if we learn about it, that's a great etza of uh of getting ourselves excited. Another etza which I give myself, I do it for other people. You know, when I give a tour, it may be the same speech, but it's different people every time. So looking in their eyes and seeing their first time doing it brings me excitement. So when you find a way to give not just to yourself, but for others, that's another great way of keeping keeping it fresh, keeping it real. Bezrat Hashem. Tov. Um getting a chavruta, there's a lot of etzas we can give. But idea number two, if I'm talking about the general idea of korban tamid of and of ideas that we're reminding ourselves every day is to bring fire into the everyday. Okay? Beautiful. Um The third idea that I saw is by Reb Melamed. He says something very little philosophical, very interesting. He says the korban tamid is based on the Maharal represents the idea that the entire world is connected to the source of life through the tamid offering. In the course of life, there's birth, there's development, and there's death. The entire world strives towards elevation and perfection. Part of this is through growth and development, and part of this is achieved through death. The cessation of life is not enough. Actually, it's a sacrificial offering expressing the endeavor towards perfection. So, long story short, symbolically, I'm reminding myself that all of life, even death, has a has a has a goal. All of life is ultimately yearning towards perfection. Towards clinging to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Beautiful. Okay, so three nice ideas. I want to now ask a a different type of question, and that's in the placing of the of the actual chapter of the korban tamid. I mentioned to you guys before that the korban tamid is in parshas Pinchas. All right, that's the parsha with all the holidays. Okay? But, interestingly enough, we may not have noticed, but korban tamid was offered earlier in the Torah. It was offered right after Har Sinai in parshas Tetzaveh. There in Shmot perek tet, the Torah goes out of its way and tells us about the korban tamid. Okay? And then interestingly enough, it does it again. It comes back in Parshas Pinchas, 20th chapter of Bamidbar, and it reiterates again this Korban Tamid. So, the parshanim, the Ramban, the Barbanel, they're all trying to figure out why. What's the What's the idea of of of reiterating the Korban Tamid, okay? So, to make a long story short, I'll give you guys the background. The answer they suggest is that we have to go scroll back a little bit to what happened in chapter 26 and chapter 27 of Bamidbar, and when we understand that, we're going to try to figure out together maybe why God needs to reiterate it a second time. So, what happens right before the Korban Tamid? Basically, there's three big events. First, Aaron passes away. Second, the Jewish people are being told to take a census because they're going into the land of Israel. They're going to Israel. And third, Moshe Rabbeinu passes away. Moshe Rabbeinu is about to die. Or he does die. I think he I look it up, but the the death of Moshe No, the death of Moshe He's told he's going He's about to die. I'm sorry. And then we hear about the Korban Tamid a second time. Okay, so those are the clues that the Torah is giving us. We have the Jewish people back to the land into the land of Israel and the death of Moshe and Aaron, and then God says, "Wait, wait, wait. I need to give you the laws of the continual offering one more time." So, [snorts] why? What do you What do you think? Why What is it about those two events which might have brought the Torah to feel the need to reiterate the message of the Korban Tamid? I stumped you guys. What was the carbon for? Ah, well what did we just suggest? What was one of the main ideas of the of the carbon tamid that we've been suggesting? Consistency. A consistent avodat Hashem. Who said that? Who says that? That was Arubashot in the Midrash that were posted the Hiliger Rebbe. And many many other darshanim before him. I have to be honest, it's a it's a famous drash, but Rebbe Poston wrote it down tonight. Ah, suggests as to the shot behind that Gemara. So if that's true, I think it works perfectly. This this answer is actually given alluded to by the Abarbanel. The Abarbanel says we have to take them both into account. First of all, they're about to go into the land of Israel. They're going to have a big change. And you know what they're going to do in order to get the land of Israel? How they going to What are they going to have to do in order to get it? They're going to have to fight. And they're likely pretty scared. And they're nervous. Okay? And this is going to be a big change. They're going to the land of Israel. And with that background, what else is happening? Their great leaders are dying. What happened the last time that Moshe Rabbeinu disappeared from the scene? They built the golden calf. The golden calf. It didn't happen It didn't work out so well. There was a leadership vacuum and they felt, "Oh no." They panicked. "How are we going to connect to God? How are we going to overcome our enemies? We need a a an a middle man." Without Moshe Rabbeinu, they're in big trouble. They're going to the land of Israel, it's a whole new war. What are they going to do? And what's the Torah's solution to that quandary that they must have been feeling. Korban Tamid. The answer is yes, you're going to have great leaders, Moshe Rabbeinu as teachers who are going to inspire you, these charismatic, unbelievable, holy men, and that's very, very important. But at the end of the day, what's going to push you through, help you overcome all your challenges in life? It's the day-to-day service, the little things, just showing up, showing up day in, day out, coming to the shear, learning, making that havirusa, just showing up in that Korban Tamid continual consistent experience. That's the message that Hashem is telling the Jewish people. That's going to help us overcome our challenges. Okay? Pretty cool. So, another, I think it it links with our drasha before, and maybe that's why the Korban Tamid is reiterated, uh and also it's interesting that uh the the Torah goes out of its way to say after mentioning the Korban Tamid, "V'shachanti b'toch B'nei Yisrael, v'hayiti lahem l'Elokim." In Parshas Tetzaveh, that's when Hashem says, "I'm going to dwell in your midst." When you're doing this day in, day out, you know, from below to above, Avodas Hashem, of that the Korban Tamid represents. Okay? Beautiful. Tov. Um Um okay, one more idea, one more idea, and then we're going to run run through the words of the tefillah itself. Okay? Korban. Yeah? Uh let's go back a minute to last week's parsha. Last week's parsha, we have a very, very interesting Rashi. We have the laws of the holidays. And smack right between before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, between Pesach and Shavuos, we have the law of leket, leket and shich'chah. We have all the laws of the holidays, and then we have a law of charity, of of leaving the corners of your field Um for for the poor people. So, why do we have the laws of agriculture and being nice to the poor people right in between the holidays? So, says Rashi, you know why? What what what's the reason for the holiday? Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah. So, we're getting Well, the reason for the holiday on a simple level is connect to Hashem. And on a simple level, I say, "Oh, even the agricultural holidays and the bein adam l'chavero, it's also to connect to Hashem." I think that's a simple p'shat. But, Rashi says something a bit interesting. This is language. L'lamed kol an odain leket shich'ah u'pe'ah meiser, ani karui karui malin alav k'ilu banah Beit Hamikdash. If you give tzedakah, if you leave a corner of your field for the poor person to take to take that tzedakah, it's like you built the Beit Hamikdash. U'makriv korbanot l'tocho. And it's like you're actually um bringing the korbanot into uh into the Beit Hamikdash by leaving uh uh uh a small piece of wheat in your in your field so that the poor person can pick that up. It's a strange language. To say it's a nice thing, it's a mitzvah. To say that by leaving the sheaf of wheat, it's like I built the Beit Hamikdash. What does leaving a sheaf of wheat have to do with building the Beit Hamikdash and bringing korbanos? You hear? Yeah, what do you think? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Sorry. So, So, here's the p'shat I heard from a a rav of mine and a friend of mine. He says like this. Because, you know what? The The Gemara says that if you have a field and you see two aniyim arguing over uh whose sheaf that is, you're not allowed to get involved in that argument. Why you're not allowed to get involved? Cuz it's not yours. It's not your field. That's hard. I plowed that field. I worked that field. I did everything for that field. But, this week's parashah, right? Shmita. Ultimately, it's Hashem's field. That's not easy. It's a hard. All right, it's not easy to leaving a whole corner of your field and just walking away and letting people take all of your hard work. But that's called sacrifice. That's sacrifice. Sometimes in life, we sacrifice our natural desires and recognize that this is the ratzon of Hashem. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants me to do. So, maybe that's the idea of a korban, too. When we read the korban tamid, we're reminding ourselves that every day we're going to have to make little sacrifices. That's just part of life. Sometimes it's sacrificing sleep. Sometimes it's it's sacrificing money. But to be an eved Hashem, hopefully they are small sacrifices, not dramatic sacrifices represented by the korban tamid. And sometimes we're going to have to make big sacrifices like the kidat Yitzchak, which we'll talk about soon. But we can't be scared of that. That's that's that's part of life. And in the in it's those sacrifices which are ultimately going to create that intimate close connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So, that's I just one one other angle as to the bigger concept of the bigger idea behind korbanos. I think another time, maybe next week or next time, we'll discuss the famous argument between Ramban and Rambam as to what's the bigger goal of korbanos. Are we going to have korbanos when Mashiach comes? Animal sacrifices, not animal sacrifices. Maybe we'll get into that a little bit soon. But but right now I'm I'm giving you kind of the mainstream approach, the approach of the Ramban, that bringing these korbanos is bringing us this deep spiritual close connection to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, even if we don't understand all of the details. Okay. Tov. Let's just run through the words. Okay? You ready? We're going to run through the words and try to understand them and if we have if we can throw in a tiny bit of explanation for our last 10 minutes of learning together. Uh by you the bear Hashem El Moshe Rabbeinu God spoke to Moshe saying Tzav et Bnei Israel umarta aleihem command the Jewish people and tell them. Interesting double language. Why do we need the double language? Requires a little bit of thought. Uh generally we have a concept that tzav means it cost money. So it must have been expensive. So any so yeah that every single day bring these lambs. Uh they took the money from the whole Jewish people and so maybe that's why the language of tzav is used to to to Et korban lachmi ishai my korban my bread to God. Um what do we mean when we say it's God's bread? What do we mean that a korban is God's bread? Does God eat these sacrifices? No. It's a bit weird. So what do So how do we explain that God's calling it uh his bread? So the truth is there's mystical answers which are way beyond my understanding that somehow spiritually we're giving him Pleasure. >> [snorts] >> Pleasure, exactly. Or as the Gemara says he gets pleasure from the fact that we're doing his will. That's his pleasure. His geshmack his nachas the fact that the Jews that the Yidden are doing his will. That's his lechem. Another explanation I I heard I read today from the Barbanel is that lechem when you eat bread it connects the body to the soul. Because if you didn't eat you die. So it Right? It's interesting. Bread it also connects people to one another. We eat when you have bread with the Shimon bar Yochai teaches us you always have to speak words of Torah. Cuz we're having a physical connection, we have to have a spiritual connection, connect the body and the soul. So lechem is really about connection. Now let's break bread. Maybe that's why there's a gazaira that Jews and and non-Jews shouldn't eat bread together. Right? Look at it. Or because that's the deep connection. Sometimes there's factors, but on a fundamental level it's about connection. Breaking the bread is about connection. So in the same way uh we want to be connected, but we also have to have a a little bit of a disconnect so we don't get the intermarriage problems. In any case, so this lechem of Hashem is the connecting point. This korban is somehow connecting us with the Kadosh Baruchu. So symbolically it's a bread. That's the the Abarbanel's. He says by the way interesting milchama, a war, connects the fighters. When you're going to war, you're like you're you're feel very connected with the people you're fighting with. So that's why the root of milchama is lechem. Pretty cool. Anyways, a korban lechem my korban lechem for my fire. For this fire. Zeh re'ach nicho'ach a nice smelling uh re'ach. The korban that we're offering before God smells really nice. What do we What do we What do we mean that it smells nice to God when he smells the the sacrifices? How do How do we understand that that God's that it smells nice? There's many many explanations. >> No one wants to be around anything that doesn't smell good. You don't want to be around something that smells good. That's true. Says the Mashiach he's going to be able to smell the fear of God. Because smell is something you can't see with your eyes, but if you have the whoosh, you can feel whether it's legit, whether it's real or not. You can smell it out. So, smell represents kind of this sixth sense. Interestingly enough, smell was the one thing that we didn't blemish back in the Garden of Eden. We blemished our hands. We blemished our taste by tasting the fruit. We blemished our eyes by looking at the wrong things, but we didn't smell that fruit. So, smell is intact. So, smell is used as a symbolic way of saying its insides are are pure and good. Our intentions This sacrifice is is being revealing our holy intentions of connecting to Hashem. You should bring to uh bring to God on his holiday. Why you in the plural? Cuz who had to bring the korban tamid, of course? The Kohanim on behalf of? The Israelites. The whole Jewish people. Right? The Sifrei Chinuch writes that the mitzvah on the community on the community. Right? Like a shliach tzibbur. The the kriat haTorah is for the whole community. So, the korban tamid, it's a mitzvah on the whole community. And every Jew has to be a cheil, a part of it. And I tell them, this is the fire which you're going to bring to Hashem. Goats which are 1 year old, pure, unblemished. Two every single day, a continual olah offering. Olah means who eats it? The the the regular Joe Schmo eat this korban? No, goes up to Hashem. Goes up to Hashem. That's what it accepts Hashem. Okay? Why two two goats? One in the morning, one in the afternoon. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. But what do they Why what do the the the the these lambs, what do these sheep uh represent, these these kvasim? So, Rav Schwab suggests it represents it the Jewish people. We see in Yirmiyahu it calls the Jewish people sheep. Like we sing Tzonecha, we are your sheep and you're our shepherd. The Jewish people are compared to sheep. This represents the Jewish people. We would start off the day bringing the communal offering right at nates. And then we would do it in the afternoon. But when would they actually practically bring the korban tamid every day? About 8 hours into the day, in late afternoon. They could have done it earlier from plag mincha on, from 6 and 1/2 hours in, but they waited till the end of the day to bring the sacrifice. Why? Because they you're not allowed to bring your own personal sacrifice after the communal offering has been brought. So, they wanted to allow people enough time to bring their personal sacrifices. Only at the very end of the day did they bring the the afternoon uh korban. That's why to this day there's a little bit of an advantage davening mincha in the late afternoon. Although there's also an advantage of doing it in the early afternoon because of zrizus makdimin l'mitzvos, but there's a spiritual preference. The Rambam says it's a little better to do it at the time they actually brought the korban bein ha'arbaim. You should bring a tenth of an eifah uh uh fine flour for the mincha. With oil, revi'is hahin, which is finely oil uh uh a revi'is is a certain measurement of a hin. A continual offering like you saw at Har Sinai. Okay? So, the pashut pshat is that God actually told these laws to Moshe at Har Sinai. Reb Schwab suggests another pshat that we're taking from the experience of Har Sinai and we're recreating that every single day. When do we recreate that? On the mizbeach. I thought at the korban notes. That's where the mizbeach is made of earth, just like Har Sinai with earth. So we're re-experiencing that divine intimacy with Hashem when we saw the fire of Hashem at Mount Sinai. Every Every time we would actually experience the korban notes. You with me? But Okay. And we're offering up the fine flour and we're offering up, as we'll see, mincha and the wine. We're offering up the fine pleasures to God. The kodesh nesekh l'Adonai. These This alcoholic beverage we're offering it up for the sake of Hashem. The second one in the afternoon, the second one in the afternoon, just like the morning offering and with his nesachim, with these libation offerings, yishareach l'Hashem. A pure, beautiful smelling offering before God. Okay? So that's the end of the korban notes, but then just to finish off, one extra pasuk is added in. The shachat al yerach mizbeach tzafonah l'Hashem. V'zarqu Aharon u'vanav et damo al hamizbeach saviv. And you should shachat the animal on the north of the altar, the north before God, and you and the Kohanim should throw its blood all around the altar. Okay? This was a custom to say this extra pasuk about the north side brought down by later poskim. This is a an important minhag and it's for kabbalistic reasons. So it wasn't the minhag of every congregation to do it, but it's become widespread to add this pasuk in. And I myself never really understood what's the deeper meaning. Baruch Hashem, we are so lucky that Rav Schwab in his beautiful safer and he he he suggests like this, we know in the Gemara a mizbeach uh represents some something in particular. What does an altar represent? Sufferings. The Gemara says that when a person has yissurim, when a person has afflictions, and he accepts those afflictions instead of rebelling against God, so then it it counts to him like an like he brought a a sacrifice on the mizbeach. And particularly on the north side of the mizbeach. So, in fact, the Gemara says that if Iyov would have accepted his sufferings with uh equanimity and not complained, we would say Elokei Iyov. Instead of saying Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, Elokei Yaakov, we'd say Elokei Iyov. But because he complained, he didn't reach the level of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. So, in other words, God gives us sufferings, and they're actually a tremendous opportunity to say everything's from Hashem, I accept it, it's all for the best. And when we do that, we're actually offering up unbelievable uh korban, so to speak, on the north side of the mizbeach. And when we complain about it, we miss the opportunity. Might still, you know, clean out our system to a certain extent, but when we accept it with recognizing that gam zu l'tovah, uh so then um so then that actually uh clears out our system. And apparently this last pasuk is uh an allusion to that concept of accepting that we're going to sacrifice to Hashem and we're going to accept it, it's all for the best. And with that, I want to just end off last 3 minutes with one thought on Lag BaOmer. Should come out in a bracha, okay? Cuz it's connected. So, we everybody knows that Lag BaOmer we generally think about which character? Shimon bar Yochai. The Rashbi. But actually, the Chida suggests the main character that we're really celebrating on Lag Ba'omer is actually Rabbi Akiva. There's a lot a lot to say about this. But says Gevolt says the Chida, you know what happened on Lag Ba'omer, you know what we're celebrating? That after losing 24,000 students comes Rabbi Akiva and starts again. Accepts his suffering. Says, I obviously have to learn something from this. I have to improve. I'm not going to complain. And I'm going to start again. And he is gives Smicha to five of his students. And one of those students, of course, is Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. So really what we're celebrating on Lag Ba'omer is this concept that there are going to be times in life when horrible things happen, when tragic things happen. We won't necessarily have an explanation always of why it happens. But we have Emunah, we have faith in Hashem that he has a plan and we just rebuild. We just start again. And if we take that attitude, we are we are mamish living in with the fire of of Rabbi Akiva, of the Rashbi. And we're we're we're living in aligned with the message of Korban Tamid. So just to summarize quick minute summary. We say Korban Tamid every day. It's a very important thing today to do, to say it if you can. When you say it, it's almost like bringing the Korbanos. It's a minag of the Jewish people. And it has a lot of beautiful meanings. It reminds us of consistency in our vote of Hashem. It reminds us to bring fire to our vote of Hashem. It reminds us that we don't just rely upon the high spiritual leaders and high spiritual experiences. We just keep pushing in our own personal experiences and at the end of the the the the the the carbon reminds us that when we accept with equanimity the challenging things in life, it ultimately brings uh kapara to ourselves. So, thanks everyone for a wonderful night, a wonderful shabbat shalom. Oh, yeah. >> [singing] [music] [applause] >> Yesher koach. >> [music] >> Yibaneh >> [singing] >> yibaneh yibaneh Hamikdash yibaneh >> [music] >> yibaneh yibaneh >> [singing] >> Hamikdash yibaneh yibaneh all my days. I have seen trouble >> [music and singing] >> all my days. I bid you farewell. I bid you farewell. I bid you farewell, [music and singing] my darling true. I'll never see you again.