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my baby
[Music]
alrighty okay
um hi everybody uh thank you for coming
I know it's a pretty exhausting right
before pesach
first uh tonight's share is foreign
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uh stucca for anemia before pesach and
the BS rats Hashem the campaign should
be very very successful
obviously passer is next week
and we're getting ready for it
and I really wasn't sure what to talk
about because the truth of the matter is
if you go back a few weeks ago we did
shmos
all of it was about pesach all of it was
about trium and The Exodus so one thing
I can tell you is if you want to have
some thoughts about pesach go back to
those she or him just a few weeks ago
and Hashem will also be talking about it
at the Seder this coming week
so what I want you to talk about
something is a little off the Beaten
Track but it is connected to pesach
and that is we concluded two weeks ago
the four partios there are four special
Torah readings
that were enacted in the month of Adar
as a precursor to pesach
and I just want to show how those four
partios as they are called are a
spiritual preparation
to the freedom of pesach
okay that'll be the the theme today as
kind of an introduction
uh to the Seder and an introduction to
zamanu the season of our freedom first
of all it's a very important point to
keep in mind
uh and this is before I even get to the
four partios an interesting idea
that on the second day of pesach we
already begin counting the counting of
the Omer
now the counting of the Omer is a
countdown or a count up
to shavuos that's the holiday of Torah
so essentially you're already thinking
about the next holiday
while you're in the middle or even the
beginning of this holiday
now normally we don't do that there's
kind of a philosophy in Judaism
we don't mix different types of Joys
when it's pesach we think about pesach
and yet I think about shavuos during
pesach
and there's a very very profound idea
there
and the profound idea is
that is freedom
shavuos is commitment and submission to
God
and the idea is freedom is Meaningful
only when there's commitment to Hashem
you know Eric from who has not really
happened to be Jewish he was not
religious by any stretch of the
imagination But Eric from Once said
people make a big mistake when they talk
about freedom from something
because that's just a negative freedom
from oppression
but that doesn't give content to your
life that doesn't give meaning to your
life
you have to look at Freedom it's not
freedom from something
but Freedom towards something
and indeed as early as Aristotle there
was a distinction made between negative
Liberty
and positive Liberty negative Liberty
simply means absence of restriction
but that doesn't give you anything
positive Liberty is when you focus your
freedom towards something very Noble and
very very significant
and that is why pesach and shavuas have
to be linked
because freedom without responsibility
is simply animal Liberation indeed the
Gomorrah makes the point that the grain
offering that you bring on Passover
is barley
that's the Omer offering which typically
was fed to animals in the olden days
before they invented Charlotte
now the grain offering that you bring on
shavu house is wheat
which is commonly human food
so pesach without you're simply an
animal
it's shavuos that turns your freedom
into dignity
that's a very important point because
human beings
Jews in particular but really all human
beings are hardwired
to seek meaning in their lives
and that's why it's no accident
that the suicide rate is sometimes
relatively High
among teens
in you know upper class middle class
countries
you know when you're spending the whole
day looking for a piece of bread you
don't have time to have existential
angst
but when you have your basic food and
shelter
and you don't have a sense of purpose
and your life is aimless
that can be so painful
that you can take your own life and
indeed take the lives of others as we
see in all the violence in the school
shootings
that go on in the United States
so
interestingly enough this may explain a
very interesting minnog that we have at
the Seder
and that is it's not a it's not a
halacha some people treat it like the
most important Allah it's not Allah at
all but
an Eastern European men I can ask him
you know
that after we eat the matzah and the
marour and the sandwich and the cover
and now we're finally getting down to
eat
the very first food that we serve is a
hard-boiled egg an egg that is dipped in
salt water
and it is said that that is the same
food you give a mourner after olivaya
because it's oval and it represents the
cycle of time there are good times and
they'll turn into you know bad times
turn into Good Times
and what you're doing is
AK Knight
because we don't have the carbon PESA so
there's a certain sadness that we have
but it's also pointed out very
interestingly
that the Knight of pesach the first
night of PESA which is what Wednesday
Wednesday night is the same night of the
week same night and day of the week as
the ninth above
later in the summer
so Tisha of
this summer will be Wednesday night and
Thursday
there are no accidents
in the Jewish calendar
why would it be that the first night of
pesach the night of freedom
is going to be linked to the ninth of us
so I would suggest the following
explanation
the first night of pesach
is the only night of pesach where
freedom is not yet linked to Torah
because you don't start counting the
Omer
until the second night
so the remnants in the calendar is
when freedom
is not connected to Torah
it's a direct line
to destruction
right that's the remnant so the egg in a
sense takes the place of counting of the
Omer it reminds you that when your
freedom is not connected to Torah it's
going to be destructive
indeed I've mentioned many times more
than once
the Beautiful
Michelle
by of the secular poets he was not
talking about Judaism tagari tagari was
an Indian poet
an Asian Indian poet who actually won
the Nobel Prize for literature back in
the 1920s
and he once described a human soul
is like the string of a violin
and that string is capable
of beautiful music
but only when it's tied down if you take
a loose string totally free
unencumbered not tied down
a loose string on the table
what music can you get out of it
you can't get any music at all
when it is tied down when it submits to
something
then the music of the Soul
can be very very beautiful so we think
sometimes
that submission to God is a burden
it ties me it limits me
even if I'm religious I might think that
way he said okay you know I got to do it
we don't realize
that when you submit to God
you're opened up
the beauty of your neshama
can now be expressed
one looks at this as not a slavery it is
a slavery
but in the slavery is liberation
is freedom we were freed from mithrayim
to become Hashem slaves
but in that slavery is the freedom
to become who we truly are and that is
why the first night of pesach
the egg
represents the notion that when the
freedom is not yet coupled
with that responsibility
there's going to be Tish above
now one of the secret hasidus has a
different take to make
who's the famous ishpitzer
ishpits was a city in Poland
and the reason I say the famous
ishpitzer is because kalbach made
these spritzer famous out of the
ishpitzer was a very very profound and
deep
and controversial thinker
in fact he was the rebbe of The Great
Raft sadok who's with also very very
deep and very profound representative is
better known the ishpitzer was rep
sadok's own rebbe
and uh he was certainly a great man but
he was not that well known to the
general public so shlomer kalbach
publicized many controversial thoughts
of the ishpitzer but the ishpitzer has
another take on the egg
which is actually it comes out with the
same thought but he does he comes at it
as a different way instead of looking at
the egg as a symbol of mourning
he says the egg represents a double
stage of birth unlike mammals
that are born alive
a bird is born in two stages
an egg is laid
and then eventually the egg is hatched
right there's two stages to the birth of
a bird
so too the remnants is the Jewish people
were born in two stages
is only stage one it is like the
hatching it's like the laying of an egg
matantola
is stage two and therefore it once again
it reminds us that we're only partially
born
right people say The Exodus is the birth
of the Jewish people well no it's not
the complete birth it's it's
that is the birth of the Jewish and
indeed you see this in the hagaria
itself because remember we have four
cups of wine
because of the four terms of redemption
I will take you out I will save you I
will redeem you and I will take you unto
me for a nation now it's very very clear
that that fourth term of redemption is
referring to Mata
the fourth Redemptive phrase is is
already post Exodus and it's referring
to Matan Torah itself that matantore
itself is a phallic
of the
of the of the Redemption right so that's
a little thought about about the egg but
now let's go back to what I wanted to
talk about and that is before parshields
as a hakadama
as an introduction to the pesach Seder
to you retainer
we know that perkyovos teaches us
that there are three basic pillars
that bring Holiness into the world this
was the famous teaching of Shimon
outsidec the great Cohen guttle at the
beginning of the second temple
mate the world stands on three pillars
on the learning of Torah a la Voda on
Divine service of prayer and corbanos
acts of loving kindness these are the
three pillars that bring Holiness into
the world and indeed each of our
Patriarchs exemplified one of those
pillars avraham was the foundation of
loving kindness and yet was the
foundation of sacrifice and prayer
because he himself was a sacrifice Yakov
spent 14 years in the Yeshiva of Shame
and Aver representing Torah learning Etc
but with sadak points out the same way
there are three positive factors that
bring Holiness into the world
there are three negative factors that
destroy holiness
and this is also in Turkey of us this is
the teaching of Rabbi Allah
is jealousy
taiva excessive lust for material and
sensual pleasure
a vote
egotism Glory the need of
self-advertisement
they take a person
out of the world that means they he can
lose his world to come and even this
world becomes miserable and lousy
because you're filled with jealousy and
egotism
and that diminishes your joy even in
this world
's point is the following with suffix
points I'll just state it and then we'll
explain it is that Parsha scalim
helps us deal with jealousy
helps us deal with lust
parshas Para
helps us deal with egotism gaiva and
kavat
and after we've eradicated
those negative destructive factors
were ready
and then we can face
right so that's the basic structure here
that in order to experience true freedom
you have to try to First liberate
yourself
from the negativities
of Kina
foreign
helps me deal with kinner we'll see why
helps me deal with taiva
para helps me deal with covert
and then I come to khodash hit
Reno so the idea of scholom and covered
I think we actually did explore so I'm
going to be relatively brief in this
just to connect it to the earlier
earlier sheer and that is remember that
parashatlam which we read either the
Shabbos before
we read it on that Shabbos
so that's a special Mafia that deals
with the mitzvah
foreign that one has to give a half
shekel for the upkeep of the base of
miktash and for the korbanos
now we pointed out then so this is going
to be a little bit of a Hazara
that the tower is very very mockbit that
this be a uniform amount rich people
cannot give more
and poor people cannot give less
everybody must give an equal amount
and the question is
what's wrong with rich people giving
more I understand a poor person can't
give less this is a minimum you gotta
contribute something
but what's wrong with the rich person
giving more if I want to give more to a
show more to Yeshiva
the Yeshiva is not going to take it
rest assured that they will
and yet a guy wants to give more than
amoxico
we don't take it
so if you remember I shared with you the
powerful thought of the svasemus
that rich and poor
do not only refer to people who have a
lot of money or people who don't have
money
but rich and poor refer to the entire
diversity of talent
that people have there are people who
are rich in wisdom
in charisma
in organizational ability whatever it
would be and then there are people who
might be lacking in some of these
qualities
and the lesson is
that rich and poor
stand equally
before God
because God does not judge us based on
our objective accomplishments
God judges US based on how much of our
abilities we gave him
so even in the case of money
the poor man who gives a dollar
might be more valued by Hashem than the
rich man who gives a thousand dollars
because for the poor man the one dollar
is a bigger sacrifice
so the notion of equality basically says
everybody stands before God is equal
because everybody has a mission
everybody has a tough kid everybody has
a job
and God does not judge you by comparing
you to somebody else
God judges You by how much of your
ability
have you given to him and that is the
meaning of the rambam that every person
could be as righteous as Moshe
now I can never be as great as Moshe
but the same way
that every Talent Moshe had he gave to
God
if I give every talent I have to Hashem
I am like Moshe even though my
accomplishments might only be one
billionth of moshe's accomplishments
so that's the message of Martin
everybody stands before God
with equality of access
equality of dignity
that's the uniformity aspect of Master
sashetto and then the other aspect is
why do you give a half rather than a
whole
because each person is incomplete
unless you join up with another
so these two ideas
the equality
and the need of interdependence
are a very strong antidotes
to the feelings of jealousy and envy
than they might have when I look at
another person
I look at another person and I say why
does he have so much money why does he
have so much brains whatever it is
but if I realize
that I stand before God
with the same dignity
and the same importance
and the same potential
and that that person needs me just as I
need him
then I'm no longer jealous
because I know I have a role
I know I have importance I know that God
needs me
to carry out his plan in the world
it's like you know we gave the example
it's like the spaceship you know there
are Motors and then there are little
screws and there are paper clips
and the paper clip might think it's not
important but without the paper clip the
whole thing will fall apart
as that sometimes happened
in the space program
so everybody is needed
everybody is essential
what is there to be jealous about
I am as important as the other person we
may have different jobs different
responsibilities
so in that sense
in its lesson of equality
and interdependence
is a strong antidote
to the feelings of jealousy that could
destroy us
okay so that's
now we now by the way rosatiq points out
that jealousy is the most hardest media
to conquer and that's why it's given the
most time that's why it's the first one
because you need all of the time until
pesach to kind of get rid of it that's
kind of the comments
of jealousy that's also part of the
homage that you're burning
we then come
to the second negative Force
that is Taver now taiva in a sense is a
little more complicated to deal with
than even jealousy
jealousy is a very hard meter to uproot
but we all understand that it's bad
meaning it may be hard for me to get rid
of but it's bad there's nothing positive
in jealousy and even though the sages do
say the jealousy between Torah Scholars
may be productive that's the jealousy
that encourages growth but the jealousy
that I want you to fail
there's nothing good about that
but our relationship to physical
pleasure sensual pleasure
it's a bit more complicated
because Judaism
is not ascetic it does not preach
asceticism
in fact the nuts here
is considered to be a sinner because
he's depriving himself
of the pleasure of wine
you tell me Jewish Army says
after 120 years
God is going to hold us to account for
every permissible pleasure we could have
enjoyed in this world
that we didn't
the flowers the trees the Alps of course
the first living near the Alps in
Germany he said God's going to ask you
did you Marvel at my Alps
I put them there for you did you
appreciate them right so on one hand
and of course even biologically you
can't go cold turkey on taiva and what
are you going to say uh don't eat
because you get physical pleasure for
meeting well you know you're going to
die
right so you need some connection to
type
and that's why it's harder meaning to
say anything
that you can just give up totally is
going to be easier to deal with in a
sense
than something by definition that you
can't give up totally
but you know that's why a food addiction
might even be worse than a smoking
addiction because smoking just stop well
it's not just stop I know I know that's
very hard but smoking you can ultimately
stop food you cannot stop right that's
kind of the difference and yet at the
same time we do know
that
even though a certain amount of
Indulgence in the physical pleasures of
the world
is not only permissible
but it's proper and it's good
and it Fosters gratitude and
appreciation and joy in life which is
very good
we do know that the more I do get
involved in the physical
the less my heart will be open
to the spiritual truths of God I get too
involved in possessions
too involved in material comforts it
diminishes my sensitivity
it gives me so to speak
a cold heart
right the part of the explanation might
be
because physical pleasures
tend to involve instant gratification
spiritual Pleasures are very rarely
instant gratification
takes work
it takes effort
and it's the nature of a human being
that once we get used to instant
gratification
we no longer want to put in the effort
for the gratifications that are deeper
and more meaningful
but take time to develop
a very simple example that's why uh
quite a few people
will watch television rather than talk
to their wife and children spouse and
children
because watching TV is an easier way
to kill time
right or somebody who's used to web
surfing where you simply jump from page
to page to page is not going to read
Shakespeare or William Faulkner
or somebody who lives on potato chips
and candy is not going to spend three
hours cooking a French meal
right these are secular examples but all
of them illustrate the idea
that when you're used to something
instance
you no longer have the patience you no
longer have the zits flesh as we say in
Yiddish
to work on something
and that's true
that if you're overly involved in the
tyvis of
your mind and your heart are not panoi
in fact people point out even the Israel
experience you know now everybody in
every Orthodox High School
so it's Stevie Gore now that the Gap
year After High School everybody comes
for a year to Israel
that's almost universally the case
then people point out that the Israel
experience now is not the same as the
Israel experience
25 30 years ago 25 30 years ago or more
maybe 40 years ago already no no
internet no cell phone
no social media
it was harder to get around there
weren't that many restaurants
Etc
so you were in Israel you were kind of
stuck right maybe you had one long
distance call a month to your family Etc
all you could do was sit and learn there
was nothing else to do
today it's just it's actually a problem
and because of this I'm not discouraging
going through so because of this there
are people who are rethinking whether a
kid right out of After High School ought
to come to Israel by himself for a year
without any supervision maybe they ought
to push the Israel year when the kid is
a little older and more mature right so
people are now debating this type of
issue okay so what does this have to do
with amalek
so again we talked about the idea
that the amalek that attacks us from the
outside that enemy that hatred
is a reflection of an amalek within us
we are vulnerable
to the amalek on the outside
only when there's some aspect of amalek
within us
and the aspect of amalek that's within
us
is said to be
coldness of the heart
because remember how amalek is described
in the Torah
I share
baderach
they encountered you
in the way
but karcha also comes from the word cold
now Rashi explains it this way
that when the Jewish people left
mitzrayim
they were like a scalding boiling bath
every nation of the world was afraid of
them
a Malik was the first nation
that jumped into the boiling bath
and they got burnt they got defeated
but they made the bath a little cooler
for the next guy
in other words it was no longer
unthinkable
to wage war against the Jews that's how
Rashi understands they made you cold
Rev sudok
uses the same etymology but he makes a
different point
Amma Lake enters you
when your heart is cold it is devoid of
passion
so
when I think about fighting amalek
I think about fighting the coldness of
my heart
and when I think about fighting the
coldness of my heart
I think about distancing myself from
taiva
because it is taiva an overindulgence in
taiva
that makes my heart cold and insensitive
to rookness and spirituality
so this is a little more subtle so if
Marxism
fights jealousy
remembering a Malik reminds us
to fight taiva
but again fighting taiva is a much more
difficult battle
because we're not going cold turkey
we're supposed to enjoy life
because I'll even say
that a beautiful home
gives a person expansiveness of mind and
consciousness
and it's a good thing but we have to
remember that we have to own our
possessions
we cannot let our possessions own us
right we have our possessions to serve
Hashem to do mitzvahs to create an
environment that's peaceful and Serene
but it can't become an end in and of
itself I mean you hear about people
you know who buy you know 25 cars 30
cars like you know what exactly is the
point you know uh
I don't even I can't even explain it
like you know what's why why are you
buying houses and buying cars and buying
this and that and that and that and that
and that
it's become almost like a person becomes
addicted
to more and more and more and more
things okay so this is Golem Connecticut
taiva
we then come to the ritual
of para aduma
and the ritual of para Duma is a very
mysterious ritual
where the ashes of the red heifer
prepared in a certain way
are mixed with spring water
and whenever a person has come in
contact with a dead body
and they want to enter the base
pray for pesach that's why it's before
pesach and the like
so they need to be sprinkled on day
three from the time that they became
tummy and on day seven
and then they go to the Mikvah and then
they could enter
today we don't have paradum which is why
if anybody has ever been in a cemetery
you're permanently tummy because even no
matter how many times you go to the
Mikvah until you're sprinkled
with the paraduma ashes and water you
remain tummy that's the main halachic
reason why people are discouraged from
going on the Temple Mount today putting
aside the politics because a person
that's Tommy is not allowed to enter at
least certain areas
of the Temple Mount again what those
areas are is
controversial but for sure there are
certain areas you cannot enter
in a state of tumor and all of us are
coming
now para ajuma is called a Hulk a Hulk
means a mitzvah
for which we really don't understand the
reason
and it is it is said that King Salman
understood all of The Commandments of
the Torah
except this one even stumped him
although there is a mattress that
correct understood foreign
say
that what is unique about para is not
simply why a red heifer Etc because
there are a lot of Mitzvahs you know we
don't know why why Woolen linen you know
but rather the problem of paraduma is
not simply we don't know the meaning but
it seems to be self-contradictory it
contradicts itself because on one hand
if I am impure
the ashes of the paraduma Purify Me
on the other hand all the people that
handle the ashes
become tummy
so the Paradox of Mayim
it purifies
the impure
um
and it contaminates those who are up
here how could the same thing do both
and this indeed is a Coke this is
something we don't fully understand but
it is interesting that
offer at least a partial explanation
for this Enigma that's very very
beautiful
and they say originally
Adam and Java were supposed to live
forever
but death came into the world
because of the sin
of the eight sadas eating from the fruit
of the tree of knowledge
what was the nakasha's enticement
first and then Adam to eat
says the enticement was egotism
because the nakash said the day that you
eat from this fruit
you will be like God
with a Mastery and a knowledge
of Good and Evil
a god pill whatever that means exactly
imagine somebody says to you take this
pill and you'll be God
now in many ways
man is Godlike
man the human human being man and woman
are made
in the image of God
we have powers of creation we have
powers of Destruction we have autonomy
we have free will
we have intellect
we are very Godly
but
our egotism our hubris
sometimes distorts our judgments
and that resulted in the sin that
brought death into the world not so much
as a punishment
but as a reminder
that there will always be a chasm
between the Creator and the created and
that's mortality
in other words death
is the great reminder
that we are not God
we are not God
so death came into the world
because of egotism
arrogance
hubris
but
we get purified from death
we get liberated from death
by ashes
because ashes is a sign of humility
like avram said I am dust and Ashes
now this doesn't explain why a red cow
that's another thing but the basic idea
is
if death comes into the world
by arrogance and gaiva
we get liberated and purified from death
by reconnecting to ashes
just like the Greek myth of the phoenix
bird
which actually is parallel to the
imagery of Ghazal by the netspert
gets burnt into ashes
and it arises From the Ashes
the lesson here is
it is obliteration of the ego
that truly gives you life you know one
would think I obliterate my ego so I
don't exist anymore
it's the other way around
the obliteration of the ego gives you
true existence
and that's why after I'm sprinkled with
the ashes
I can go back to the base of miknos
because that's returning to Ghanaian the
basement is Canadian on Earth
I was expelled from Canadian
when I connect to death because that's
arrogance
I am reunited to Canada
when I connect to humility
and ego obliteration
so now with this the spasmus explains
we can even explain in part the paradox
of why the same ashes
that can that purify
contaminate
because ashes represent humility
ashes represent ego obliteration
and that's good and that's holy
but it can also be destructive
because if obliterating obliterating my
ego makes me think I'm worthless
and I don't matter
then it becomes a Yates or horror that
destroys you in so many ways
so the same Force
that is a force for goodness
when directed in a proper way
can be a destructive force
when it's misapplied
used to say
that the person who is not aware of
their faults
is a foolish person
so I think I'm perfect that's pretty
stupid
but a person who is not aware of their
greatness
is a tragic person
because they'll never know
the person they were supposed to be
they'll never know the life
they were supposed to have
they'll never really know who they
themselves are
so on one hand
humility is the greatest of all
blessings
was praised because of his humility
on the other hand
misplaced humility
can be the greatest of all curses
and this is encapsulated
in the famous statements
of people think it's from
the 19th century
he was the rebbe of the cutskarabi
that a person must have two ideas in his
pockets
at all times
pocket number one
anokhi or for VA Fair
I am dust and Ashes I am nothing at all
I am dirt
in the other pocket
because of me
the whole universe was created
God made many dogs and many cats
and many cows and many goats
but only one
human or maybe one man and one woman
that's a Machoke
why didn't God make a lot of people
so the mishna says so each person must
know each person must know
that for one person alone
the whole universe
was worthwhile
now that's not arrogant because the same
way that I say bishvili never Olam I say
it about you too
so I'm not arrogance
but it makes a person realize how
important they are
so parsha's para in a multifaceted
complicated way
helps us understand both the destructive
nature of cover that brings tumor and
death into the world
and the constructive need of cover
that gives you a self-esteem to do your
mission
and recognize your strengths
so now you see a beautiful progression
how scholim by stressing equality and
interdependence
helps me overcome jealousy
a molec by stressing the need to
transcend the coldness of my heart
teaches me to disengage from excessive
taiva
and the ritual of para aduma in which
the ashes Purify Me but they can also
contaminate remind me
how destructive ego and arrogance can be
but at the same time the need to have a
sense of self-esteem
that helps me deal with covert
and when I've eradicated through
contemplating these three partials
I'm then ready for his renewal
and it's interesting that normally
between the partials between shkalum and
Zucker there's sometimes a blank week an
empty week
and between Zohar and para there may be
an empty week
but there's never a break
between para
and chodesh
like there's always one Shabbos follows
the other
and the lesson is that once you've
eradicated the bad
you can't just sit on your laurels you
got to concretize your inspiration by
doing something good
and all of us have moments of
inspiration
but if we don't concretize them
in virtuous action
it's just going to pass
okay so that's kind of how the four
partials
are a Madrid are a guide
to prepare ourselves for pesach because
that's the burning of the hummus the
burning of the hamids does represent
burning away these mid-out
wrote
in fact for many years I'm not sure if
it's still true today
the largest Seder in the world
was in Kathmandu up in Nepal
of course the Chabad Seder and a lot of
the people who attended the Seder were
Israelis Israelis loved after the Army
in particular they love to
go up there
and you know it's a savior that may have
you know two thousand three thousand
people
and I don't know how they run it but
they you know go from table to table
so because it's kind of a new age crowd
a little bit meaning it's not that many
from I mean uh from Israeli tends not to
go up there but these are Israelis that
are not religious
so they have a little bit of an
avant-garde custom
although it's quite beautiful that when
they burn their hummus they have big
bonfires burning their humates Arab
pesach so they tell people to write down
on a piece of paper
a bad Meda that they want to burn with
their hummus like arrogance anger Pride
ego
resentments
and when the bread gets burnt
you burn those bad meetups as well
now you can look at that and say avant
garde New Age spirituality but the truth
of the matter is in Kabbalah that's
exactly what the burning of the hummus
does represent and in fact there are
prayers that are recited when the
comments is burned indeed say that just
as I'm burning
I want to burn the Acer horror that's
called so or the yeast the leavening
agents
in the dough right so this is actually a
Minogue if we call it a minute that is
quite consistent with the understanding
kabbalistically
of the burning of of the Comets okay so
that's what I wanted to share about the
four partios now let me uh just end with
uh yet another thoughts
and that is
that one of the great great themes
of the Seder of UCS mithram
is that God himself took us out of Egypt
there was no emissary
there was no angel
the hagada itself says Ani I took you
out
not an angel
Ani I took you out fellow Seraph not a
syrup which is another type of Angel Ani
and even though that is referring to the
plague of the firstborn
understand that it's love dafka the
plague of the firstborn the whole
process of Yates
foreign
points out
that this is why Moshe rabenu's name
is not mentioned in the now it is
mentioned one place
but it's only mentioned by the splitting
of the Red Sea incidentally
and the rambam didn't even have that
paragraph but in terms of the rest of
the actual story of The Exodus
name is not mentioned
and the reason his name is not mentioned
was to de-emphasize the role of any
human being
in the liberation of Claudius Realm
in fact this can actually be an answer
for a little bit of a more complicated
question
the Magid
story of The Exodus is based on four
verses
that I recited when a person brings the
first fruits
those four verses in Deuteronomy and
elaborates on them by bringing other
verses from shmos and Devore him
now the question is why did hazal use
the four verses in Deuteronomy as their
basis for the story
and then supplement it with Schmutz
quite logically if we're saying the
story of The Exodus we ought to read the
book of shmouse
let's read the book of Exodus
now one answer might be well if you had
to read the book of Exodus it would be a
much longer savior because you'd have to
read at least 12 or 13 chapters
to get the whole story of atheism with
Triumph so we want a shorter story
but another answer is this
decided
we don't want to emphasize the role of
Moshe rabena
it's impossible to read the book of Shmo
straight
and that hit Moshe rabenu's name every
other verse
so khazao had to look for a short
version of the story in which Moshe
rabenu's name is not mentioned at all
and those are the four verses
of bikurim
and then we supplement it with verses
from shmos that don't mention motion
right so this is a big idea that
himself redeemed us
we even de-emphasize the greatness of
Moshe rabena
some even say I'll Derek hadrish if you
look at the three exclusions Ani I and
not a malach
foreign
so note the first letter of those three
words
which is sin same letter as shin
an evolution
hey that spells moshare says Moshe
didn't do it it's Hashem So based on
this idea
yourself
says a very beautiful thought
since every person must regard himself
as if they themselves are being
liberated the night of Passage
so the same way the night of Yates
God himself came to the Jewish people
with no intermediaries
every passive night
he comes directly to us we're connected
to him in a very very intimate way
foreign
so he wants to say he brings from
earlier swarm
that this is why the very first
paragraph of the maggot
Allah
this is the bread of affliction
is an Aramaic
the rambam writes that this was a
paragraph added to the Haggadah after
the destruction of the Temple
when the Jews were in gullit and their
language was Aramaic
and it reminds us that even though we're
slaves even though we're in Gullah
tashem is still with us
but takes this further he brings Shabbos
that says
that when you pray for a sick person
you're not supposed to pray in the
Aramaic language
because normally you need angels to
carry your prayer to God
and Angels do not understand the Aramaic
language
but
if you're praying with a minion
that's why we say college never make or
you're praying in the presence of the
sick person
you can even pray in Aramaic
because you don't need Angels when
you're with a minion the Shekinah is
with you
and with the sick person the shrinas
with the sick person
in other words when I need the Angels
whatever that means to carry my prayers
I don't do it in Aramaic
when God is directly with me
I can
we want to start the Seder
reminding ourselves
that tonight
we are with the shechina
because we are with the Shekinah
we can pray in Aramaic
and therefore this is sets the tone for
the idea
that every little seder is Ani
that's what you says
so again I wish you all a wonderful you
should have a good and safe trip back
and you know we well we hope you'll come
back I know you say that may may be
difficult but there's Hashem you should
be in good good health and
we'll see some of you in the uh seder
next week and uh
[Music]
everybody
[Music]